SEA VIEW LEAGUE : Sea King Rally Falls Short Against Irvine

Danny Noisy returned a second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown to seal Irvine’s 28-14 victory over Corona del Mar Thursday night at Newport Harbor High School.

Noisy’s return came after Corona del Mar quarterback Josh Walz cut Irvine’s lead to 21-14 on an eight-yard scoring run with 9 minutes 48 seconds left.

Irvine (4-4-1, 2-2-1) took a 21-0 lead on Russ Diehl’s second one-yard run of the game on the Vaqueros’ first drive of the second half.

But Corona del Mar (4-5, 2-2), which was held to 34 yards offense in the first half, came back behind senior running back J.J. Di Cesare. He accounted for all 63 of the Sea Kings’ yards on their first second-half possession, capping it with a 31-yard scoring run.

Two possessions later, the Sea Kings’ Scott Witucki intercepted a pass thrown by Scott Larsen at Irvine’s 16, and returned it to the eight, setting up Walz’s touchdown.

Di Cesare finished with 166 yards in 21 carries, 164 coming in the second half. But Irvine’s defense stopped him on fourth and goal at the one with 3:26 left, ending the Sea Kings’ last threat.

Corona del Mar was hurt by four turnovers, including two fumbles in the first half by Brian Hogan.

Irvine took a 14-0 halftime lead on Diehl’s first touchdown run, and Noisy’s 17-yard touchdown pass from Larsen.

Diehl finished with 123 yards in 30 carries.