Henigan gets win No. 200

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With his undefeated team’s fourth consecutive victory, Terry Henigan won the 200th game of his career last week.

Irvine defeated Santa Ana Calvary Chapel, 27-7, making Henigan just the sixth coach in Orange County history to reach 200 victories.

‘I didn’t even know about this,’ said Henigan, who has four victories in Southern Section championship games. ‘I’m being honest. I knew I was over 150.’

Actually, Henigan thought he was sitting on 193.

He seeks No. 201 on Friday against Northwood, a school that opened a few years ago and impacted the number of games Irvine won when players (and coaches) migrated to newer pastures. Northwood a section finalist in 2005 and coached by former Henigan assistant Rick Curtis, is 0-4.

John Barnes, the Los Alamitos coach, is Orange County’s all-time leader with 261 victories. He also was an assistant to Henigan, at Cypress.

Henigan began his career coaching at Cypress in 1976. He stepped down after the 1979 season to accept a position in Oregon, but when that fell through, he assisted his successor, Jeff DeLapp, in 1980 and took the Irvine job in 1981.

‘I would have never left Cypress but we thought about leaving the area,’ Henigan said.

Sons Michael and Mark Henigan recently researched the subject and contacted Cypress to find out about their father’s early career. Ray Fenton, an alumnus and the current coach, was a former player of Henigan’s.

‘When my career is over, it will be a tremendous honor for me,’ Henigan said, downplaying the milestone’s meaning right now. ‘We don’t believe too much in individual things. We don’t want anything to disturb the kids. They should be playing the game for different reasons than that.’

- Martin Henderson