PHOTOS: Irvine caps special season with last-second 35-33 comeback win over Dana Hills

Irvine High football players celebrate after Friday’s last second victory over Dana Hills. (Photo courtesy Irvine football)

It was a memorable finish to the season for the Irvine High football team Friday night, especially for the seniors.

Irvine clinched the outright Pacific Valley League title last week, but added another big win Friday at Irvine Stadium.

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Quarterback Beck Moss scrambled and connected with his best friend and receiver Kade Zimmerman on a 12-yard TD as time elapsed to lift the Vaqueros to a 35-33 nonleague victory over Dana Hills in the final game of the abbreviated spring season. Moss and Zimmerman are both seniors.

After the touchdown, the Vaqueros poured out onto the field to celebrate.

Irvine had the ball on its own 40-yard line with 16 seconds left and no timeouts remaining. Moss connected with Zimmerman on a 48-yard pass to get the Vaqueros close and the clock stopped briefly on the first down.

With six seconds remaining, Moss avoided a tackle, scrambled and tossed the ball to the back of the end zone where Zimmerman caught the ball with no time remaining for the game-winner.

“It was a great finish to a great game,” said Irvine Coach Tom Ricci.

“I’ve said it before, but our boys just don’t give up. Going down the field at the end, they just knew they were going to win. I’ve never seen anything like it. In the end, it was Moss and Zimmerman: two clutch throws and two clutch catches.

“But it was a team effort with Cameron Goods wracking up big numbers on the ground, our O- line opening up huge holes for our run game and our defense getting some clutch stops. I’ve got to hand it to Dana Hills, they had a great scheme for us. I think there were six lead changes.”

Goods led the way rushing for 247 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns.

Moss completed 10 of 26 for 143 yards and one touchdown. Tate Zimmerman rushed for 64 yards on three carries and a touchdown and hauled in four catches for 71 yards.

Kade Zimmerman had five catches for 70 yards.

The victory was a perfect ending for Irvine, which lost just one non-league game this year to Inglewood 34-21. The Vaqueros won four games on the field and also received two forfeit wins when Woodbridge and University were unable to field teams due to injuries.

Irvine also defeated Northwood 32-3, Laguna Hills 39-14 and Beckman 47-17. The win over Beckman clinched the league title.

Ricci said Saturday he was still thinking about the wild finish but also what is ahead when the next season begins in August.

“I think I’m still in shock,” he said.  “For our last play, I tried to think which plays we run more than anything else.  Then I thought about our swinging gate package that we’ve run almost every day since Aug. 24

“That’s what we went with. Then Moss and Zimmerman did what they have done all year, be amazing.”

The program will now move ahead without the two stars.

“Moving forward, it’s tough to replace two players like Moss and Zimm,” Ricci said. “Luckily we have our O-line coming back with Goods in the backfield and another Zimmerman who is hard to stop. Our D-line and linebacking corp is back so we will just continue to build on this year’s foundation. With the awesome staff that we have, I know we will be ready for next year.”

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