For a photo gallery, click here.
NEWPORT BEACH — Five plays into the football game Friday night, Newport Harbor High wanted to turn back the clock and party like it was 1979.
Twelve plays into the game against Edison, the party looked good.
The Chargers put an end to the early jubilation and further thought of getting upset by the Sailors again 30 years later.
The top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division took charge after giving up a touchdown and turning the ball over in the first two possessions of the Sunset League game, as Edison beat the No. 10-ranked Sailors, 34-6, at Newport Harbor.
Edison defeated another team it split the league championship with last year, improving to 7-0, 2-0 in league play. The Chargers don’t want to share with any team this year.
Quarterback Matt Viles torched Newport Harbor (4-3, 1-1) for 351 yards and three touchdowns on 27-for-42 passing. The senior completed passes to six players, four of those finished with at least five catches.
With so many weapons on offense and a fierce defense, Edison is bound to claim its first outright league crown since 1990. In each of the previous three seasons, the Chargers have shared the championship with at least one team.
The Sailors turned out to be one of those teams last year, when five in the league called themselves champions.
On a couple of plays in the first four minutes of the game Friday, Newport Harbor showed signs of a potential contender.
Running back Cedric Whitaker electrified the huge crowd on the fifth play in the game. The junior ran left, toward the visitor’s sideline before he juked a couple of would-be tacklers downfield for a 65-yard touchdown. The Sailors went ahead, 6-0, after Dillan Freiberg’s extra-point kick was blocked.
After seeing his Orange County-best streak snapped at 71 straight last week in the Sailors’ 23-20 upset of Los Alamitos, Freiberg has missed two PATs in his last two games.
The miscues continued for the Sailors for the rest of the night, ending their four-game winning streak in league dating back to last season. Newport Harbor also lost standout Cecil Whiteside for the final 11:52 of the second quarter with a stinger.
The UC Berkeley-bound senior returned in the second half and was limited to just playing linebacker.
