Irvine Looks Solid in Beating El Toro, 23-20

Irvine Coach Terry Henigan grinned and heaved a sigh of relief after his team produced a solid all-around effort to edge El Toro, 23-20, in a Sea View League football game Saturday at Irvine High.

Irvine quarterback Sean Van de Merghel completed 12 of 18 passes for 161 yards and three touchdowns and sophomore running back David Doomey rushed for 110 yards in 20 carries.

Forty of Doomey’s yards came in the Vaqueros’ last drive that exhausted the final 4 minutes 54 seconds and kept El Toro’s offense off the field for any potential last-minute heroics.

El Toro’s Ryan Switzer, who rushed for 214 yards and three touchdowns in 28 carries, tried to rescue the Chargers (2-5, 0-2).

But Irvine (5-1-1, 1-0-1) forced Switzer to fumble three times with the Vaqueros recovering two, converting the turnovers into 10 points.

And the Irvine defense made a key goal-line stand with 1:02 remaining in the third quarter to protect a 23-13 lead.

Facing a fourth and goal at the Irvine two, El Toro went for the touchdown and gave it to Switzer. But Irvine’s Chip Kimmich broke through the line and tackled Switzer for a one-yard loss, ending a six-minute, 82-yard drive.

El Toro got the ball back once in the fourth quarter and Switzer’s 28-yard touchdown run with 4:55 remaining made it 23-13.

“We knew he would bust some long ones,” Henigan said. “He’s something special.”

Irvine looked good early with Van de Merghel tossing first-half touchdown passes for 40 yards to James Whitted, 12 yards to Chris Sinner and 51 yards to Evan Little, who had five receptions for 108 yards.

But El Toro only trailed, 20-13, at halftime thanks to touchdown runs of 44 and 61 yards by Switzer.

The scoring difference ended up to be a 37-yard field goal by Irvine’s Dave Ignash with 7:12 remaining in the third quarter.