Irvine’s Garcia Pays No Attention to Newport Harbor’s Words

All week long, Irvine High quarterback Aron Garcia said he read the newspaper articles and watched the television interviews of Newport Harbor players boasting about their great defense.

Funny, Garcia thought.

In his opinion, Orange County’s best defense was the one he faced in practice each day.

“Newport Harbor talked trash all week,” he said. “But we showed them up tonight. They were saying their defense was better than ours, and that (ticked) us off.”

How much?

Enough for him to complete 17 of 23 passes, including his first nine in a row, for 254 yards and two touchdowns in the Vaqueros’ 30-8 victory over the Sailors in the Division IV championship game Saturday night at Orange Coast College.

“I don’t think there’s any question now who has the best defense,” said Garcia, pointing to the scoreboard near the end of the game. “All week, Newport Harbor talked about how great its defensive line was. We scored on them, and they got only eight points. And that was in the fourth quarter.”

Garcia showed that the Vaqueros have a decent offense as well as a defense.

He threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Tony Arellano for Irvine’s first score, and threw 45 yards to Tony Mathis for the Vaqueros last score, with 20 seconds left in the third quarter.

He regularly found Arellano, Mathis and wide receiver Todd Thomas open in the Sailor secondary. Thomas caught five passes for 94 yards and Mathis three for 56. Arellano caught two Garcia passes for 48 yards, and a 55-yard halfback option touchdown pass from Scott Seal.

Garcia, a 6-foot, 180-pound senior, also gave credit to his offensive line--Brian Davies, Tom Westin, Josh Wellikson, Greg Alix and Sean Gully.

“They were super,” Garcia said. “They did a great job on (Newport Harbor defensive linemen) Beau Ralphs and Phil Bloomberg.”

After the game, Garcia said his performance was one of the best of his career. He said he could not remember completing his first nine passes in a game.

“Did he (Garcia) play well?” Irvine Coach Terry Henigan asked after the game.

Seriously, coach. Were you watching the game?

“Aron is the smartest quarterback I’ve ever had,” Henigan said. “I wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the county.”

Garcia played in his second consecutive championship game Saturday night, but first as a quarterback.

He lost a close battle for the quarterback spot as a sophomore to Jason Minici, who went on to lead the Vaqueros to the Division II championship last season.

Garcia played wide receiver last season, catching two passes in the championship game.

After Minici graduated last spring, the quarterback job became Garica’s.

He erased any doubts about replacing Minici by completing 145 of 244 passes for 2,001 yards, 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

And, of course, leading the Vaqueros to another title.

“We’re going to celebrate tonight,” Garcia said. “I can’t tell you exactly what it will be. Probably a lot of partying.

“One thing’s for sure. I’m not going to bed tonight.”