Cameron Goods scores a career high five touchdowns to lead Irvine past University 57-0

Cameron Goods returns a punt for a touchdown Friday night against University. (Photo courtesy Jim Tomlin, For OC Sports Zone)

Irvine High running back Cameron Goods took charge from the start Friday night and never let up.

Goods scored a career-high five touchdowns to lead Irvine to a 57-0 non-league victory over University at Irvine Stadium. Goods had one touchdown catch, three TD runs and a 67-yard punt return for a score to help Irvine improve its record to 4-0. Goods only carried the ball five times, rushing for 115 yards.

Irvine Coach Tom Ricci said Goods tied the record for most points scored (30) by a Vaquero but was not sure if the five TDs was a school record.

The Vaqueros led 50-0 at halftime and by mutual agreement of both coaching staffs, a running clock was used in the third quarter. Irvine substituted freely in the second half.

Goods did most of his damage against University (2-2) in the first half and was used sparingly in the second half.

“I just think it was a great team win all-around, everybody had their task and completed it on all sides of the ball, special teams, defense, offense, I felt like we were just clicking on all cyclinders and when that happens I feel no one can beat us, no one can stop us,” Goods said.

“Hopefully there is more to come, keep on getting better, that’s the goal.”

Irvine dominated from the start against a University team that had won its last two games. Tate Zimmerman returned the opening kickoff about 35 yards to put the Vaqueros into scoring position. On the first play from scrimmage, Goods ran for 12 yards.

Then on the next play, quarterback Joseph Tierney connected with Goods on a 27-yard TD. Goods also scored on TD runs of 42 and 33 yards to put Irvine ahead 22-0 with only four minutes elapsed in the first quarter. He also had a 24-yard TD run to put Irvine ahead 43-0 early in the second quarter.

Goods said he’s never had a game like Friday’s and didn’t mind coming out for most of the second half.

“Thanks to my O-line, those dogs down there in the trenches, they made it easy for me, I was choosing and picking which holes to go through,” Goods said. “I got to thank those guys doing their job up front, it goes a long way.”

Irvine Coach Tom Ricci was impressed with the latest performance by his star back.

“He scored just about every time he touched the ball,” Ricci said. “The one where he cut all the way across the grain was amazing. I’m hoping colleges out there are taking note because he can move.”

There were some other positives for Irvine. The defense held University to minus rushing yards and also had a safety and contained the Trojans passing game, although University quarterback Koa Saito passed for 51 yards. Saito replaced Ziyad Merchant, who had led the Trojans to two victories but was out with an injury, according to University assistant coach Dick Roche. One of the Trojans’ top receivers, Noah Scherson, was also injured and sidelined, Roche added.

“The defense played great, our goal was to not give up anything tonight Baden (Tanikawa) and Tate (Zimmerman) up the middle is a difficult combo for teams,” Ricci said. “It’s great, most years you have one good linebacker. We’re lucky enough to have two. Tierney did a great job as our quarteback in this game.”

Tierney completed 3 of 4 passes for 40 yards.

Evan Hasegawa also had a 72 yard touchdown run for Irvine, Zimmerman had a 21-yard TD run and Adharsh Prathap intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards for a score to complete the scoring for the Vaqueros.

University’s top rusher was Dominic Bejarano, who had 29 yards but Irvine stopped the rest of the running game.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com