NEWPORT HARBOR — With all of the momentum swings, big plays, takeaways and a combined 10 touchdowns, the nonleague game between Cajon and Newport Harbor on Thursday night at Newport Harbor High School came down to a single play.
Cajon’s Owen Morris kicked an 18-yard field goal as time ran out to give the Cowboys a 38-35 victory over the Sailors.
The Sailors (1-3) tied the score on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Jake Meer to Ryan Palmer with three minutes, 13 seconds left in the game, which was plenty of time for Cajon’s talented freshman quarterback Marcus Washington, who completed 10 passes for 221 yards, with four touchdowns.
Washington threw touchdown passes of 27, 83, 18 and two yards and all but two of his completions were for at least 10 yards.
On the final scoring drive, which went for 66 yards, the Cowboys (2-1) converted a third-and-12 for a 45-yard gain and then a third-and-3 from the Sailors 21 with one-minute, 20 seconds remaining.
The Cowboys converted on third- and fourth-downs multiple times.
Late in the first half, on fourth-and-5 from the Sailors 18, Washington connected with Landon White for a touchdown, giving the Cowboys a 28-21 lead at the half.
“We missed some critical tackles at bad situations and gave them some big plays,” Newport Harbor coach Matt Burns said. “We eliminate some of those big plays and the score is not what it is.”
In the first quarter, the Cowboys led 7-0 and were moving the ball on their second drive, when defensive lineman Cruz Marsella got into the backfield, intercepted a short shuffle pass and returned it for a 50-yard touchdown to tie the score for the Sailors.
After the Cowboys took the lead back, an interception from Shane McKibben at the Newport Harbor 47 set up the Sailors’ second touchdown when Jonah Takamori capped a 53-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to tie the score again.
Takamori finished with 78 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries and most of the running back’s yards were gained on bruising runs up the middle.
The Sailors took their first lead at 21-14 on Meer’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Palmer.
But the Cowboys came back to tie the score again on an 83-yard scoring pass from Washington to White.
The pair connected again, giving the Cowboys a 28-21 lead at halftime.
Two of the Sailors’ three defeats have come in games where they had fourth quarter leads.
“That’s three games we’ve lost on the last play,” Burns said. “So, we’ve got to find a way to shut it down and figure that out.”
