JSerra Dominates Newport Harbor (2021)

Newport Beach – Davidson Field

Senior Night for the Sailors met by Trinity League JSerra who beat the Sailors 44-0.

Harbor finishes the non-conference schedule with a 1-4 record – a record they will want to put behind them as they enter Sunset League play.

While once again showing indications of being a better-than-the-results football team, big plays and crucial mistakes doomed the Sailors almost from the start. The defense was stout in forcing punts on the Lions (3-2) first two possessions, though the second kick pinned NHHS at its own one yard line. The Sailors offense allowed the first JSerra points on the next play when runningback Peyton Irving was stuffed in the end zone for a safety.

Receiving the ball back and building on the momentum, the Lions scored again quickly on a 3rd down pass play over the middle that resulted in a 45-yard touchdown and a 9-0 JSerra lead. In short order, the Lions scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass on their next possession and, after a Harbor punt team miscue, a 2-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter for a 23-nothing lead.

With the Sailors running game unable to gain any traction and only a handful of Nick Kim short pass completions not enough to move the chains, the Sailors offense didn’t gain a single first down in the first half. The overworked defense, meantime, coughed up two more big play touchdowns on JSerra scoring runs of 43 and 20 yards.

The final indignation was a Kim pass tipped at the line of scrimmage that was intercepted by a Lions defensive lineman and returned 30 yards for a touchdown making the score 44-0 at half.

Mercifully, the second half running clock rule accelerated the inevitable, though Harbor did show strong fortitude the rest of way. In shutting out the Lions in the 3rd and 4th quarters, linebackers Connor Cheiner and Robby Crowell were tough against the run, while linemen Grayson Simon, Jason Jurczyk and Alexe Pappageorge applied pressure rushing the passer. Defensive backs Johnny Chaix, Josiah Lamarque, Carson de Avila and Billy Ridley provided solid coverage in the secondary. Credit an Anthony Jackson hit that produced the Sailors only takeaway and preserved the second half shutout when Chaix recovered the fumble near the goal line as the Lions threatened to score.

Reserve quarterback AJ Guitron-Moore made the most of his senior night leading the offense throughout the second half. His 3rd down completion to Kashton Henjum for seven yards earned the Sailors’ initial first down early in the fourth quarter. A Guitron-Moore completion to Zach Zamora and a Hayden Farley 15-yard run produced two more first downs before time elapsed.