Newport Harbor Edges Corona del Mar, 29-26, to Win 'Battle of the Bay' Again

The play call was 36 Power, Titus Hasson's 25th rush of the night, but there was no way to tell by the way the senior safety-turned-tailback carried it, bouncing nimbly outside after his original hole closed, then slipping through the arms of Josh Giger to capture the edge and glide 41 yards to within spitting distance of the Sea Kings' pylon with three minutes left.

Three plays later, Sailors quarterback Cole Blower bootlegged off play-action from four yards out and found Steve Michaelsen in the back of the end zone, securing Newport Harbor coach Jeff Brinkley's fifth straight 'Battle of the Bay' nonleague victory over crosstown rival Corona del Mar in thrilling, come-from-behind fashion, 29-26, at Orange Coast College Friday night.

Hasson, a 6-foot-1, 193-pound track star in the spring had his coming-out party as a tailback Friday night, finishing with every last one of Newport Harbor's 187 rushing yards, including two scores, a six-yard score-tying dash in the second quarter, and a momentum-grabbing 36-yard jaunt up the gut in the opening seconds of the fourth that gave a sagging Sailors sideline new life.

"It's my [offensive] line, I owe everything to my line," Hasson said. "[On the 41-yard run] I saw that everything was bunched up, so I just bounced it outside and ran for my life. This is the biggest win of my life. This is like a storybook ending. I've never been a part of something like this before. I'm just so happy right now."

Down 26-14 after Erik Fisher's 26-yard touchdown run with two minutes left in the third, Blower and his offense were stalled at third-and-nine from their own 21 and staring down their third straight three-and-out to start the second half.

But junior wideout Landon Gyulay gained a step on the coverage on a fade route up the right sideline and Blower drilled him between the numbers for a 40-yard strike that ignited a boisterous sea of white filling out every inch of the visitor's bleachers. One play later, Hasson was off to the races and the contest's outcome was once again in question at 26-21.

"Yes, yes," Brinkley answered with a grin when asked if the Sailors had finally found their tailback. "We thought we had one, we just had to give him some holes. When we give him holes, he's fast, he's gonna go. He did a pretty good job on defense too."

While Hasson carried the load on the ground, Blower was impeccable through the air, finishing an 11-of-15 (73-percent) passing night for 139 yards and two touchdowns, including a picture-perfect 26-yard diving grab by Cory Cablay, which answered a 96-yard kickoff return for a score from Cole Cotrell, and knotted the score at 14 with nine minutes left in the second quarter.

Four minutes later, Corona del Mar quarterback Brett Lawson gave the Sea Kings a 20-14 advantage heading into halftime when he found Troy Reese for the wideout's second touchdown of the evening, a 36-yard leaping grab over the coverage.

Lawson finished the night with 135 yards passing (9-of-20), and 65 rushing, as the Sea Kings (3-1) racked up 213 yards on the ground, including 80 in 13 carries from Fisher, and 75 on nine Wildcat formation quarterback keepers from Aaron White.

The Sea Kings had it rolling offensively in the first half, as Lawson found Reese five times for 77 yards, but the passing game bogged down in the second half, as Reese had only one catch for seven yards, and Lawson took off on nine of his 13 carries, mostly the result of broken pockets.

Newport Harbor (1-2) made what turned out to be a game-saving goal line stand with the clock dwindling in the second quarter and the Sea Kings threatening to go up by a pair of scores. With four run plays to punch it it from within the Sailors' six, the Sea Kings were thwarted each time.

"We made too many mistakes," Corona del Mar coach Scott Meyer said. "We had them and we let them off the hook too many times. You can't do that against a good team."

Defensively, Michaelsen was the player of the game for the Sailors, coming up with two sacks, none bigger than a 15-yard loss on third-and-10 on the Sea Kings' final drive. One play later, Lawson heaved a skinny post to Reese that Gyulay ripped out of the wideout's hands and coming down for a game-icing interception at midfield.

"It wasn't pretty, but a win's a win," Brinkley said. "It was a big boost for us, obviously, crosstown rivals, we wanted to win. But we have San Clemente next week, and that's a whole different animal."

The Sailors will take on their second undefeated opponent in as many weeks next Friday when they travel to San Clemente to tangle with the Tritons, who will be feeling good after a 28-21 overtime win at Mater Dei.

The Sea Kings (3-1), who Meyer said will definitely rebound emotionally coming off their first loss, look to get back on track next Friday with a home tilt against Magnolia of Anaheim at Newport Harbor High.

GAME NOTES

• Corona del Mar had a sack from Aaron White and tackles-for-loss each from Frasier Anderson and Grant Garrett. Garrett also recovered a fumble.
• Dylan Spengler had a sack for the Sailors, Ethan Cochran had a tackle-for-loss and Cablay defended a pass.
• Reese was the game's leading receiver, finishing with six catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
• The Sailors lost two fumbles, including one on a muffed punt return that led to Reese's 36-yard TD.
• Corona del Mar ran 58 plays on offense, Newport Harbor ran 42.
• Besides Hasson, the only other Sailor to rush the football was Cablay. He had one touch for no gain.

GAME STATISTICS
                     
                                      1     2     3     4   --   T

Newport Harbor           0    14    0    15  --   29  

Corona del Mar             7    13    6     0   --   26



                                    NH               CdM

First Downs                  13                  17
Rushing Yards             187                 213
Passing Yards              139                135
Total Net Yards            326                 348
Turnovers                      2                    1
Penalties-Yards            5-50               6-40


SCORING

1st Quarter

CdM -- Troy Reese 18 pass from Brett Lawson; Luke Napolitano kick, 8:34

2nd Quarter

NH -- Titus Hasson 6 run; Christian Ochoa kick, 11:13
CdM -- Cole Cottrell 96 kickoff return; Napolitano kick, 10:58
NH -- Cory Cablay 26 pass from Cole Blower; Ochoa kick, 9:34
CdM -- Reese 36 pass from Lawson; kick failed, 4:22

3rd Quarter

CdM -- Erik Fisher 26 run; kick failed, 2:06

4th Quarter

NH -- Hasson 36 run; Ochoa kick, 11:52
NH -- Steve Michaelsen 4 pass from Blower; Cablay conversion pass from Blower, 2:48