Newport Harbor Punches Ticket Into CIF Championship Game (2021)

Newport Beach – Davidson Field

Newport Beach – The Newport Harbor football team advanced to the CIF-SS Division 6 finals after edging out Dominguez of Compton 20-19 on Friday at Davidson Field in the semifinals. The TarPit was out in full force to witness the event.

The Sailors (6-7) advanced to the championship game where they will play at Temecula Valley next week with a time and day to be determined. The Golden Bears (9-3) defeated top-seed Camarillo in overtime 37-31.

The Dons (10-3) scored first after the Sailors’ opening drive resulted in a missed field goal. Jordan Ford found Cieonta Davis late in the first quarter with a 21-yard passing score, as the visitors went up 7-0.

Newport Harbor’s offense sputtered to start, as penalties kept getting in its way and it eventually had to punt.

With the on ball the Sailors’ six-yard line and in the first play of the second quarter, Ford scampered in for the score, but on the ensuing extra point, it was low and ricocheted off one of the players, as the Dons led 13-0.

After Newport Harbor punted for a second straight time, its defense rose to the occasion as it forced Dominguez to turn the ball over on downs. On their next drive, the Sailors found the spark they needed, as AJ Guitron-Moore hit Kashton Henjom with a 35-yard scoring pass to cut the lead to 13-7.

After the Dons went three and out on their next drive, the Sailors took advantage of the great field position. The Sailors took the lead as Henry Slater rumbled his way in for a six-yard after he shed a couple of tackles, giving them their first lead at 14-13, which wound up being the halftime score.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, as both teams struggled to gain traction offensively.

Dominguez eventually found paydirt, as Cyrus Finnie cashed in on a one-yard score to put the visitors up 19-14 after the two-point conversion was fumbled.

Almost three minutes later, Newport Harbor responded with a score of their own, as Guitron-Moore found Henjum again, this time for a 20-yard touchdown pass despite Henjum being covered. The Sailors went for the two-point conversion, but the pass was deflected off a Dons player, making the 20-19.

Dominguez got the Ball all the way down to the Newport Harbor 30, but wanted to get closer for Daniel Gomez to knock in the go-ahead field goal. The Sailors made sure that wouldn’t happen, as they forced an incomplete pass on first down, sacked Ford for a loss of eight yards on second down and limited the next play to only being a gain of three yards.

With no time outs remaining, the Dons had one last chance to keep the drive, and their season, alive, but Ford’s pass was incomplete, and Newport Harbor took over, allowing them to go into victory formation, which eventually led to happiness from all the Sailor faithful.

Newport Harbor advanced to their first CIF-SS championship game since 2013 and the first under coach Peter Lofthouse. The Sailors will look to win their first championship since 2005.

“When I first got here, we had a lot of work before us in rebuilding this program, and it’s been a proud program. It’s a testament to not only our coaches and our players and the hard work they’ve put in, but it’s also a huge testament to also the support we received from our principal, to our administration, to our athletic director and the teachers here on campus and all the staff,” Lofthouse said. “This is a team effort from top to bottom and that’s what makes this so exciting and me so happy about being able to play in a finals game, because this is bigger than just coaches and players, this about everybody behind the scenes who’s putting in a lot of hard work to make this happen.”

Postgame interview with Kashton Henjum.