Newport Harbor halts JSerra’s 40-match winning streak, captures first South Coast tournament title since 2018

Newport Harbor halted a five-match losing streak against JSerra and ended a six-year drought without a championship at the South Coast boys water polo tournament Saturday with a 14-6 victory in the final at Corona del Mar High.

Although Newport Harbor didn’t get to celebrate in its home pool – the usual site of the event final – as a result of the school’s aquatics complex being renovated this season, the Sailors (9-0) were still able to appreciate the significance of snapping a 40-match winning streak by JSerra (7-1), last year’s South Coast tournament champion, to earn the program’s first title since 2018.

Kai Kaneko had five goals and fellow junior Geoff Slutzky added three goals for Newport Harbor, which was the last team to defeat JSerra, achieving a 10-9 victory in the 2022 CIF-Southern Section Division 1 final.

The Lions rebounded to produce an 11-8 triumph against Newport Harbor a week later in the Southern California Division 1 regional final, then defeated the Sailors four times last year during their run to a 30-0 season and another regional championship.

Newport Harbor held JSerra – which was led Saturday by three goals from sophomore Porter Birdsall – to its lowest scoring output since earning a 10-4 victory against the Lions in the 2022 Elite 8 Tournament at Harvard-Westlake.

JSerra never scored fewer than eight goals during its 40-match winning streak, becoming the 10th program in California boys water polo history to win at least 40 consecutive contests.

Although Newport Harbor ended an 11-year stretch without a South Coast tournament crown by defeating Harvard-Westlake 13-11 to win the 2018 championship, the Sailors had to endure setbacks in the 2019, 2021 and 2022 finals, before taking third last year.

Mater Dei prevailed 8-7 against Newport Harbor in the 2022 championship, following a 12-10 victory against the Sailors in the 2021 final.

Harvard-Westlake, which also defeated Newport Harbor by a 12-9 margin in last year’s semifinals, achieved an 11-7 victory against the Sailors in the 2019 tournament final.

Newport Harbor built a 6-3 halftime advantage Saturday against JSerra and relied on a run of six unanswered goals in the second and third quarters to pull away from the Lions, who received seven saves from goalkeeper Jonas Ransford.

Luke Harris recorded eight saves for Newport Harbor, which outscored its five tournament opponents by an 85-21 margin, including a 17-5 semifinal victory Saturday against Harvard-Westlake (7-2).

Dash D’Ambrosia helped Newport Harbor wins the South Coast tournament title for the first time in six years. Photo courtesy of Newport Harbor

Oaks Christian (6-2), which endured a 10-9 semifinal loss against JSerra with Birdsall scoring the deciding goal with 1:16 left in the fourth, rebounded to produce a 16-12 win against Harvard-Westlake in the third-place match.

Mater Dei (8-4), which endured a 13-11 quarterfinal loss Friday to Harvard-Westlake, outlasted Concord De La Salle by a 12-11 margin in overtime in Saturday’s fifth-place contest.

De La Salle (5-2) endured a 13-10 quarterfinal setback Friday against JSerra.

Miramonte (4-2), which suffered a 12-7 loss Saturday to North Coast Section rival De La Salle in the fifth-place semifinals, regrouped against Corona del Mar (10-3) in the seventh-place match to outlast the Sea Kings by a 14-13 margin in overtime.

Corona del Mar suffered its third consecutive setback after winning its first 10 contests, also losing 14-6 to Newport Harbor in Friday’s quarterfinals and enduring a 12-10 defeat against Mater Dei in Saturday’s fifth-place semifinals.

Cathedral Catholic, the top program in San Diego, earned a 12-9 win against Sacred Heart Prep (4-3), the reigning Central Coast Section Open Division champion, in the ninth-place contest Saturday at Santa Ana Foothill High.

Cathedral Catholic (7-1), which suffered a 9-7 setback Thursday against Miramonte, produced a 15-5 victory Saturday against The Bishop’s School in a rematch of last year’s San Diego Section Open Division final.