Irvine Rides Big Quarter to Rout of Santa Ana Valley

Irvine scored 23 points in the second quarter and went on to defeat Santa Ana Valley, 33-6, in the first round of the Southern Section Division VI playoffs at Irvine Friday night.

Irvine senior James Whitted caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Ricci with 1 minute 16 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Vaqueros a 23-0 lead that pretty much settled it.

Whitted finished with 11 catches for 116 yards and Ricci finished with 15 of 20 completions for 179 yards for the Vaqueros (8-2-1), who will play Lakewood Mayfair in the second round.

Irvine running back Martin Rovira also had an excellent game, rushing for 141 yards in 10 carries before leaving the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter. Irvine Coach Terry Henigan said the injury is not believed to be serious.

Santa Ana Valley (8-3) tried to move the ball through the air. Quarterback Miguel Guerrero completed 14 of 45 passes for 221 yards with two interceptions. The Falcons ended Irvine’s shutout bid when Guerrero connected with Johnny Mejia on a 53-yard touchdown pass as time expired. No point after was attempted.

Santa Ana Valley rushed just 15 times for 32 yards.

“The defense was very, very good,” Henigan said. “The score is a little deceiving. There were a lot of big plays. We didn’t march the ball on them. We hit some big passes and we had some picks [interceptions by Eric Patton and Jessob Reisbeck].”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Vaqueros moved ahead, 7-0, on a one-yard touchdown run by Peter Abe with 11:50 left in the second quarter.

On the next possession, Rovira ran 81 yards for a touchdown to put Irvine ahead 13-0.

Reisbeck then kicked a 23-yard field goal with 3:28 left in the second quarter to put the Vaqueros ahead 16-0.