HUNTINGTON BEACH – Playoff hopes hung in the balance as Newport Harbor and Fountain Valley entered the fourth quarter of their Sunset League battle Friday night.
And the battle went down to the final buzzer.
Trevor Shaw punched in a 1-yard run for a touchdown on the game’s last play, delivering the decisive blow in the season-finale thriller as Newport Harbor shocked Fountain Valley, 34-33, at Huntington Beach High.
The Sailors (5-5, 3-2) clinched the Sunset League’s third and final automatic CIF-SS playoff bid. Fountain Valley was hoping to force a three-way tie for the league’s third seed, but the Barons (5-5, 1-4) will have to wait until the at-large selections are made Sunday to see if they qualified for the postseason.
Newport Harbor is going to the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
“It’s a group that has battled through a lot of adversity,” Sailors coach Jeff Brinkley said of his team. “We’re just one of those groups that keeps scrapping. We managed to get it done, so back to playoffs again.”
Moe Falealii had put the Barons ahead, 33-28, with 42 seconds remaining on a 59-yard deep pass from Kent Swift.
Newport Harbor took over with 40 seconds on the clock and one timeout in its pocket.
Quarterback Cole Norris scrambled for a first down to start the drive. A 22-yard connection with Keaton Cablay put the ball at the Barons’ 35.
With under 20 seconds remaining, Riley Gaddis crossed the field from right to left, and Norris completed a pass to him to move the ball down to the Fountain Valley 1. The Sailors spiked the ball to preserve the timeout with six seconds to go.
That’s when Shaw drove the ball into the middle of his offensive line. After an initial delay, the officials signaled touchdown, and Shaw emerged from the pile flourishing his fists in victory.
“We knew that it was going down to the last play,” Gaddis said. “I’m going to remember this one for the rest of my life. Seriously, it couldn’t have gone any better.”
Fountain Valley rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The lead changed hands four times in the final 4:10.
Swift scored on runs of 17 and 15 yards to give the Barons a 27-21 edge. Gaddis answered on the ensuing kickoff with a 72-yard sprint up the right sideline to give the Sailors the lead, 28-27, with 3:58 remaining.
“Our kids just kept battling,” Brinkley said. “It would have been easy for them to roll over at the end. Things were good and then they were bad. At the end it looked like (the Barons) had control of the thing.”
Norris finished with 215 passing yards and two touchdowns. Gaddis had 126 receiving yards.
