Newport Harbor's joy dashed by coin flip

PLACENTIA - Ecstasy, then agony.

Moments after Esperanza’s field goal missed with no time remaining, and Newport Harbor began to celebrate, the Sailors’ joy was cut cruelly short.

Newport Harbor defeated Esperanza, 13-10, on Friday at Valencia High to force a three-way tie for second place in the Sunset League with Los Alamitos and Fountain Valley at 3-2.

But the Sailors came up short on the coin flip as the Griffins and Barons took the League’s final two Pac-5 Division playoff spots.

The Sailors (6-4) fell into a pool of teams who will hope to be selected as the Division’s lone at-large team in the playoffs.

"The kids have gone through this the last two years, having their heart torn out," said Newport Beach coach Jeff Brinkley, whose team finished in a five-way tie for first last season but missed the playoffs because of the coin flip tiebreaker.

After Dillan Freiberg’s 34-yard field goal with 4:26 left gave Newport Harbor a 13-10 lead, Esperanza (4-6, 1-4) lined up for a 47-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to try and force overtime. But Tyler Drees’ kick was wide left with three seconds left.

Freiberg, who missed an earlier field goal try, righted himself on the winner.

“My plant foot was coming in too high,” Freiberg said. “I worked in the net a lot and was ready (for the next kick).

Esperanza (4-6, 1-4), which lost its past two league games by a total of five points, had won or shared each of the past four league titles. The Aztecs, who will move to a new league next season, will miss the playoffs for the first year since 2001.

“(The Sunset) is a great league with great teams,” Esperanza coach Greg Kemp said. “We just didn’t finish games this year.”

Newport Harbor led 10-3 after three periods but Esperanza tied it on Mark Tumlinson’s 1-yard touchdown run with 11:19 left.