Newbury Park edges Yorba Linda to reach Division 2 football title game

NEWBURY PARK — The Newbury Park High School football team punched its ticket to the CIF Div. 2 Southern Section finals with a 20-14 win over visiting Yorba Linda on Friday night.

The Panthers (13-0) survived to reach a sectional final for the second straight year, advancing despite scoring a season-low in points while playing their most undisciplined game of the season.

“I’m actually disgusted in the way this one played out,” said Newbury Park coach Joe Smigiel. “We got away without one tonight. We really did. That’s our worst football game of the year. We had a bunch of guys acting like they’d never been here before and we had penalties that just aren’t Newbury Park football.”

Newbury Park’s defense helped them return to the title game. Newbury Park forced turnovers on downs four different times, including the first drive of the second half. By stopping Yorba Linda on fourth and inches, Newbury Park got the ball back in Yorba Linda territory.

“I love the fact that our defense got after it, but we have got to clean things up,” said Smigiel. “They played hard. Hats off to the defense. Hats off to those guys and hats off to the defensive coordinator. They were good.”

Newbury Park scored three plays later when Brady Smigiel threw his second touchdown of the game to Shane Rosenthal. He finished 12 of 17 passing for 165 yards in the win with two passing touchdowns and a rushing score.

“We didn’t have a good first half and that’s not Panther football,” said Brady Smigiel. “We just started playing our type of football, which is just hard-nosed football.”

Michael Guzman picked off a pass on the next drive, setting the Panthers up with a short field again. Smigiel rushed for a 16-yard touchdown three plays later.

The teams opened the game by exchanging three and outs before punting the first time each possessed the ball. This set the tone for a scoreless first quarter.

Yorba Linda got on the board first, with Cole Nerio bowling into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown just over midway through the second quarter. Senior quarterback Holden Nagin took the first play of the drive straight up the middle for a 45-yard keeper to get the Mustangs (11-2) in scoring range.

Newbury Park tied it at 7-7 in the final minute of the first half. Smigiel, a junior who is already committed to Florida State, set up a 5-yard Shane Rosenthal touchdown grab by connecting with Drew Cofield on a 54-yard gain two plays before.

Aidan Gutierrez chipped in with a 12-yard rushing touchdown in the loss for the Mustangs.