High School Football: Kinder breaks Newport Harbor career rushing record in win over HB

History is what Newport Harbor High running back Cole Kinder made on his 12th carry on Thursday.

While the senior became the school’s all-time leading rusher early in the second quarter, what mattered most to Kinder was that in that second quarter the Sailors pulled away from Huntington Beach.

Kinder has now totaled 3,579 yards on the ground in three years. More importantly, the Sailors are closer to avoiding the kind of history they do not want to make. And that is missing the CIF Southern Section playoffs in consecutive years for the first time under Coach Jeff Brinkley.

The Sailors stayed in the hunt to make the postseason by knocking off the Oilers, 34-8, in a key Sunset League game at Orange Coast College.

Behind Kinder’s biggest workload this year in terms of 36 carries, resulting in 174 yards and one touchdown, and rotating two quarterbacks, Sam Barela and Spencer Hook, Newport Harbor became the first team in league to defeat Huntington Beach.

Running is something Brinkley’s teams have always done in his 31 years in charge of the Sailors, and even during his eight years coaching in Norwalk. As for playing one quarterback one down and playing another the next down, that is something Brinkley said he had never done until this year.

The quarterback formula is currently working for Brinkley, whose team has won two in a row. Brinkley also became the 18th football coach in the state to reach 270 wins during his career.

Newport Harbor is 2-1 in league, just like Huntington Beach, and with two games left in the regular season, the Sailors have an easier road to the playoffs than the Oilers. Huntington Beach has a date at home with Los Alamitos next week, before closing things out with defending league champion Edison on Nov. 4.

The top three teams in league earn automatic postseason berths. Newport Harbor and Huntington Beach have to prevail once in their final two respective league games to help them secure a spot.

The next one is more than winnable for the Sailors, who improved to 4-4 overall. They play host to Marina at Jim Scott Stadium next week. The Vikings go into Friday’s contest with Edison on a 58-game losing streak in league.

“Marina is very much improved,” Brinkley said. “Our offensive line played well again tonight. We ran the ball when we needed to, and the two quarterbacks … were very efficient again like last week. It’s helped us getting back the receivers [Levi Hooper and Dayne Chalmers from their respective shoulder and ankle injuries]. It’s opened things up a little bit after a couple of weeks of being pretty stagnant.”

After Huntington Beach struck first, Derek Thomas rushing into the end zone untouched from six yards out midway through the first quarter, Hook and Barela brought the Sailors back.

Hook, who completed eight of 10 passes for 93 yards, helped cut the Oilers lead to 8-7 early in the second quarter. He rolled to his right and hit Chalmers on an eight-yard touchdown pass.

Barela, who was seven of 11 for 94 yards, got his touchdown pass with less than four minutes left in the first half. He threw a 16-yard touchdown to Hooper, who finished with five receptions for 99 yards.

Hook and Chalmers would hook up on another eight-yard touchdown with 16 seconds to go before halftime. The Sailors went into the break up, 20-8.

With the lead, Newport Harbor pounded Kinder for much of the second half. He already had surpassed Newport Harbor’s 3,451-yard career record held by Dartangan Johnson, and now it was time to eat the clock against Huntington Beach (4-4 overall), ranked No. 8 in Division 7.

The Oilers, playing without starting quarterback Nick Welch for the second straight week since he broke his hand in the league opener, had no chance to come back. Dylan McCoy only completed three of 13 passes for 19 yards.

“No matter how great if feels to get the record, it is more important that we got the win,” said Kinder, who has rushed for 1,390 yards and 19 touchdowns this year. “Team accomplishments are most important. And it feels great because we still control our destiny to the playoffs.”

Sunset League

Newport Harbor 34, Huntington Beach 8

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Huntington 8 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 8

Newport 0 – 20 – 7 – 7 — 34

FIRST QUARTER

HB – Thomas 6 run (McLawyer run), 5:20.

SECOND QUARTER

NH – Chalmers 8 pass from Hook (Schroeder kick), 11:55.

NH – Hooper 16 pass from Barela (Schroeder kick), 3:52.

NH – Chalmers 8 pass from Hook (kick failed), :16.

THIRD QUARTER

NH – Kinder 11 run (Schroeder kick), 4:10.

FOURTH QUARTER

NH – Bailey 2 run (Schroeder kick), :59.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

HB – Thomas, 21-55, 1 TD.

NH – Kinder, 36-174, 1 TD.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

HB – McCoy, 3-13-0, 19.

NH – Barela, 7-11-0, 94, 1 TD; Hook, 8-10-0, 93, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

HB – Adams, 2-13.

NH – Hooper, 5-99, 1 TD.