Irvine Spoils El Toro’s Night, Clinches Berth in Playoffs

The regular season began with El Toro, the defending Southern Section champion.

It ended Saturday with Coach Mike Milner expecting a sleepless night.

In a game both teams needed to win to secure the final automatic playoff berth to reach the Division V playoffs, Irvine defeated El Toro, 37-28, for the Sea View League victory in front of about 4,000.

Irvine took third place in the league race with the victory, improving to 6-4, 3-2 in league. El Toro, 12-2 a year ago, dropped to 5-5, 2-3.

In the 16-team playoffs, the Chargers will keep their collective fingers crossed when the pairings are released today, hopeful that they will get in and Kennedy (6-4), the fourth-place team from the Empire League, will not.

“Our playoffs started a week early,” said Milner, “and we lost.”

The defending champions lost despite Richard Oates rushing 15 times for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and Murle Sango rushing eight times for 126 yards and a 57-yard touchdown.

But Irvine has to get some credit. Jared Flint completed 19 of 24 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. Jake Savona rushed 18 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns, and caught eight passes for 103 and another score.

Flint spread it around, too. Creed Poulson caught six passes for 81 yards, including a 32-yarder for a touchdown, and Ryan Brucker caught four for 90, including receptions of 42 and 24 yards that set up two touchdowns.

And Irvine’s defense made its contribution.

Aaron Austin intercepted Mike Strand’s pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first drive to give Irvine a lead, and Darren Bell intercepted Strand’s pass in the end zone with less than a minute left to seal the victory.

“I really didn’t think the game was over until the final interception,” Savona said. “This was very much like a playoff game--it felt like a championship game, almost.

“They have a high-powered offense like us and I knew they could come back like us.

“It’s hard to believe they’re a fourth-place team.”

Milner said El Toro’s second-half collapse on defense--players left open, jumping offsides on crucial third-down situations--was the Chargers’ downfall.

One of the biggest plays was Savona’s halfback pass to Flint for 22 yards on third-and-10, which kept alive a drive in which Sevan Setian kicked a 22-yard field goal for a 24-14 lead. When El Toro, sparked by three Sango carries for 51 yards, scored on Strand’s sneak to make it 24-21, Flint completed seven consecutive passes and Savona scored from six yards for a 31-21 lead.

Savona answered Sango’s 57-yard scoring run, which cut the lead to 31-28, with a 15-yard scoring run with 2:37 remaining.