Irvine uses strong defense, efficient offense for shutout victory over city rival Portola

Kyle Fogarty (left) and Seamus Hoffman were among the Irvine Vaquero standouts Friday night. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Irvine’s football team evened its record at 1-1 with an 8-0 non-league victory Friday night over crosstown rival Portola, which put up 35 points in its season opening win last week.

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The Vaqueros also got some steady rushing from senior Seamus Hoffman, who had the game’s only touchdown, a 6-yard run early in the second quarter and a two-point conversion on a hot and steamy night at Irvine Stadium.

Gametime temperature was more than 90 degrees and it didn’t cool off much after that. But that didn’t prevent the teams from battling from start to finish. There were numerous injury delays.

Irvine’s defense had three interceptions to stymie drives by Portola (1-1). Kyle Fogarty had two and Zephaniah Kim the other. The Vaqueros got the win rotating two quarterbacks and using a third out of the wild cat formation.

It all came together in the win column.

“We’re so thin, we’re rotating guys like crazy into spots to try and cover guys that are going down,” said Irvine Coach Tom Ricci. “It’s just like a revolving door, but we found a way to make it work though.

“Coach T (defensive coordinator Thomas McLaurin) does a great job on the defense, he’s phenomenal, he’s such a good find for us. Offensively, we were a little banged up and we knew Portola was going to be tough and physical up front, and our guys are beat up, so our goal was to score as many points as we need to just get the W out of it. That was our goal.”

The first interception by Fogary gave Irvine the ball at its own 41-yard and the Vaqueros marched down the field for the only score of the game.

“We knew we needed a big win off the loss to Northwood, we knew number three {receiver Jamal Abelkarim} was their guy …. I was playing everywhere …. defensively zero points, it was an amazing win, I’m so proud of the guys,” Fogarty said. “Defense was great, D-line was great, secondary was outstanding, big hits, three interceptions, it was a great game.”

Besides scoring the TD, Hoffman helped steady the Vaqueros offense, rushing for 69 yards on 17 carries.

“Honestly, all thanks to the line and fullbacks and blockers and receivers,” Hoffman said. “My success is everyone else’s success. I can’t do my job unless everyone else does their job perfectly and that’s exactly what happened on that touchdown. They all held their blocks perfectly. Portola had a great defense and they had a great scheme and they were bringing it every play.

“But I think our guys had a mentality that we were going to win and they really showed it on that touchdown.”

Irvine also got solid efforts from quarterbacks William Bowman, who passed for 81 yards and Ronin Scheinblum, who passed for 33 yards. Gavin Furr also picked up some rushing yards lining up in the wild cat formation. Enzo Cahoon hauled in three catches for 47 yards.

Irvine survived despite almost 100 yards in penalties.

Portola quarterback Orion Suttle, who passed for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Woodbridge last week, completed 15 of 28 passes for 145 yards with the three turnovers. He had to come out of a couple series after Irvine delivered a big defensive hit, but returned later.

Suttle tried to help Portola tie the game when the Bulldogs took over on their own 1-yard line following a long punt by Furr with 3:12 remaining in the contest.

Portola got the ball to the 8-yard line but Irvine made a stop on fourth down and took over with about one minute remaining. The Vaqueros went into the victory formation and ran out the clock.

Abdelkarim was Portola’s leading receiver with nine catches for 78 yards. Portola was without another top receiver Blaise Williams, who was out injured. His status is not yet known, according to Bulldogs Coach Peter Abe.

“It was a week of adversity adapting, adjusting, the kids went through it all, they battled back and they didn’t quit, we’re proud of the way they came out and played Bulldog football,” Abe said. “Guys were going down, guys were stepping in and still making plays. They made a couple more plays than we did. It was close and it was tight and I will tip my hats off to those guys, they were a little bit more disciplined tonight, but definitely proud of my guys and how they adapted to it.

“I just wish we were able to put a better product on the field in terms of our preparation on the coaching side. Is there one more thing that we could have gotten them ready for? You go home and you kind of beat your head against the wall trying to figure it out. Everything we asked them {to do} they did and it showed, it was a nice tight game.

“We got Uni, Beckman and Northwood and then we have our bye, so we have three more tough ones and then we kind of regroup before league, but we definitely got to get us healthy before league, that’s for sure.”

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