PHOTOS: Big interceptions in final quarter help Irvine rally for win over Woodbridge

Irvine running back Evan Hasegawa looks for a hole on a carry during the first quarter of Friday‘s game. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

Woodbridge and Irvine football games often go down to the wire and Friday night’s non-league game, in front of a big crowd at Irvine Stadium, was no exception.

Irvine turned away Woodbridge’s attempt to tie the game with a fourth-down-stop at the Irvine 19-yard line with three seconds left before sealing a 21-14 victory for its third win in a row on senior night for the Vaqueros.

The Vaqueros (4-3) had two big interceptions in the final quarter, the last one a 41-yard pick six by senior Solomon Carrillo that put the Vaqueros ahead 19-14 with 1:44 remaining in the game. Running back Evan Hasegawa ran over for the 2-point conversion to put the Vaqueros ahead 21-14.

“He (Carrillo) had one last week, read it real well and took it back for a touchdown and it got called back (by penalty),” said Irvine Coach Tom Ricci. “It’s nice to get him that one in such a clutch time. He’s a great kid, he’s worked really hard, he transferred in from Mission Viejo so we’re glad to have him.”

“My corner picked it up on the sideline,” Carrillo said. “He heard they were going to run a seam to the tight end. I did my job, but our defense just ultimately won that game for us. It’s a big deal. Our coach has been stressing unity and that’s definitely what we showed today.”

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Woodbridge (3-4) looked to be in position to pull off the road victory late in the game.

The Warriors had a 14-7 lead and the ball on their own 4-yard line, but on a second down play, Nathan Sasaki intercepted a pass by junior quarterback Edward Ma giving Irvine possession at the Woodbridge 17 yard line.

Two plays later, quarterback Joseph Tierney ran in for a 12-yard TD to cut the lead to 14-13. The Vaqueros elected to go for two-points, but the pass fell incomplete.

“I feel like I took a lot of risks in that game,” Ricci said. “I had enough faith in our team that I knew we were going to find a way to make it back. Both of our two point plays that we ran we had guys that were open, we just weren’t able to get them the ball.”

Tierney wound up completing 6-of-13 passes for 79 yards with one interception. Hasegawa helped the Vaqueros get in scoring position, rushing for 84 yards on 15 carries.

Sophomore Deacon Moss was Irvine’s leading receiver with three catches for 39 yards including a 31-yard TD catch in the first quarter that put Irvine ahead early.

Woodbridge was led by Ma, who completed 10 of 19 passes for 192 yards with two interceptions. Daniel Goodrich hauled in three catches for 100 yards. Feiamma Armstrong rushed for 71 yards on 12 carries and scored on a 3-yard TD run and also hauled in an 18-yard pass from Ma that put the Warriors ahead 14-7 in the final quarter.

But numerous penalties, including a slew of illegal motion calls, hurt the Warriors throughout the night.

“It was a tough game,” said Woodbridge Coach Aaron Craver. “Most of the time, we play down to the wire. Unfortunately, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and they took advantage of it. We made mistakes and they didn’t and they probably wanted it a little bit more than we did.

“We had a chance. We had a healthy amount of people who could have played a little bit better and I can coach a little bit better. I always feel when we lose a game especially in something that’s close like this that we can do something better. You can play it safe, but I don’t want to teach our kids that.”

The game was the last non-league contest for both teams.

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