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LOS ALAMITOS — Newport Harbor’s boys team got plenty of practice Wednesday night at one of the most important aspects of water polo: the power play.

The Sailors’ execution showed how tough the reigning CIF-SS Open Division champion could be this fall.

Third-ranked Newport Harbor went an eye-popping 10 for 13 on the man-advantage en route to an 18-10 victory against No. 4 Huntington Beach in a Surf League match at Los Alamitos High.

“It makes all the difference,” junior center Peter Castillo said of the Sailors’ execution on the power play. “The ability to finish those extra mans requires a lot of focus and connection. We’re always still working on that. To be able to always execute on 6-on-5 really changes the flow of the game.”

Newport Harbor’s impressive play in the second period showed exactly that.

In a clash of the finalists last season in the Open Division, the Sailors (10-1, 2-0) converted four consecutive chances on the man-advantage in the final three minutes of second to take control against the Oilers (12-4, 1-1).

Defender Gavin Appledorn, Castillo and left-handed attackers Ben Liechty and Nick Kennedy scored the power-play goals that helped Newport Harbor open a 10-6 lead at halftime.

Liechty, The Register’s reigning player of the year, sparked the stretch by drawing an exclusion and assisting a goal by Castillo for an 8-5 lead.

Castillo then drew two exclusions in the final minute of the first half that led to strikes by Liechty and Kennedy with 38 and two seconds remaining, respectively.

The UCLA-committed Liechty finished with a team-high six goals, four of which came on the power play. Castillo created several of the chances by drawing five exclusions and a penalty.

“Huntington runs a big zone so it’s really nice that we were able to draw exclusions. I thought our center play was really good,” Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said. “(We) did a good job moving the ball, attacking, finishing and shooting.”

The Sailors led 13-9 after three periods and then scored the first three goals of the fourth on their power play. The strikes came from Castillo, Liechty and Gavin Netherton.

Castillo and emerging senior attacker Finn LeSieur each finished with three goals for Newport Harbor. Goalie Cooper Mathisrud added six saves and three steals.

“It’s a good win,” said Liechty, who also had three steals and a field block. “We can learn a lot from it. There a lot of (defensive) mistakes that we made during this game that we can watch on film and practice.”

Huntington Beach went 3 for 8 on its chances with the extra attacker. USC-committed Zach Bettino led the Oilers with six goals while center Ethan Spoon drew seven exclusions.

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The Oilers have shown plenty of fight despite the loss of high-profile transfers Ryder Dodd and Finneas Palcza to JSerra.

“We practice hard. We put a lot of time in and watch film,” Bettino said. “We have a couple of sophomores who are stepping up a lot. JD (Johnson) and Dusan (Djordjevic) are really stepping up. And we have Christian Spoon stepping up and Jay (Pyle in goal).”

Newport Harbor returns to action Thursday by playing host to De La Salle of Concord.