PHOTOS: Dana Hills finishes strong to defeat upset-minded Irvine 30-15; 5-0 for first time

Dana Hills quarterback Zackary Saavedra tries to scramble away from Irvine’s Lucas Graham Friday night. (Photos courtesy Jim Tomlin, For OC Sports Zone)

For three plus quarters winless Irvine was on the verge of a major upset over undefeated Dana Hills and it appeared the Vaqueros were going to win their first game of the season. 

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However, the Dolphins (5-0) scored three touchdowns in a span of 4:30 early in the fourth quarter to turn the tide and escape with a 30-15 nonleague win Friday night at Irvine Stadium.

“It’s hard to win five games, but we’re 5-0 and its good times for us,” said Dolphins coach Phillip Skinner. “It’s the first time a Dana Hills team has ever been 5-0. We faced a lot of adversity and we made a lot of mistakes but we overcame it.”

Tate Zimmerman’s 27-yard field goal late in the third quarter cut the Dana Hills lead to 10-9 and the Vaqueros (0-4) seemed to be mounting a charge.

However, the Dolphins countered with a 7-play, 80-yard scoring drive that ended with a Tristan Van der Linde’s 6-yard TD run, giving Dana Hills a 17-6 lead with 11:22 to play. 

“We saw their 0-3 record coming in here and we thought it was going to be easy,” Van der Linde said. “They were hungry but they woke up a sleeping giant in the second half and we played harder.”

The Dana Hills defense stepped up their game down the stretch. 

Following an Irvine three-and-out, Dolphins quarterback Zackary Saavedra completed three consecutive passes, culminating the drive with a 30-yard TD pass to WR Kellan McGrath, upping the Dolphins lead to 23-9.

Saavedra completed 19 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

“In the fourth quarter, our O-Line stepped it up and gave me a bigger pocket and we finally figured it out,” said Saavedra. “We were able to pick up the slack and execute.”

In Irvine’s following possession, Dana Hills defensive end Liam Boersma delivered the dagger as he dropped back in coverage and picked off a pass and rumbled 39 yards for a touchdown to and increase the Dolphins lead to 30-9 with 6:59 remaining. 

“It was my first touchdown ever and it will probably be my last, but it’s the best feeling in the world,” said Boersma, who leads the nation with 15 and a half sacks this season.

Boersma recorded a sack and hounded Irvine quarterback Beck Moss most of the evening.

In the opening quarter after faltering on their initial drive at the Dolphins 14, Irvine took advantage of a short Dana Hills punt and put together a scoring drive. 

The Vaqueros moved 36 yards in 8 plays to take an early lead. Under heavy pressure, Moss rolled to his right and lofted a 3-yard TD pass to Jacob Sears in the corner of the end zone to give Irvine a 6-0 lead on the final play of the first quarter. 

The Vaqueros defense hardly played like a winless team as they forced the Dolphins into multiple mistakes. Cornerback Corey Beck and defensive end Lucas Graham led a fired-up Irvine defense that held Dana Hills, who entered the game averaging 28 points per game, scoreless in the opening quarter.

However, the Dolphins offense, despite suffering several penalties, got on track, to some degree, in the second quarter. Saavedra sparked the Dana Hills offense as he completed three passes of 20 or more yards to highlight the drive. The senior QB capped it off with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kellan McGrath at the 8:29 mark of the quarter, giving the Dolphins a 7-6 lead.

McGrath caught 9 passes for 126 yards and 2 TDs for Dana Hills.

Moss completed 20 passes for 252 yards and a TD and Kade Zimmerman caught 10 passes for 161 yards for Irvine.

“This was a winnable game and we should have won it,” said Kade Zimmerman.

Irvine coach Tom Ricci had similar thoughts.

“I thought we were going to win it,” said Ricci. “But we are so raw and so young and we made lots of mistakes. We did take a step forward tonight and its’s coming along game by game, but the buzz saw schedule we play in the preseason is going to pay off for us in league, I really believe that.”

Samuel Dimaculangan added a late TD run for Irvine.
STATS

Passing: DH, Saavedra 19-27-0, 255, 2 TDs; IR, 20-30-2, 252 yards, TD.

Rushing: DH. Van der Linde 7-61, Gartlan 8-27; IR, Goods 8-13.

Receiving: DH, McGrath 9-126, Craven 3-52; IR, K. Zimmerman 10-161, Sears 5-66.

-Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone