Newport Harbor Escapes Murrieta Mesa Again, Wins 29-24

For the second straight year, Newport Harbor and Murrieta Mesa needed the final seconds to decide it. This time, the Sailors came out on top.

A year ago, Murrieta Mesa beat Newport Harbor 33-27 on a last-play touchdown. Friday night at Davidson Field, the Rams got the ball down to Newport Harbor’s one-yard line in the closing seconds but couldn’t get a play off before time expired, handing the Sailors a 29-24 nonleague win and pushing them to 2-0 on the season.

The turning point came with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter, when senior quarterback Jordan Spigarelli found senior receiver Ryan Palmer for a 25-yard touchdown — Palmer’s second scoring catch of the quarter and the play that put Newport Harbor ahead for good.

The Sailors got off to a strange start, scoring first without their offense on the field. A high snap on a Murrieta Mesa punt sailed past the kicker, who appeared to try to kick it out of the back of the end zone but came up short. Newport Harbor’s Luke Garrido pounced on the loose ball for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

Murrieta Mesa answered and the game was tied at 14 late in the first half after a Jackson Stremick one-yard touchdown run for Newport Harbor. But the Rams grabbed the lead back on the final play of the half, when kicker Julian Nunez connected on a 40-yard field goal. Newport Harbor’s defense spent much of the first half on the field, dealing with a fumble and an interception early on that put the Sailors in an early hole.

Murrieta Mesa carried a 24-14 lead into the fourth quarter before Newport Harbor’s offense came alive. Palmer’s first touchdown of the period, a 30-yard grab with 6:23 remaining, cut the deficit to three. The Sailors then picked up a safety on another high snap out of the end zone to trim it to a single point before Spigarelli and Palmer connected again for the go-ahead score with just over a minute left.

Murrieta Mesa (now 0-1) had one more chance, intercepting a Newport Harbor pass over the middle with about four minutes to go. But the Sailors’ defense forced a quick three-and-out, getting the ball back with 2:03 on the clock and setting up the winning drive. On the ensuing possession, Murrieta Mesa moved the ball into scoring position on a 29-yard completion from Coleman Jones to Ashton Burke, using their final timeout with 11 seconds left. A pass over the middle was hauled in at the one-yard line, but the clock ran out before the Rams could snap the ball again.

Defensively, Carter Clark came up with an interception off a tipped pass, while senior linebackers Cameron Hatfield and Jett Blauwkamp were also key contributors in slowing down Murrieta Mesa’s offense.

Newport Harbor opened the season with a 41-0 win over Nanakuli High of Hawaii and is now one win away from matching last season’s win total of three. Last year’s team finished 3-7, with each of its first four losses coming by a touchdown or less — making Friday’s tight, hard-fought victory a notable turnaround moment for a roster that includes several players who lived through those close losses as juniors.

Newport Harbor heads to Lancaster (0-1) next Friday in continued nonleague play.