Newport Harbor pulls away, advances into CIF State SoCal Regional Division I semis

You’ll have to excuse Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo coach Ross Sinclair if he’s been checking his phone a lot lately. He’s not trying to be rude.

Sinclair’s wife, Coco, is expecting the family’s baby daughter any time now. Her due date was Monday, but as of Friday night, the Sinclairs were still waiting.

“No baby yet,” Sinclair said after the No. 3-seeded Sailors earned a 17-5 win over No. 6 La Jolla in the first round of the CIF State Southern California Regional Division I playoffs on Friday at Newport Harbor High. “[My wife] is hanging out.”

Sophomore center Ike Love scored a season-high five goals for the Sailors, and junior Jack White added four. The Sailors (24-6) were playing in their first game in a week, since besting Harvard-Westlake in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff third-place game on Nov. 10. Like their coach, they also had to wait a bit before they pulled away against La Jolla (14-13), the CIF San Diego Section Open Division runner-up.

Junior attacker Cole Atwell, the son of La Jolla head coach Tom Atwell, kept the Vikings close early. He scored three goals in the first half. La Jolla trailed just 4-3 after the first quarter and 7-4 at halftime.

But Newport Harbor shut out La Jolla in the second half, scoring 10 straight goals until the Vikings’ Johnny Dickerson drew and scored a penalty shot in the final minute of the game.

“We got into more of the style of play that we usually play,” Newport senior defender Jason Grew said. “Defense and counter. We countered a lot in the second half.”

The Newport Harbor defense, with senior goalie Max Sandberg (six saves Friday) and Grew at two-meter defense, has been stout all season. Grew also got into the act offensively Friday, with a pair of goals in the first half to go along with two assists and three steals.

The Sailors are on their way to a Southern California Regional Division I semifinal clash with No. 2-seeded Oaks Christian, which beat Vista 14-11 in another first-round game.

The semifinal is set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Corona del Mar High, with top-seeded Mater Dei playing No. 4 Studio City Harvard-Westlake in the first semifinal preceding that. The Regional Division I championship game will be at 5:30 p.m., also at CdM.

Especially since this is the inaugural year of the regional tournament, Grew said a title would be meaningful. Newport Harbor is 0-3 this season against possible finals opponent Mater Dei, including a 9-3 loss in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals. The Sailors have not played semifinal opponent Oaks Christian this season.

Love scored three straight goals at center in the third quarter, the first two assisted by junior Jake Liechty and the third by fellow sophomore Tommy Kennedy, a left-hander who also had a goal and two steals.

“The roll-out, step-out was working for me at the time,” Love said. “I just kept with it. Good passes from my teammates set me up for those goals.”

Makoto Kenney also scored twice for the Sailors, who got a goal each from Ryan Brosnan, Nick Bergsma and John Rankin. Backup goalie Blake Jackson came in for the fourth quarter and recorded four saves.

Jake Sullivan and Charlie Covina added steals for Newport Harbor, which got everyone into the game.

Senior center Jackson Westerman drew three exclusions for the Sailors, who converted four of seven power-play chances. La Jolla was scoreless in just two power-play opportunities.

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