High School Football: Kinder runs wild on Barons

A penalty-marred game that took three hours featured another big performance by Newport Harbor High senior running back Cole Kinder.

In the end, all the Newport Harbor High football team cared about was that it left Huntington Beach High with a victory Friday night.

The Sailors started strong and piled on the points in a 66-34 Sunset League victory over Fountain Valley, spoiling the Barons’ homecoming night and improving to 3-4, 1-1 in league. It was a crucial win for the Sailors after being routed by Edison last week.

“We had to win this,” senior left tackle Mike Jarboe said. “This win was so critical. This gave us our shot at playoffs. We’re treating the rest of league like playoffs; we have to win every week.”

Next comes another crucial game against Huntington Beach on Thursday at Orange Coast College. The Oilers also have a win against Fountain Valley and improved to 2-0 in league with a victory over Marina on Friday night.

Kinder helped the Sailors win with a career-high six rushing touchdowns. He finished with 32 carries for 294 yards.

Senior receiver Levi Hooper and sophomore receiver Dayne Chalmers both returned from injury and combined for five catches. Hooper had two touchdown grabs from sophomore quarterback Sam Barela.

“It makes a big difference,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “They both made plays. We didn’t need to throw the ball much tonight, but we were certainly efficient when we did.”

But Kinder said it was Hooper’s blocking as a receiver, as well as his always solid offensive line, that also fueled him. He had five touchdowns in the first half for the second time this year. It ended with the Sailors up, 45-21.

They were on their way to snapping their four-game losing streak, though all of the losses came against teams ranked in the CIF Southern Section in their respective divisions.

“Fountain Valley is one of the speediest teams in the Sunset League,” Kinder said. “They don’t always have the size, but they have the speed. For me to get six touchdowns, I think it’s really good. Levi Hooper hasn’t been playing the last two games, and he’s probably one of the best blocking receivers in the county. But you don’t really hear as much about him, because we don’t pass the ball as much.

“We needed him back. He’s critical. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t give up on any plays. A lot of wide receivers, a running back is running the ball and they just go half-speed. He doesn’t. He goes full speed every time. When he’s in, I think I’ve scored all of my touchdowns.”

Fountain Valley (1-6, 0-2) tried to stay in it. The Barons got big plays in the passing game from their own sophomore quarterback Andrew Ross, who threw four touchdown passes. Two of those came to senior tight end Angel Hernandez.

Kinder was just too much, though, even if Fountain Valley did a better job slowing him down in the second half. He is closing in on the Sailors’ career rushing yardage record.

“He played great again,” Brinkley said. “It was good to get him unleashed. We’ve had a couple of tough weeks, and we needed a win, we needed to get on track. Now we’re on a short week next week for Huntington, so we’ve got to hit the field running on Monday [in practice] and get ready to go. That’s going to be a real big game … we’re pretty close to the same boat there. Hopefully we can build off this week and play a little better in certain areas.”

Senior Seth Wright also shined for Newport Harbor, with two forced fumbles on Fountain Valley kickoff returns. The Sailors recovered both. Wright also had a quarterback sack, as did junior Cole O’Neil, and junior linebacker Juan Gomez had an interception.

Sunset League

Newport Harbor 66, Fountain Valley 34

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Newport Harbor 24 – 21 – 7 –14 — 66

Fountain Valley 7 – 14 – 6 – 7— 34

FIRST QUARTER

NH – Kinder 11 run (Schroeder kick), 10:50.

NH – Kinder 5 run (Schroeder kick), 8:37.

NH – Hooper 7 pass from Barela (Schroeder kick), 6:08.

FV – K. Sykes 86 pass from Ross (Swain kick), 5:04.

NH – Siemonsma 29 FG, 1:09.

SECOND QUARTER

NH – Kinder 74 run (Schroeder kick), 11:37.

NH – Kinder 20 run (Schroeder kick), 11:16.

FV – Hernandez 31 pass from Ross (Swain kick), 7:05.

NH – Kinder 1 run (Schroeder kick), 1:49.

FV – Hernandez 7 pass from Ross (Swain kick), 0:24.

THIRD QUARTER

FV – Krause 58 pass from Ross (pass failed), 8:17.

NH – Kinder 12 run (Schroeder kick), 4:19.

FOURTH QUARTER

FV – G. Sykes 2 run (Swain kick), 11:12.

NH – Hooper 24 pass from Barela (Schroeder kick), 9:07.

NH – Harvey 31 pass from Hook (Schroeder kick), 4:13.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

NH – Kinder, 32-294, 6 TDs.

FV – G. Sykes, 20-78, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

NH – Barela, 4-5-0, 64, 3 TDs.

FV – Ross, 12-27-1, 231, 4 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

NH – Chalmers, 2-48.

FV – K. Sykes, 3-88, 1 TD.