Sailors rename their habitat: Title town

ROGER CARLSON

“How do I want to be remembered?”

It’s been 10 years since that dramatic run for the roses by

Newport Harbor High’s 1994 unbeatable football team. And, with the

help of Bill Johns, who always had his nose in the middle of things,

Part II develops on a team that answered the question like none

other.

On the heels of three straight impressive victories and a 5-0

preseason start, they were still the underdogs.

Newport Harbor High’s 1994 high school football team of destiny

entered Sea View League play with the underdog tag as two-time

defending champion Irvine loomed in the league opener.

Stenciled in their minds were the cold numbers ... 28-17 in ‘92;

30-8, again in ‘92; and 29-21 in 1993. They weren’t Newport’s

numbers. They were Irvine’s, and Dan McDonough, Mike Freeman, Matt

Riggle and Johns had played in all of them.

“They were tough, and the offensive line was supposedly the best,

next to Santa Margarita,” said Johns.

In a statistically dead-even game the Sailors came up with the

winner on Jeff Pardy’s 23-yard, fourth-quarter field goal. Jeremy

Mason’s fumble recovery with 2:38 left sealed the 9-7 victory.

Harbor could hardly savor the victory, however, because, six

nights later, the Sailors would be faced with crosstown rival Corona

del Mar in the Battle of the Bay.

A year earlier, Corona del Mar had stuffed the Sailors, 23-0, and

every senior on the team of destiny still had dirt in the creases.

“It was an unreal rivalry,” said Johns. “McDonough knew all their

guys.

“They were bigger and said to be stronger, and they came with

their faces painted black and their [jerseys] cut short.”

It was one of the series’ classics.

The Sailors, who had fumbled four times, losing possession twice,

over a span of their previous four games, fumbled six times, lost

possession five times and were intercepted once.

One of the fumbles was on the Newport 10 and CdM cashed in with a

4-yard touchdown run by J.J. DiCesare in the first quarter.

John Giordani’s 8-yard run in the second quarter, and Pardy’s PAT

made it 7-6, Newport.

It all came down to the final series and one neither side, I

suspect, will ever forget.

I was on the Newport Harbor sideline late in the fourth quarter

when Corona del Mar’s Josh Walz, on third-and-12 at the CdM 37,

pulled off one of the great quarterback scrambles in the history of

the Battle of the Bay, dashing 39 yards to the Harbor 24.

There was still 1:59 left and CdM continued the march.

I had moved downfield and around behind the goalposts where I was

joined by CdM boosters president John Walz as we anticipated a

field-goal attempt. I wanted the best angle if the kick was to

threaten the uprights.

Seconds were dwindling, but CdM still had a timeout left while

sitting on third-and-five at the Newport 8-yard line.

Not satisfied with the field position, CdM Coach Mark Schuster

opted for one more running play to put the ball squarely in front of

the goal posts.

It was the mistake of the year.

An unforced fumble on the center snap bounced a couple of times,

then Newport defender Jack Hogan knifed through to recover at the 12

and the Sailors’ stands erupted with just 11 ticks remaining.

It’ll always be known as the game of the turnover.

Schuster summed it up later in the Monday Morning Quarterbacks

segment: “I guess there’s certain games you’re just not supposed to

win. And I think there are also certain teams in certain seasons,

which just have a Cinderella-type year where everything goes good for

them. If Newport isn’t having one of those years, I don’t know who

ever will.”

After two dramatic victories in league play, the Sailors were ripe

for the upset loss with a trip to Irvine High for a duel with

Woodbridge. But it was a surprising 24-0 blowout.

“It was the first time the first team took a seat at the end of

the third quarter,” said Johns. “They had hammered us as freshmen,

just destroyed us.”

Johns, who was 5-foot-7, 135 pounds as a freshman, continued: “We

grew, and got stronger.”

Late-game dramatics pulled out a 9-7 win over Irvine. More

late-game dramatics resulted in a 7-6 win over Corona del Mar.

Now, flushed with the enjoyment of a romp, came Santa Margarita.

And, what else? Late-game dramatics.

Classic thrillers were becoming commonplace for the Bluejackets.

For the Sailors, victory did not begin until they reached their

quarters at halftime, trailing, 17-14.

“Coach [Tony] Ciarelli comes in, running full speed into the

locker room and went after Riggle,” said Johns. “He had dropped two

interceptions.”

It was a wake-up call in the extreme sense and everyone felt the

wrath Riggle was enduring. When they took the field in the second

half, the Sailors’ pulse rate was beyond the scope.

Trailing, 23-20 in the fourth quarter, the Sailors went to the

same combination that kept them in the game in the second quarter

when Giordani threw a touchdown pass to Benzinger from 3 yards out,

and, on the game’s first series in the third quarter, a 36-yard

touchdown payoff.

This time, there was less than two minutes to go when Benzinger’s

number was called.

“He split the two defensive backs and they ran into each other,”

recalled Johns. “And he scores the touchdown [from 52 yards out].”

Giordani, connecting on 12 of 16 pass attempts for 196 yards and

three touchdowns, was the offensive player of the game.

The defensive player of the game? A hard-nosed fullback who led

the Sailors’ running game, protected the passer and roamed around on

defense at outside linebacker named Matt Riggle.

With the victory, the Sailors had clinched the crown.

Linemen Sherif Pepic and James Moureaux, Brandon Baker and Johns,

as well as center Brandon Hetrick, receivers Danny Pulido and

Benzinger, Brian Johnson, Riggle and Giordani, and the placekicker,

Pardy, stood alone with still a game remaining in league.

The Ciarelli bunch -- defensive ends Tom Eaton and Hogan, tackle

Moises Piedra, Johns at the nose, Mike Freeman and Riggle and outside

‘backer, middle linebacker Dan McDonough, Johnson and Scott Sandstrom

at the corners, strong safety Dan Eadie and free safety Dan Berger,

had done what could not be done.

Ciarelli and more of his video magic preceded the Sailors’ final

league game just at the right time, and there was no letdown for

Harbor’s quest for an unbeaten league season.

El Toro was no match, losing, 35-14.

“We were just getting bigger and stronger and we knew, we were

confident we were going to win,” said Johns. “I remember Danny Eadie

hitting their tailback, [Murle] Sango so hard, four or five times.

The ref came up to us in the huddle and said he had never seen a high

school team hit this hard. Eadie, he was just drilling people.”

So it was mid-November. Time for the championship team photo, and

time to begin preparation for the CIF Division V championships as the

No. 1 seed, time to reflect on 9-7, 7-6 and 27-23 victories.

And, time to listen to the coach.

“You guys don’t know how lucky you are to grow up in a big small

town,” Brinkley would drone on, as the Sailors took a knee and

patiently listened to their coach.

The playoffs, Part III, is next in the saga of unbeatable.

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].