Prep football: Irvine stuffs Tars

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Irvine High football coach Terry Henigan appeared

genuinely surprised after his football team earned a 14-0 victory in

Friday’s CIF Southern Section championship game at Orange Coast College.

But Henigan, who hoisted his fourth section championship plaque in 10

years, didn’t have much company from the overflow crowd of 8,000.

Most everyone who witnessed this one, simply saw Orange County’s

toughest defense defend its well-earned reputation.

“They’ve done it all year,” said Henigan, who, for the first time in

his 20 seasons at the Irvine helm, did not experience defeat all season.

Newport Harbor’s defense did a job of its own, coming up with three

first-half turnovers, all of which set the Sailors’ offense up in Vaquero

territory.

But, Irvine, which became the first team to blank Harbor in 50

contests (dating back to a 38-0 loss to Santa Margarita in the 1996 CIF

Division V final), refused to buckle.

Harbor (11-3) went three-and-out, losing 6 yards, after Alan Saenz’s

acrobatic interception -- tipping a screen pass to himself at the Irvine

42-yard line, late in the first quarter.

Then, when Garrett Troncale sacked Irvine quarterback Travis Otott,

forcing a fumble Harbor’s Ian Banigan swallowed up at the Irvine 39, the

Vaqs bowed but didn’t break.

A Harbor receiver was spun down while trying to drag a defender into

the end zone, and the ball came out as the Sailor hit the ground at the

1. The ball trickled into the end zone, where outside linebacker Zach

Taylor fell on it for a touchback with 7:16 left in the first half.

Three plays later, Otott lofted a strike to Eric Patton on a sideline

streak and Patton, broke two tackles on his way to a 77-yard scoring play

with 5:45 left. The longest TD scored on Newport this season turned out

to be all the Vaqueros would need.

“We had our opportunities early and you have to stick those in (the

end zone),” Newport Coach Jeff Brinkley said. “Their defense played well,

it’s played well all year.

Dane Barton intercepted just inside Vaquero territory on Irvine’s next

offense series, but no harm was done on the scoreboard.

Irvine, as it did in its 19-14 Sea View League win over the Tars Oct.

13, got a big return on the second-half kickoff to set up a touchdown.

Godfrey Young, who has returned four kicks for TDs this fall, broke 43

yards along the sideline to the Newport 47. He went 69 yards in the

league meeting to set up the score which gave Irvine its insurmountable

lead.

“That didn’t help,” Brinkley said of Young’s return, which Otott

cashed in seven play later, connecting with Dave Doomey on a 15-yard TD

pass. The play came one snap after Young converted a fourth-and-one

situation and Doomey added his second conversion kick to all but seal the

deal.

Irvine’s defense, a maniacal band of darting demons, which averages

just 6-foot, 176 pounds, technically closed the coffin from there. It was

the Vaqs’ fifth shutout of the campaign, their third in four playoff

games. In last week’s semifinal, they held a Tustin, which had averaged

62 points its previous seven games, to six points.

Senior end Brian Porteous sacked Morgan Craig for a 9-yard loss on

fourth-and-18 at the Irvine 23 to thwart a Newport drive that began on

its 24.

Senior safety Joe Bollard, who shared Sea View League Co-Defensive

Player of the Year laurels with Saenz, intercepted at his own 1 to stop

another possession and Chris Lamm picked off another pass to end Harbor’s

final drive.

Irvine had five sacks and held Newport tailback Chris Manderino to

less than 100 yards for the first time in his 13-games playing tailback.

Manderino, the Sea View Offensive Player of the Year, gained 73 yards on

24 carries to finish with 2,141 yards for the season. Manderino, who came

in with a Newport-Mesa District single-season record 31 TDs, also caught

three passes for 36 yards, as Craig completed 17 of 31 for 163 yards.

Junior receiver Brian Gaeta, like Craig one of seven starters

returning, caught eight passes for 79 yards. His performance gave him 62

catches, the third-best single-season total in the school’s 70-season

varsity history.

Irvine managed just 69 yards rushing, but all six of Otott’s

completions produced double-figure yardage.

Patton, who sat out the last two games for disciplinary reasons, had

two catches for 92 yards.