No Arguing With These Results

Jason Minici, Aaron Garcia, Mike Phelps . . .

There have been a decade’s worth of talented quarterbacks at Irvine High since the Vaqueros abandoned the wing-T in 1990 and opened up their offense.

Travis Otott, a third-grader when Irvine won a Southern Section title in 1991, looks as if he belongs to the lineage of Jared Flint, Sean Van de Merghel, Mike Ricci . . .

“I wouldn’t say that,” Otott says. “There have been some good quarterbacks at Irvine. It would take a lot to be in the ranks of those guys.”

But even “those guys” would be hard-pressed to top Otott’s first seven games. Irvine is undefeated, and if the Vaqueros play and win their 14th game this season, they will win a section championship--something the Vaqueros haven’t done since 1993.

Last season Irvine barely missed what would have been its fourth title of the 1990s. The Vaqueros lost the Division VI championship game to Newport Harbor, 19-18, but Otott wasn’t even on the roster. After playing as a freshman and sophomore, he says he sat out to concentrate on baseball, and he became an All-Sea View League outfielder.

“It was tough,” Otott said of his absence from football. “This has been absolutely great for me. High school football is a lot of fun.

“If we were 4-4 or 0-8, I think I’d be just as proud. Our team isn’t about winning games. Coach [Terry] Henigan says he’s in [coaching] to make us better people, and I think he has. And we’ve had some success.”

Irvine, ranked No. 2 in the division behind La Mirada, has been one of Orange County’s most prolific teams. Irvine has scored 262 points, more than every other county team except Western (284), and has given up 64, fewer than every other team except Villa Park (63). Like Irvine, Villa Park is in Division VI and is ranked third.

Who gets credit for the Vaqueros’ success?

“Our defense always gets us the ball in great field position,” Otott said. “And I think I’ve only been sacked four times.”

Linemen Nick Gaspar, Max Malapas, Ramin Kashani, Tyler Wright and Matt McKinney--the only returning starter--have seized the moment, just like their quarterback. “You never really know, until someone plays in a game, how good they are,” said Otott, whose passing is balanced by the scoring of running backs Peter Abe (seven touchdowns), Godfrey Young (eight) and David Doomey (five).

But Otott is the intriguing part of the equation. “He has absolutely given us more than we expected,” said Henigan, who really didn’t expect much.

“I wasn’t impressed at all,” Henigan said. “He didn’t throw the ball very well. In spring football, he was OK. I started to get impressed in summer passing scrimmages--he still didn’t throw very good, but I liked his leadership and knowledge of the offense.

“He still didn’t throw very good in double-days.”

And then came a scrimmage against Foothill. “All of our staff afterward went, ‘Wow!’ ” Henigan recalled. “His leadership, his understanding . . . and he threw the dickens out of the ball. For me, that’s when I thought, ‘I think we have a quarterback who can lead us to victories.’ ”

That is exactly what Otott has done. He has completed 62.9% of his passes, 11 for touchdowns, with four interceptions. Three interceptions came last week against Aliso Niguel.

“An anomaly,” Henigan said of Otott’s performance against the Wolverines. “I think he’ll bounce back.”

His chance comes Friday afternoon against host Los Angeles Fairfax, another chance to flex his most basic approach.

“I do everything my coaches tell me to do,” Otott said. “I try to do exactly how I’m coached. I don’t think I’m special in anything. I don’t have great feet or a great arm. I’m just a high school quarterback.”

Yet, Henigan says he has enjoyed working with Otott “as much as anybody.”

“He’s so intelligent. He’s a great leader. He knows the offense as well as I do,” Henigan said. “He’s usually right on with the audible [calls].”

A National Merit semifinalist, Otott said, “The thing I’m most proud of is that we’re 7-0.”

That statistic would make any quarterback proud.