Tars’ upset bid falls short

NEWPORT BEACH — On any given play, the Newport Harbor High football team knew Kyle Middlebrooks could score in a matter of seconds.

The Fountain Valley running back burned the Sailors last year, scoring a game-winning 52-yard touchdown in the final 30 seconds.

This year, the Barons used him as a decoy and Newport Harbor forgot about the quarterback Thursday night.

Dominic Ragland did it all for Fountain Valley. The lefty scored twice on runs, recovered a fumble, and leaped and came away with the football to prevent the Sailors from recovering an onside-kick late as the Barons won the Sunset League road game, 37-32, and remained undefeated.

Middlebrooks led Fountain Valley (8-0, 3-0 in league) with 139 yards on 17 carries and he scored two touchdowns.

The senior lifting the Barons, ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division poll, and breaking the back of Newport Harbor (4-4, 1-2) was Ragland. He rushed for 114 yards on 15 carries.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Ragland took the snap in shotgun and ran right when Middlebrooks went the opposite direction. The defense swarmed toward Middlebrooks, the player without the ball.

Ragland doesn’t have Middlebrooks’ 100-meter type speed of 10.57 seconds, but he showed his elusiveness. Ragland’s 46-yard touchdown put the Barons ahead, 35-18, proving to be the eventual game-winning touchdown.

“Every single team is going to focus on Kyle. He’s the best back in the state,” Ragland said. “We thought that we could take advantage with misdirection and using Kyle as a decoy.

“We’ve actually played here three years in a row and it seems to feel like our home field.”

In the past two games against Newport Harbor at Davidson Field, Fountain Valley has prevailed. The Barons are looking to repeat as league champs, but without sharing it with four others teams, which happened last year.

The Sailors’ league title hopes don’t look good after dropping back-to-back games. They were without UC Berkeley-bound senior Cecil Whiteside.

The inside linebacker missed the game with a right elbow injury. Coach Jeff Brinkley didn’t want to talk about Whiteside, but he sure could’ve helped Newport Harbor’s defense.

While Whiteside was on the sideline, wearing his jersey over a hooded sweatshirt instead of shoulder pads, the defense gave up big plays.

Fountain Valley scored on runs of 67, 46 and 38 yards, and on a 30-yard pass.