CIF playoff pairings announced Sunday; Irvine and Beckman still hoping to advance
Ayrom Milgrom of Northwood gains yards in Friday’s game (Photo courtesy James Tomlin).
Northwood’s football team earned a berth in the CIF playoffs with a 21-13 Pacific Coast League victory over Irvine Friday night at Irvine Stadium. The Timberwolves (7-3 overall) will be competing in Division 12.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo.
The Timberwolves and Irvine are tied for second place with 3-2 records but Northwood gets the automatic berth by virtue of its win over Irvine. Irvine (4-6 overall) still hopes to advance as the third place team.
Also on Friday, University upset Beckman 34-23. Beckman Athletic Director Steve Fischel said the Patriots (5-5, 2-3) will hope for an at-large berth in Division 11.
It was a successful ending for a tough year for University (3-7, 2-3) and first-year Coach Scott Meyer.
“I’m very happy for our team to finish with win and especially for the seniors,” Meyer said.
Thomas Keeling rushed for one touchdown and threw for another.
Musab Elasegh had two TD receptions. Austin Lake and Julius Jiangxi both ran interceptions back for scores. Austin White threw a touchdown on a trick play for the winning score, Meyer said.
Woodbridge, which had already clinched the league title, defeated Portola 35-7 to finish 7-3 overall and 5-0 in league. Portola ended its first varsity season 2-8 overall and 0-5 in league.
In the Northwood Irvine game, the Timberwolves had a “full team effort,” said co-offensive coordinator Dan Selway.
Quarterback Jaden Piazza had a touchdown pass to Travis Arena, Seth Locke had a TD pass to Luke Demaio and Locke had a TD run.
Piazza also ran for more than 100 yards.
Senior Tanner Buck came in for Piazza, who started cramping, and completed 2 of 3 passes for 50 yards.
Locke completed 2 of 3 passes for 51 yards and one TD pass.
Sophomore Trey Littlejohn had four catches for 58 yards and an interception on defense. Arena had three catches for 29 yards and a touchdown.
Locke had three catches for 71 yards and rushed for 12 yards and a touchdown.
Luke Demaio had one catch for 17 yards and a touchdown. Piazza had one catch of 34 yards on a throwback from Locke. Sophomore Daniel Kim had seven carries for 28 yards and sophomore McCain Molde had seven carries for 13 yards.
Irvine quarterback Marc Filia also had a solid game and broke Irvine’s all-time passing yardage record. He is four shy of the all-time completions record.
Against Northwood, Filia completed 12 of 26 passes for 155 yards with one interception.
Jacob Sears had three catches for 28 yards, Jacob Haley had two catches for 36 yards and Cory Bautista had two catches for 28 yards. Bryce Tanikawa returned a kick-off more than 70 yards for a score.
“Pete Mitchell has done a great job at Northwood turning things around in a year,” said Irvine Coach Erik Terry. “They came out and played with a lot of confidence and passion. As the head coach I failed to have our team ready to play and it showed. Hopefully we will have new life next week and we can refocus our energy on coaching our team to play to their potential.”
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone
More Stories
Top OC seeds, key first round games for CIF baseball playoffs (brackets)
Northwood athletes sign national college letters of intent during campus ceremony
Talented young Woodbridge athletes lead boys and girls cross country teams