Cameron Goods scores career-high four TDs to lead undefeated Irvine past Sonora 41-7

Cameron Goods scores one of his four touchdowns for Irvine Friday night. (Photo courtesy Jim Tomlin, For OC Sports Zone)

Irvine High’s football team continued on its early season roll capturing their third consecutive victory and won their home opener at Irvine Stadium Friday night, defeating Sonora 41-7.

Vaqueros’ running back Cameron Goods rushed for 148 yards and scored a career-high four touchdowns to lead the opportunistic Irvine offense.  

Goods capped a 7-play, 55-yard scoring drive with a 14-yard TD run with 1:02 remaining in the opening quarter. Goods rambled in for the 2-point conversion to give the Vaqueros an 8-0 lead. Goods added his second TD of the game on an 8-yard scoring run and back-up quarterrback Joseph Tierney scrambled in for the 2-point conversion early in the second quarter as Irvine upped its lead to 16-0. Goods added two third-quarter touchdown runs, including a 66 yarder.

“The O-line overcame some mistakes from last week and opened up some big gaps for me and I made a few cutbacks and the rest is history,” said Goods.

Vaqueros Coach Tom Ricci was impressed with his running back.

“How fun is it to watch Cameron Goods, he’s a human highlight real,” Ricci said. “I was also impressive with our two linebackers, Baden Tanikawa and Tate Zimmerman, as well as our sophomore QB Joseph Tierney. They were tough and they executed.”    

Two plays following a Brandon Pinkerton interception, Tierney lofted a 27-yard TD pass to Ian Hew to make it 23-0 at the 5:53 mark of the second quarter. 

The Irvine defense, led by Zimmerman, Tanikawa, Harry Soltes, and Finn Hoffman, dominated as they forced five turnovers and posed challenges for the Sonora offense throughout the game.

“We had to deliver tonight and we did,” said Zimmerman. “We still need to improve each week.”

Tierney ignited the Vaqueros offense as he played well in relief of injured starting QB, Jack Condon, who injured his ankle in last week’s victory over Troy. Condon was limited to holding for extra points on Friday but is expected back next week. Tierney completed 10 passes for 12 yards and a TD after replacing Zimmerman at quarterback early in the game.

“I was a little nervous at the beginning but it went away fast,” Tierney said. “Our hard work is paying off and it feels amazing to be 3-0.”

Martin Landon threw a 35-yard TD pass to Justin Brown in the fourth quarter for the only score for Sonora (0-2).

—-Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone