Newport Harbor Sails Past Ocean View

NEWPORT BEACH — George Greenwalt missed Newport Harbor High School’s opening game of the season with a bruised knee.

But Greenwalt didn’t miss a thing Friday night--especially not passes from Sailor quarterback Steve Walker. Greenwalt grabbed 10 of them to help lead host Newport Harbor to a 20-6 victory over Ocean View.

“It helps that he’s a big target,” Walker said.

Catches by Greenwalt helped set up both Newport Harbor touchdowns. Greenwalt, a 6-foot-3 tight end, hauled in a 14-yard pass in the first quarter, and Walker scrambled three yards for the game’s first touchdown.

Then Newport Harbor’s short passing game got clicking.

Walker and Greenwalt connected five times on an 80-yard second-quarter drive. Tailback Russell Olshefski capped off the march by taking a pitch 15 yards around the left end into the end zone.

“Steve did a great job of moving around in the pocket and finding the open guy,” Greenwalt said. “I was the secondary receiver on a lot of those passes, but Steve had it all going tonight. He was putting the ball right on the numbers.”

Especially between the 8’s on Greenwalt’s chest. Of Walker’s 153 yards passing, 117 went to Greenwalt. Walker went 13 for 20.

Meanwhile, Ocean View’s run-and-shoot attack was driven into the ground by Newport Harbor’s aggressive defensive linemen--five of whom play offense as well. The Sailors flushed Ocean View quarterback Randy Karliner into several errant throws.

“Those five guys in particular were running all night,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “But we’re in good shape. We worked really hard on our conditioning all summer and it’s paying off.”

Karliner passed for 100 yards, completing only eight of 24 attempts.

Newport Harbor, which downed Laguna Beach last week, 41-7 improved to 2-0. Ocean View fell to 1-1.