Irvine Rally Overtakes Woodbridge

Running back Jake Savona scored three second-half touchdowns to lead Irvine to a come-from-behind 26-18 victory over Woodbridge in a Sea View League game Friday at Irvine.

Irvine (5-4, 2-2 in league) claimed the city’s “Fence Post Trophy” and remained in contention for a Southern Section playoff berth with the victory.

“Woodbridge is a good football team and they played really well,” Irvine Coach Terry Henigan said. “Both teams played very hard. We were lucky to get out with a win.”

Woodbridge, winless in its past 24 games, looked as if it might break the streak against its cross-town rival.

The Warriors (0-9, 0-4) took an 18-6 lead with 4:16 left in the third quarter on a one-yard run by quarterback Adam Lawyer.

The score was set up by a fumble recovery by Woodbridge’s Dave Gerns at Irvine’s 23.

But Savona, who finished the game with 169 yards rushing, scored on runs of 19 and 10 yards on Irvine’s next two possessions. And he put the game out of reach on a nine-yard run with 1:35 left in the game.

“We didn’t think it was going to be a walk-over coming in,” Savona said. “We just got fired up in the second half. We knew we could come back and win.”

Irvine, which won last year’s game, 7-6, holds an 8-3 lead in the series with Woodbridge.