Mendez gets record in loss

NEWPORT BEACH — When the lights turn on again next week on the same football field Estancia High played on Friday night, they’ll be for another team.

At least Estancia High Coach Mike Bargas smiled in defeat. What else could he do?

Talk of 27 years of playoff frustration for the football program was everywhere. Bargas has only been around for this year.

In reality, there was nothing the Eagles could do to prevent the inevitable against Irvine. They’ve grown accustomed to losing in opening-round games since last winning a playoff game in 1980.

Irvine handed Estancia its eighth straight first-round loss by winning the CIF Southern Section Southern Division opener, 24-6, at Newport Harbor High.

“We couldn’t get it going,” said Bargas after the team turned the ball over four times in the first three quarters. “We hung in there tough. I think we gave them a little bit of a scare [in the] first half, even though we were down by 10.”

Irvine (8-2) should’ve led by more if it weren’t for costly penalties in the first half. Estancia (5-6) was in the game despite being shut out and seeing the Vaqueros stuff running back Carlos Mendez.

The Vaqueros, the third entry from the Pacific Coast League, knew who they had to stop. They didn’t care about Mendez breaking Estancia’s single-season rushing record of 1,477 yards. The junior surpassed the mark set by Marshall Hendricks in 1999 with a 21-yard run early in the third quarter, his first, giving the impression Estancia was on to something.

But the play would be the Eagles’ longest of the night. Estancia was about to cut into the deficit, with Mendez racking up 45 yards on five straight runs, but the offense sputtered just as it did when the Eagles failed last week to become the outright Orange Coast League champions for the first time in any league since 1989.

Every time it got close, Estancia went backward. On a fourth-and-one on the Vaqueros’ 25, the defense hammered Mendez for a two-yard loss. Any momentum gained was lost. Mendez walked off to watch Irvine running back Andrew Payne hurt the defense.

Mendez has Estancia’s record after finishing with 90 yards on 19 carries, giving him 1,530 for the season. But Payne had the yards that mattered most to Mendez, the ones going for two touchdowns.

“That was our main goal to shut down their back,” said Payne, who ran for 94 yards on 17 carries. “[We wanted to] make them throw the ball, which they haven’t done very much all season.”

When the Eagles threw, it was into tight coverage and for the most part in first half the wide receiver wasn’t the player coming up with the ball. Payne picked off one pass playing defensive back and defensive back Chris Delcarlo intercepted two.

It was Delcarlo who also broke up the Irvine chant at the end, when Coach Terry Henigan told everyone he was glad his Vaqueros were practicing on Thanksgiving morning to get ready for today’s Savanna-Placentia winner next week.

“This is a good thing,” said Henigan, who has been at Irvine since 1981, a year after Estancia last beat the Vaqueros.

The year 1980 is the same one haunting Estancia teams that haven’t been able to do what that 1980 team did. That’s win a first-round playoff game.

Bargas didn’t need to be reminded of that. He just said, “we’re just going to get better.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.

SECOND QUARTER

Irv– Howard 25 FG, 11:55.

Irv – Reihanifam 13 run (Howard), 1:16.

THIRD QUARTER

Irv– Payne 6 run (Howard kick), 5:18.

Irv– Payne 6 run (Howard kick), 2:36.

FOURTH QUARTER

Est – Tomasek 19 pass from Gutierrez (run failed), 1:14.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Irv – Payne, 17-94, 2 TDs; Reihanifam, 11-60, 1 TD; Crumlich, 1-4.

Est – Mendez, 19-90; Gutierrez, 5-29; Moreno, 2-minus 1; Redding, 2-minus 7.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Irv – Crumlich, 8-16-0, 98.

Est – Gutierrez, 11-19-3, 105, 1 TD; Tomasek, 0-1-0, 0; Moreno, 0-1-0, 0.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Irv– Hong, 1-44; Jeffries, 3-21; Lamarr, 1-13; McNab, 1-11; Gomez, 1-9; Payne, 1-0.

Est – Redding, 5-60; Tomasek, 3-36, 1 TD; Moreno, 3-9.