Irvine, Other County Teams Begin Practice, Practice, Practice

Terry Henigan, Irvine High School football coach and taskmaster, was punctual. It was 8 a.m. and he bellowed.

“Everyone should know where they’re going.”

A group of Vaquero players sprinted onto the field and began workouts. Football season at Irvine High School had begun, as it had throughout Orange County.

Marina began practice a week ago to prepare for the Sept. 1 Akina Memorial Classic in Honolulu, as did Southern California Christian for its game Sept. 2 against Kaahumanu Hou High in Maui. But the rest of the teams began two-a-day workouts Monday.

At Irvine, the Vaqueros have won three consecutive Southern Section championships and have not lost a Sea View League game in two seasons. Those accomplishments, though, are not talked about, not even in a whisper.

“Not a word,” Henigan said. “We don’t allow three-peat shirts or anything like that. There are teams out there who set their goal as the Southern Section championship. We set ours much lower.”

Such as . . .

“We would like to be Sea View League champions,” he said. “Maybe we’re not good enough. Maybe we’ll have to lower our goal . . . “

Ah, coach-speak. Even they have to warm up.

” . . . we take things one game at a time. I mean that sincerely.”

In an effort to achieve those modest goals, the Vaqueros were run, quite literally, through the paces. By 6:30 p.m., they had been through two practices but were not finished.

They ended the day with 40 40-yard sprints. A little test to see who had been following the running program the last three weeks, the one mapped out by coaches.

Under section rules, coaches can have no contact with players during that three-week time. So the players were on their own as far as conditioning goes. They were required to go through a weight-lifting period Monday, beginning at 7 a.m., to see how much strength they had lost in three weeks.

“We’ll know who’s been working out,” Henigan said. “We throw so much in our practice and they run so many routes, they better be in shape.”

The first days of practice are for conditioning, under section rules. Players are not allowed to have contact or use blocking sleds or tackling dummies for three days. It also allows coaches time to organize.

That can be useful. At Irvine, 190 kids came out for football, 60 for the varsity team.

Henigan held a mass meeting of the entire program Monday evening, where he laid down the rules and policies of the program.

“The first day is not confusing for us,” Henigan said. “I don’t like change. We run the same practice year round.”

That way, everyone knows where they’re going.