Buzzer-beater lifts Newport Harbor boys’ water polo to fifth straight CIF final

A special guest showed up on the Newport Harbor High pool deck before the match.

Marcia Barnett, the wife of the late legendary Sailors coach Bill Barnett, came to see the Sailors take on Studio City Harvard-Westlake on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs.

A video camera sat on a table in front of her. Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair, grinning, quickly picked it up.

“I’m not going to make you film,” Sinclair said.

Video of the final moments was in high demand after the match, following a thriller that Bill Barnett himself surely would have appreciated.

Newport Harbor sophomore Connor Ohl scored a six-on-five goal at the buzzer to help the No. 2-seeded Sailors beat No. 3 Harvard-Westlake 12-11 and advance to Saturday’s Open Division title match.

Newport Harbor (26-3) will go for a “three-peat” in the Open Division as it plays top-seeded JSerra (26-0) for the title at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College. It’s a rematch of last year’s final that the Sailors won 10-9.

JSerra beat Corona del Mar 14-6 in the other semifinal match Wednesday night.

This is the fifth straight CIF finals appearance in the top division for the proud Sailors, not counting a COVID year in 2020-21 when playoffs did not occur.

Newport Harbor goalkeeper Luke Harris, shown making a save against CdM earlier this year, had a key block in the final minute for the Sailors on Wednesday night.

(File Photo)

“It’s a testament to everyone committing to this program here, from a coaching standpoint to a player standpoint to a community standpoint, school administration standpoint,” Sinclair said. “Obviously, Barnett built it, and it’s our job to keep it standing.”

Ohl’s fourth goal of the match came after junior goalkeeper Luke Harris made a fingertip save on Harvard-Westlake center Otto Stothart on the other end, preserving the tie. Sinclair called timeout with 31 seconds left.

In the sequence, Sailors senior center Peter Castillo drew an exclusion to set up the power play. Sophomore left-hander Mason Netzer held the ball on the right in the closing seconds — both Sinclair and Ohl said they thought that Netzer would shoot — but he found Ohl for a final shot just at the buzzer.

“It’s all a blur now,” Ohl said. “Mason just found the extra pass and we were able to convert on that.”

Ohl, a 6-foot-5 transfer from Brunswick School in Connecticut, also led the Sailors with five steals. On the same day his older brother Ryan Ohl signed with Stanford men’s water polo back in Brunswick, Connor also made plenty of waves on the West Coast with his buzzer-beater.

“I came out here and I just felt like I have something to prove to everybody,” Ohl said. “Everybody back home, everybody out here, I just owe a debt, especially to my parents.”

Ohl said his mom Diane moved with him to California, while his dad Chris stayed with his older brother on the East Coast.

Castillo had a mammoth performance at center for the Sailors, with five goals scored and nine exclusions drawn, including a penalty shot drawn. Owen Tift chipped in a goal and three assists, and Netzer also had a goal and an assist. Quinn Bartlett also scored for the Sailors, who got an assist from Kai Kaneko and three steals from Jack Wright.

Senior Gavin Appeldorn provided his usual stellar center defense.

“He’s an insane center defender,” Sinclair said. “Their centers are really good, and he played almost the whole game.”

Peter Castillo (4) of Newport Harbor, shown competing against CdM last season, led the Sailors with five goals in the Open Division semifinals Wednesday.

(File Photo)

Harvard-Westlake (19-8) led by as many as three goals in the second quarter. The Wolverines took an 11-10 lead with 3:58 left in the game on a penalty shot goal from Alexander Heenan.

The Sailors immediately answered when Castillo drew his own penalty shot and scored it.

Harvard commit Dean Strauser paced Harvard-Westlake with four goals, but it wasn’t enough to stop Newport Harbor from beating the Wolverines for the fourth time in five attempts this season.

Now, the Sailors will play for their third straight Open Division title on Saturday.

“It’s where we want to be,” said Castillo, who wouldn’t mind another CIF championship ring before he heads off to UCLA. “It’s exactly where we want to be.”