Football: Kinder next man up for Newport Harbor

Cole Kinder talks with somewhat of a Scottish accent and he’s not Scottish. Whenever people hear him talk for the first time, they ask Kinder, “Where are you from?”

“I tell them I’m from Hoag Hospital,” said Kinder, who tends to elicit a strange look, followed up with, “Oh, you’re from Newport Beach.”

Kinder lives in Newport Beach, where when he’s not fooling people with his accent, he’s messing with defenders on a football field.

Kinder is only a sophomore at Newport Harbor High, yet the 6-foot-1, 195-pound running back is a load to bring down. Trying to understand what Kinder is saying is almost as tough as tackling him in the open field.

A patched-up offensive line created holes for Kinder to run wild last week. Fifteen times the Sailors gave the ball to Kinder and he produced 188 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. He ran right through Marina’s defense and he outran it, helping the host Sailors to a 49-15 victory in Sunset League action.

The result kept Newport Harbor (4-5, 2-2 in league) in the hunt to qualify for the CIF Southern Section West Valley Division playoffs. One league game remains against Fountain Valley (5-4, 1-3) on Friday at Huntington Beach High at 7 p.m. If the Sailors prevail, they clinch third place in league and its final guaranteed postseason berth.

The key to the Sailors advancing to the playoffs for the 23rd time in 29 years under Coach Jeff Brinkley is whether they can run the ball. In their league losses to Los Alamitos and Edison, they fell behind early and abandoned the run.

A balanced offensive attack worked for Newport Harbor in its league wins against Huntington Beach and Marina. Those games resulted in Kinder’s top two outings, 24 carries for 167 yards against the Oilers, and 15 carries for 188 yards and three touchdowns against the Vikings.

The Sailors never expected to rely on Kinder this much this season. They returned a starter, Chance Siemonsma, at tailback. Nevertheless, in the third game of the year, against rival Corona del Mar in the Battle of the Bay, Newport Harbor lost Siemonsma to a torn anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his knee.

Gone was the senior who gave Kinder advice when Kinder played on the lower-level teams.

“He always told me what I was doing right and what I needed to do better,” Kinder said. “I don’t always run as low as I should be.”

Siemonsma still looks after Kinder. In a way, Kinder is the ideal running back to take over the backfield duties for Siemonsma.

The two went to St. Joachim Catholic School in Costa Mesa, where Kinder marveled at Siemonsma and his speed. Kinder, two grades back of Siemonsma, went on to break a couple of Siemonsma’s track and field records at the school.

Kinder is now breaking long touchdown runs on the football field for the Sailors. His longest score of the year went for 68 yards last week. Midway through the first quarter, he went right, making one would-be tackler miss, before racing down the sideline to give Newport Harbor a 14-0 lead.

The touchdown marked the first of two for Kinder in the opening quarter. He really should have found the end zone three times in the first 12 minutes.

On the game’s opening drive, after Riley Gaddis set the Sailors up on Marina’s 25-yard line with a 73-yard kickoff return, the offense went to Kinder on consecutive plays. The second run featured Kinder dragging a defender inside the 10-yard line, almost into the end zone.

“It was borderline,” Kinder said whether the ball crossed the goal line or not, but he was happy to see his team punch it in from the one, on a fullback give to Trevor Shaw.

The offensive line, which featured a 6-foot, 195-pound tight end, Brett Beaudette, lining up at left tackle, and a new center, Colin Rowe, paved the way for Kinder, along with left guard Joshua Perez, right guard Arthur Guillen and right tackle Max Spruill. Injuries have decimated the line, with original starters, left tackle Joey Stukonis (fractured ankle), center Elliott Frye (broken hand) and right guard Mike Jarboe (concussion) dealing with serious injuries.

With the makeshift line, Kinder’s other two touchdowns came on a one-yard run and a 22-yard run. The Sailors wound up with five touchdowns on the ground, their most in a game this season.

The Sailors used to pound the ball, until quarterback Cole Norris became the starting quarterback two years ago. Ever since, Norris has passed for 6,545 yards and 69 touchdowns, career stats ranking him No. 9 and No. 7, respectively, in Orange County history.

Norris’ break on varsity came in the same manner as Kinder’s this year. Norris stepped in for an injured quarterback early in the season two years ago, and then became the starter as a sophomore.

Kinder has made the most of his chance to run for Newport Harbor. Brinkley likes his size, speed, and that he runs hard every time. In only seven games, Kinder has rushed for 806 yards, tops in the area, and four touchdowns. He is averaging 7.3 yards per carry.

“My teammates and coaches have been very supportive,” said Kinder, who also had an older brother, Adam, go through the Newport Harbor football program, before graduating in 2012.

Football is big in the Kinder family. Kinder said Adam is a defensive end at the University of Wyoming, where their father, Tom, played in 1981. Kinder isn’t sure if he will go to school in Laramie, Wyo., where many of his family members have gone, but he will be bound for college after high school.

Kinder excels in the classroom. He said he has a non-weighted 4.0 grade-point average. This semester, he is taking two Advanced Placement courses, European History and Language.

Maybe Kinder can find the origins of his Scottish accent in one of those AP courses.

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Cole Kinder

Born: Aug. 23, 1998

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 195 pounds

Sport: Football

Year: Sophomore

Coach: Jeff Brinkley

Favorite food: Steak

Favorite movie: “Undercover Brother”

Favorite athletic moment: Scoring three touchdowns in the first 2 minutes 37 seconds of a game for the Costa Mesa Pop Warner Junior Pee Wee Silver team five years ago.

Week in review: Kinder rushed 15 times for 188 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Sailors rout Marina, 49-15, in a Sunset League game.