Irvine Clinches Share of Title With Win Over Laguna Hills

Irvine’s offense came to life Thursday and the fifth-ranked Vaqueros defeated injury-plagued Laguna Hills, 42-7, in a Sea View League game at Irvine.

The victory clinched at least a share of the league title for Irvine (9-0, 3-0).

“We’ve really been struggling on offense in league,” Irvine Coach Terry Henigan said. “It’s been our defense and our kicking game that have kept us in it. So it was nice to score some early points.”

Helped along by good field position, Irvine scored on its first three possessions. Senior running back David Doomey capped the Vaqueros’ first drive--10 plays, 57 yards--with a two-yard sweep around the left side with 8 minutes 28 seconds remaining in the first quarter. On the next possession quarterback Travis Otott connected with Doomey for a 16-yard touchdown with 6:07 remaining.

The Hawks (3-6, 0-4), despite missing several linemen with injuries, were able to put together some long drives, but after Chris Johnson took the team 94 yards in 14 plays and scored on a 24-yard keeper, the Irvine defense shut them down.

Johnson completed 10 of 25 passes for 101 yards with two interceptions, and wide receiver Brian Anderson caught five passes for 51 yards.

“They did some really nice things,” Henigan said. “They have an awesome program, they just have a lot of injuries right now.”

After Irvine’s Godfrey Young scored on a one-yard run with 8:51 remaining in the half, Parker Nau picked off a pass from Johnson on the Hawks’ next play and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown and a 28-7 Irvine lead at the half.

Otott, who completed seven of 16 passes for 116 yards, connected with a wide-open Josh Short with 2:24 remaining in the third quarter, and Young, who led the Vaqueros in rushing with 12 carries for 97 yards, closed out Irvine’s scoring with his second one-yard run early in the fourth.