Northwood Coach JC Clarke talks to his players after Friday’s victory. (Photos: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).
Just when Northwood High School football fans thought they had seen Adam Harper do it all, the senior running back took it to another level.
Harper scored four touchdowns and rushed for 342 yards on 33 carries to lead Northwood to a 37-20 Pacific Coast League victory over Dana Hills at Irvine Stadium that helped the Timberwolves clinch the league title. Harper, along with his younger brother Joseph, were also defensive standouts.
Northwood won the CIF Division 11 title last year after capturing the Pacific Valley League crown. This year, Northwood was moved up to the Pacific Coast League, the higher tiered of the two leagues in the Pacific Coast Conference.
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With the victory, Northwood (9-1, 2-0) earned the top CIF playoff automatic berth from the league and possibly a home game. Dana Hills (6-4, 1-2) could get an at-large berth and Laguna Hills (9-1, 2-1) is the second team guaranteed a trip to the playoffs. Dana Hills was trying to upset Northwood and force a three-way tie for first place.
Harper set the tone for the game when he bolted 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. He was pretty much unstoppable with TD runs of 8, 68 and 26 yards.
“That was our goal coming into this season and all these teams we played in league, they beat us last year so we had them circled on our schedule to try and get the revenge games and that’s pretty much what we did,” Harper said. “One by one, we were able to beat teams that beat us last year and we ended up being league champs.”
Northwood players had a T-shirts under their jersey which read, ‘we lost to Dana Hills,’ as a reminder of the losses last year. They displayed them after the game.
It was clear from the start that Harper was on a mission with the big play TD strike early.
“We knew coming into the game our offensive line was going to have to dominate,” he said. “So, that’s what we stuck with, we ran the ball and first play, the hole opened up and I took it to the house and that set the tone for the rest of the game that we were going to pound the ball on these guys.”
Northwood Coach JC Clarke was amazed at Harper’s effort, again.
“In divisions seven through 10, he’s got to be one of the best two-way players ever,” Clarke said. “He’s a great defensive linebacker, he really is. You see him on offense, but he really makes us better on defense.”
Clarke was also excited about the title and was pleased that two linemen, sophomore Tao Sun and senior Jan Abuelsad, who were out injured from the start of the season, were able to finish the regular season.
“We had three linemen out, we thought for the year, we got two of them back, one last week and one this week,” he said.
Abuelsad, an All-CIF player last year, played his first game Friday night.
“It was so sad to see a senior not playing,” Clarke said. “I was just so happy for those guys that they can get better and be a part of this before the end of the season.”
Dana Hills gave Northwood all it could handle behind quarterback Connor Vernon, who threw for 245 yards and two touchdown passes. Deacon Hill also had two field goals for the Dolphins in the first half.
Northwood led 21-6 at halftime. One of the scores came when quarterback Eugene Miyata connected with Andrew Penrod on a 20-yard TD pass.
Dana Hills looked like it would be on its way to making the game closer early in the third quarter. The Dolphins elected to go for a first down on fourth-and-four on their own 47, but Joseph Harper, Adam’s younger brother, sacked Vernon to end the drive.
Adam Harper’s 8-yard TD run midway through the third quarter put Northwood ahead 21-6. But Vernon connected with Noah Kucera on a 55-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 21-12.
Harper responded though with a 68-yard TD run to put the Timberwolves ahead 27-12 with 4:59 left in the third quarter.
A field goal by Karim Yowkeem gave Northwood a 30-12 lead with 8:49 left in the game.
But Dana Hills refused to back down. Vernon connected with Blaize Bolter on a 52-yard TD pass with 8:02 left. Harper responded again with a 26-yard TD run to put the Timberwolves ahead 37-20.
Northwood was effective against the rush, holding the Dolphins leading rusher Christian Guarascio to 79 yards. Kucera had six catches for 149 yards and Bolter had four catches for 71 yards.
Miyata was solid at quarterback for Northwood throwing for 103 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m proud of the team, we were the underdogs coming into the season,” said Miyata, who was on Northwood’s CIF championship team last year. “They thought we were going to be the worst in the league, so we proved them wrong.
“Adam Harper is the best running back in the league, no one can stop him, he’s the best.”
“Whatever division we’re in, Division 8 or Division 9, we’re going to bring it,” added Adam Harper. “We’re going to hope to keep winning and come back to practice the next Monday and the next Monday.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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