Newport Harbor edges CdM in Battle of the Bay preview

Reporting from Irvine —  If Saturday night’s action is any indication of what fans can expect at next Friday’s Battle of the Bay game, supporters of the Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar High boys’ water polo teams are in for quite a treat.

They got a great preview at Woollett Aquatics Center in the third-place game of the S&R Cup tournament, the teams’ first meeting of the season.

In the end, it was another big goal by sophomore Makoto Kenney that lifted the Sailors.

Kenney scored his second game-winning goal of the season and the Sailors beat the Sea Kings, 16-15, in sudden-death overtime for third place. Not that Newport Harbor was satisfied with their performance Saturday on the whole. In the semifinal earlier Saturday, the Sailors lost to Foothill, a team that Newport beat in a nonleague game earlier this season, by a 10-7 score.

“We didn’t execute that well in both games, Foothill and CdM,” Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said. “Giving up 15 goals is not acceptable. These guys know it. It’s exciting, I guess. It’s a Battle of the Bay, so it doesn’t surprise me, but there’s a lot of learning in this game for us. Hopefully we can come back on Friday and have the same result, but not give up that many goals.”

The Battle of the Bay game is scheduled for Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Newport Harbor High.

Kenney and junior Jack White each scored five goals against CdM, with John Rankin scoring three and Charlie Covina netting two. Jackson Westerman had one goal and five exclusions drawn for the Sailors (13-3), who finished seven for eight on the power play.

Mitchell Cooper had five goals and Tanner Pulice scored four for the Sea Kings (10-5), while senior center Will Klein, Henry Wilde and Shane Papa each scored a pair of goals. Klein and Pulice each drew three exclusions. CdM coach Kareem Captan said it was the best game of the season so far for Papa, a junior.

Wilde had four assists and Hayden Roletter added three for the Sea Kings, who had lost earlier Saturday to eventual champion Sacred Heart Prep in the tournament semifinals, 14-8.

The third-place game was predictably intense — and close. Three yellow cards and two minor acts of misconduct were issued, and the score stayed within a goal for all of regulation.

CdM’s Cooper scored from about six meters with six seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the score, 12-12, and force overtime. The Sailors got goals from White and Kenney in the first regulation overtime period to take a 14-12 lead, but Pulice answered in the second overtime.

After Rankin scored a power-play goal on an exclusion earned by Westerman, the Newport lead grew back to two. But Pulice scored with 1:05 left, assisted by Wilde, then again came up clutch. His shot off a foul was field blocked by White. But the ball came back to the CdM sophomore, who buried the tying goal with seven seconds left to send the match to sudden-death.

Kenney turned and scored with 1:54 left in sudden-death overtime to end the game. It was his second game-winner of the season in sudden-death, following one in a nonleague game at Harvard-Westlake last month. The Sailors improved to 3-0 in overtime this season; they also beat Santa Margarita in the South Coast Tournament quarterfinals.

“Same as Harvard-Westlake,” Kenney said with a smile after his latest game-winner. “I wanted it to be over. I hate double-overtimes.”

The fans will not hate it if next Friday’s actual Battle of the Bay game is as exciting. Captan said he was just proud of the resilience of his team.

“They showed a lot of fortitude when faced with adversity, and that’s why I’m most proud of them,” Captan said. “We’re going to build off that … I know that Ross and his boys are going to bring it. When it comes to CdM and Newport, usually there’s fireworks like there were tonight. Hopefully we get the same thing next Friday, and hopefully a different result coming our way.”

Newport Harbor has a key nonleague game at Mater Dei on Tuesday, while CdM resumes Pacific Coast League play at Beckman.

Sacred Heart beat Foothill, 13-6, in the tournament title game.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo