ORANGE COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL : Irvine Dumps Lions : Westminster Plays Own Worst Enemy, Fumbles to 10-0 Loss

Football victories are rare at Irvine, so you can imagine how the Vaqueros felt Friday night when they shut out Westminster, 10-0. On the road.

“We’re really excited,” Irvine Coach Terry Henigan understated after Irvine snapped a six-game losing streak. “We never dreamed of a shutout; we were just hoping to win.”

Jeff Jones, who threw one touchdown pass all last season, completed 11 of 16 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown, a 66-yard bomb to Tony Bolanos in the first quarter.

Jones and Bolanos teamed up four times for a total of 111 yards to help the Vaqueros match their win total of last season and instill some life into a program that has been mistaken for dead.

“We struggled last year and we played well last week but lost,” Henigan said. “I think everybody in the program was starting to doubt ourselves so tonight really helps.”

If anybody is having doubts it’s the Lions. After opening the season with a 14-0 victory over Robert E. Lee High of Springfield, Va., Westminster has been thrashed twice at home.

Friday night the Lions were once again their own worst enemy. Brian O’Hara returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the first quarter only to have it nullified by a penalty away from the ball. Quarterback Bob Elliot completed only 6 of 24 attempts for 40 yards. He was intercepted once and he fumbled three times, losing two.

Still, the Lions seemed to have enough firepower to turn back the pesky Vaqueros. Westminster mounted a 12-play, 77-yard drive in the third quarter only to have it squashed by Lynn Shackleford’s interception. In the final quarter, Westminster marched 48 yards in 15 plays but came up empty.

Kicker Troy Rossean, who reportedly had been kicking 62-yard field goals in practice, missed twice, from 46 and 42 yards.

Meanwhile, George Koutures, who was pressed into action when Irvine’s regular kicker, Bolanos, was hurt, booted a 35-yard field goal in the second half for the Vaqueros.

It was that kind of a night for the Lions.

“We’d move the ball well and then self destruct,” said Stan Clark, Westminster co-coach.