For a photo gallery of this game, click here.
NEWPORT BEACH — If, for some reason, Newport Harbor High Coach Jeff Brinkley wants to add wrinkles to his face, he needn’t do it by furrowing his brow over his running back situation.
Behind the ample blocking of left tackle Nate Castillo, junior third-string running back Danny Miller accumulated 229 yards rushing on 22 carries to go with one touchdown in Friday night’s 39-30 win over visiting Mira Costa.
“To have your third guy come in and do that job, he did a great job running the ball,” Brinkley said.
Miller came in the game after backup Michael Helfrich left with an aggravated shoulder injury which he first sustained against Dana Hills. Starter Ben Frazier has been out nursing a medial collateral ligament tear.
“Danny was huge tonight,” said wide receiver JB Green. “Our O-line just got some big blocks and Danny just kept on running hard through the game. He was tired, but he just kept on running. He was awesome tonight.”
It was the last game for the Sailors (4-1) before entering Sunset League play next week against Fountain Valley.
After trading scores for the first half, Newport Harbor broke away during the fourth quarter with a two-score lead after Fountain Valley had to punt to end one possession, and fumbled the ball away on the next. The Sailors scored on an 18-yard run by Miller to go up, 31-24. On the next possession, the Sailors made good on quarterback Andrew McDonald’s 34-yard pass to Green.
The back-and-forth game ended with Newport Harbor leading 20-17 at halftime, thanks to a last-second, 17-yard field goal by Mira Costa’s TJ Thormodsgaard. The Mustangs (2-3) were able to march 70 yards in the 1:32 remaining in the half for the score.
The Sailors were trailing, 14-6, in the second quarter, thanks to a leaky defense that was having trouble containing Mustangs running back Adrien Dotson, who had 109 yards rushing. The 30 points Newport Harbor allowed was the most since its only loss of the season to Long Beach Poly (34-7).
“We generally play great defense, and sometimes it’s the defense that keeps us in the game,” Brinkley said. “Tonight it was the offense.”
With all the of the attention on Green, who finished with six catches for 111 yards and three touchdowns, McDonald was able to find Henry Pyle for an eight-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 14-12.
