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CdM players display The Bell after Friday’s victory over Newport Harbor. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone).
As is always the case at the Battle on the Bay, one side of the sold out Davidson Field crowd would end Friday night delighted, the other devastated.
And for the 10th consecutive season, it was the Corona del Mar side, perhaps a little alarmed early, who exited joyfully after their Sea Kings scored the game’s final four touchdowns to once again vanquish cross-bay rival Newport Beach 28-14 to clinch an automatic CIF playoff berth.
The “Battle” is special in every sense of the word. Both teams use Davidson Field, on the campus of Newport Harbor, as their home field. Both teams wear home colors, navy blue for Newport, powder blue for CdM.
Both have spectacular, raucous, but not unruly, student sections, and huge adult followings. There is even a commemorative medallion struck for the game each year.
And Friday night’s game lived up to all of its surroundings.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Newport Harbor struck quickly, quarterback Colton Joseph finding his all-world receiver, Keshton Henjum, on a 27-yard TD strike just two minutes into the game and the Sailors had a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter Colton found Henjum with a second scoring pass, this one from 21 yards, Henjum winning an end zone jump ball between two Sea King defenders to put the Sailors up 14-0.
Interestingly, what may have changed the momentum of the game came on Newport’s possession between the two TDs.
Colton hit Henjum on a long pass over the middle, but his receiver was stopped two yards short of the end zone on a saving tackle by the Sea Kings’ Grant Schriber.
On first down, the sailors were called for illegal procedure. A botched running play and two incomplete passes led to a field goal try that was blocked by CdM’s Aiden Walsh and covered by Schriber.
“That stand really got us going,” CdM quarterback David Rasor said.
While it took a while for the Sea Kings to fully take advantage, once they did, they never looked back.
“Everything they gave us in practice this week was working,” Rasor said, “we just weren’t clicking.”
The “clicking” began at the 8:50 mark of the second quarter when Rasor threw the first of his four TD passes, a 50-yard strike to Russell Weir, moving the Sea Kings to within 14-7.
Rasor, who spent his sideline time encouraging his teammates to “get this even” by halftime, did just that when he threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Giuliano 26 seconds before intermission.
The Sea Kings’ moved ahead for good in the third quarter when Rasor found a wide-open Mason Kubichek in the end zone on a 30-yard pass. Kubichek had only two issues on his score, catch the ball and stay in bounds. He did both and CdM led 21-14.
Kubichek had a moment on defense, too, tackling Newport Harbor’s Joseph short of a first down on fourth down in the final period.
Rasor sparked the following Sea Kings’ drive with a 53-yard run then turned a high snap into a 6-yard scoring pass to a leaping Cooper Hoch in the end zone. The ball was snapped well over Rasor’s head, but the senior had the presence of mind to chase down the ball, roll to his right and then loft a pass that was at least 30 yards in the air to the leaping Hoch.
After the game, Corona del Mar Coach Dan O’Shea spent little time on the victory, reflecting instead on two CdM losses to Newport Harbor a decade ago.
“I wake up thinking about those games every morning,” he said, and about next week’s final regular season game with Edison at Davidson Field.
On the games a decade ago, two narrow losses to the Sailors, O’Shea said. “We had two touchdown leads in the fourth quarter of both games, (2011, 29-26; 2012, 27-26), lost our focus and lost those games. I never want to lose to Newport again.”
Concerning the game with Edison on Friday, O’Shea called the games “a great rivalry. They play hard and we play hard. Since we’ve been in league together, we’ve won twice and they’ve one twice. It will be a great game.”
Related:
Friday night photo and capsule
Next up:
On Friday, Corona del Mar (7-2, 3-1) hosts Edison (8-1, 3-1) at Newport Harbor. Newport Harbor (5-4, 1-3) is at Huntington Beach (5-4, 1-3).
—Courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone
