PHOTOS: Newport Harbor looks to complete post-season surge with win in finals

Newport Harbor is led by (from left) Nathan Peters, AJ Guitron-Moore, Conner Chenier and Grayson Simon. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Newport Harbor’s football team, in the CIF finals for the first time since 2013, is out to complete a big post-season run with a victory in the Division 6 championship game Saturday night at Temecula Valley.

“It’s just exciting from when I was first hired back in the 2018 season and to see it come full circle and have this opportunity in a short time span of roughly four years and to be in a CIF title game is a great honor and speaks a lot about our players, our coaches and the whole program as a whole administratively and all our boosters who supported us so it’s really neat and exciting to be able to be here and have this opportunity,” said Sailors Coach Peter Lofthouse.

“I think the last time they were in it was in 2013 and the last time we won was in 2005 in Division VI so it’s kind of cool to see all that history come together.”

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Newport Harbor (6-7) survived the rigorous Sunset League schedule, finishing 2-3. The Sailors entered the playoffs as an at-large entry.

“When we got the at-large bid, one of the big things we told the program, the players and the coaches was that this is a new season and it was different from league because league prepares you for a gauntlet with the teams that are in there and we even told the players, ‘you guys lost to one Division 1 team and four really, really good Division 2 teams and there’s no shame in that,'” Lofthouse said.

“The shame for us would be to not learn from our mistakes and then not apply the lessons we learned into the playoffs. So that’s been a big message we’ve sent since the day we started this opportunity and to go get a good win vs. Sunny Hills created a lot of momentum and a lot of excitement and helped the kids realize what we were trying to tell them all year which was, ‘you are good enough, you can do this, you can be successful’ and then to go out and have that long road trip to Santa Barbara and have another second good win created the excitement for last week with Dominguez and getting the third one.

“In order to win any game, you got to play four complete quarters and now we got to do that one more time against a very good football program in Temecula Valley.”

Newport Harbor had to rally twice against Dominguez Friday to capture a 20-19 victory.

Senior quarterback AJ Guitron-Moore, as he has done all season, superbly led the Sailors.

“AJ has a quick release and moves well in the pocket,” Lofthouse said. “He has a strong arm and he has experience in this offense. He’s been in our program for four years and very dedicated to his craft. He’s always been working hard, watching film and working hard in practice so he’s been able to take everything he’s learned over these four years and now apply it out on the field.

“When you get a quarterback who has a hot hand and he’s confident in his skilled guys and the O-line, it leads to us being able to get more points and yards and ultimately having more success on offense. We’ve had moments where we’ve struggled on offense and he’s been able to spark us into a lot of good opportunities.”

Junior Kashton Henjum, who had two touchdowns in Friday’s win over Dominguez, has been the leading receiver for the Sailors.

“He’s had a great season this year and really stepped up in the playoffs as well as Josiah Lamarque, who has just been on fire since the playoffs started, phenomenal athlete, he has great speed and can make people miss in the open field,” Lofthouse said. “Against Santa Barbara he had five TDs in that game, four on offense and a pick-six on defense.”

Senior Conner Cheiner leads the defense.

“Connor Cheiner is the heart and soul of our defense,” Lofthouse said. “He does it all at the outside linebacker position, coming off the edge, playing in coverage, stopping the run. Alexe Pappageorge is on the D-line along with Grayson Simon and Nate Peters, both playing double duty on O-line and D-line.

“In the secondary, (Newport has) Carson DeAvila, who is probably one of the top DBs in all of the county and does a great job playing in coverage and helping out in the run game.”

Temecula Valley (10-3) opened the playoffs defeating North Torrance 43-20 and Norte Vista 27-14 before defeating Camarillo 37-31 in the semifinals.

The game is Saturday, 7 p.m. at Temecula Valley.

“Good team, well coached, they won back in 2019, they have good football players, good size, good strength and they definitely present us a good challenge,” Lofthouse said.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com