FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Rancho Buena Vista back scores 7 TDs to lead team past Irvine 55-35

Irvine’s Bryce Tanikawa looks for an open lane Friday night.

The Irvine High football team simply had no answer for senior standout Rancho Buena Vista running back Dorian Richardson.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo.

Richardson, who broke San Diego section single game records with 499 yards and eight touchdowns in a playoff contest against Santana last season, rushed for 426 yards and seven scores in the Longhorns’ 55-35 win over Irvine in the Vaqueros’ season-opener Friday night at Irvine Stadium.

Richardson finished with 44 points on the night. He also had a two-point conversion to help his team improve its record to 1-1 on the year.

“We knew this was our game to take and win and get our first win of the season,” Richardson said. “My performance personally was 50-50. I have to give as much credit to the offensive line. They pushed it through for me to break the holes and and make touchdowns. They earned this. They helped me get to the end zone.”

Irvine coach Erik Terry knew that his team would have to slow down Richardson if it was to have a chance at a victory.

“The key to the game was to try and find a way to stop him,” Terry said. “He did the same thing last year to us when we played them. He ran for over 2,500 yards on the season last year.

“He is just a beast. And the thing about him that is surprising is just how fast he is when he gets to the edge. Between the tackles, he is a monster, but when he got to the edge, he was also turning on the speed and that was impressive.”

Richardson scored on runs of 3, 29, 11, 5, 32, 14 and 2 yards on the night. His had six carries of 20 yards or more with his longest being 55 yards.

But Irvine was in the game until the third quarter.

Rancho Buena Vista went into the half up, 28-21, after Richardson ran in from 5 yards out with six seconds left in the second quarter.

“That touchdown at the end of the first half hurt,” Terry said. “And they were getting the ball to start the second half. They scored again and we were down two touchdowns. We did some good things offensively, but we just couldn’t keep up with that pace.”

Rancho Buena Vista went ahead, 35-21, after a 32-yard run for a score by Richardson with 9:28 left in the third quarter.

Irvine came right back with a touchdown. Marc “Bubba” Filia found Dylan Stricker open for a 25-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-28 with 6:24 left in the third quarter.

But Rancho Buena Vista scored the next two times down the field to put the game away. Richardson found the end zone from 14 yards out and then back-up running back Kasey Campbell got to the outside and tip-toed down the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown run.

Rancho Buena Vista led, 47-28, at the end of the third quarter.

Irvine had a mishap on a punt in the third quarter and also threw an interception that helped Rancho Buena Vista take control.

The Vaqueros scored their final touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter when Jacob Haley caught a 29-yard strike from Filia in the left corner of the end zone.

Filia finished 24 of 43 for 337 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions on the night.

“He did some really good things,” Terry said. “I think also forced some things that he didn’t need to. He is a winner and he wants to win and put the team on his back. He will learn and get better and our team will get better. Overall, he has good command of what we are doing.”

Haley had seven catches for 120 yards, Bryce Tanikawa finished with five catches for 74 yards and Jacob Sears caught two passes for 42 yards for Irvine. Filia connected with eight different receivers in the gme.

Tyson Matthews led the ground attach for Irvine with 67 yards and a touchdown.

“We just couldn’t get it going enough in the second half,” Terry said. “But we have to look at this as game one and think about the things we need to do to improve. I don’t want them to be too negative. We have to have that growth mindset. We struggled against a physical team with a good running game and we have to look at how we can fix that. I told them not to hang their heads. It is game one of 10.”

–Brent Shaver, For OC Sports Zone