Irvine wide receiver Deacon Moss (14) stiff arms Santa Ana linebacker Evan Maldonado (22) during a punt return on Friday night’s Iota League opener. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
Irvine High School quarterback Khoa Bui and wide receiver Deacon Moss set career highs leading the Vaqueros to a 22-7 victory over Santa Ana in an Iota League opener at Santa Ana Stadium Friday night.
Bui tossed a career-high three touchdowns passes and Moss caught a career-high three touchdown receptions to propel Irvine (4-2, 1-0) to its second consecutive victory and third win in its last four games.
“I know Deacon (Moss) is going to beat anyone one-on-one,” said Bui, who completed 14 passes for 183 yards and three TDs. “We still have some things to clean up, like our goal line offense, but I like the way we spread the ball around tonight and Figgy (Brandon Figueroa) had a great game.”
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Moss was also thrilled.
“Our O-line executed like crazy and every time I turned around Khoa had the pass right there for me,” said Moss, who caught seven passes for 105 yards and displayed shifty moves and outstanding speed after making each reception. “This win gives us momentum going into our game with Canyon next week. We feel we can make a deep run into the playoffs.”
Figueroa continued to grind it out for the Vaqueros on the ground. The senior running back carried the ball 16 times for 115 yards as he broke multiple tackles.
“We had some penalties and miscommunications but we’re improving each week,” said Figueroa.
On its first possession, the Vaqueros moved down field quickly and scored on a four-play, 60-yard drive to take an early lead. The key plays on the march were a 19-yard pass play from Bui to Moss. Two plays later, Moss caught a pass over the middle and eluded several tacklers and raced into the end zone for the touchdown. The Vaqueros added a 2-point conversion and led 8-0.
Following a Saints three and out, Irvine had the ball on the Santa Ana 31-yard line with an excellent opportunity to extend its lead. However, Saints defensive lineman Troy Alvarez sacked Bui on a fourth-down play to stop the Vaqueros’ drive.
Midway through the second quarter, Irvine had a first down at the Saints’ five-yard line, but a combination of a stubborn Santa Ana defense and two costly fumbled snaps prevented the Vaqueros from increasing its lead.
Late in the half, Santa Ana (2-4, 0-1) was stopped on a fourth-down play at the Saints 38-yard line and Irvine took possession with just over a minute left in the half. Bui scrambled twice for key first downs to spark the Vaqueros surge. With six seconds left in the half, Bui lofted a perfectly placed TD pass to Moss in the corner of the end zone as Irvine upped its lead to 15-0 at intermission.
The Vaqueros outgained the Saints in the first half 152-54.
In the third quarter, the duo of Bui and Moss hooked up a third time, this time on a 41-yard TD strike, giving the Vaqueros a 22-0 lead.
Carlos Guerrero scored on a 14-yard TD run for the Saints midway through the fourth quarter to cap a 15-play scoring drive. Guerrero rushed 18 times for 90 yards to lead Santa Ana.
The Vaqueros defense, led by Sina Saferzadeh, Joseph Lynch, Dylan Cruz and Eric Rommel, turned in a strong and aggressive game.
“Our defense dominated in the first half, and it feels great to be 1-0 in league,” said Cruz, a senior defensive end. “We played as a unit tonight.”
Irvine Coach Tom Ricci said his team still has lots of work to do.
“Our goal was to play mistake-free football today and we didn’t do that tonight,” said Ricci. “Our defense did a great job, but we made too many mistakes in the red zone and some of that is my fault, and we must fix that, and we’ll start doing that on Monday. We can’t win big games if we don’t clean it up.”
Santa Ana Coach Luis Cruz said his team is coming along.
“We’re learning but it’s been a slow process,” said Cruz. “I have 11 new starters this season on offense, but we are improving.”
Notes:
—Coach Cruz and his wife welcomed their first child, a baby boy, on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Micah Cruz was born at Hoag Hospital in Huntington Beach.
—Bui has thrown nine TD passes in six games and Moss has caught eight TD passes thus far this season.
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