Portola’s Peter Abe could be the next legendary Irvine football coach

Portola coach Peter Abe fires up his players before Friday’s home game. (Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

Portola football coach Peter Abe is no stranger to Irvine athletics.

He was a  former star player at Irvine High, a former assistant coach at Irvine and other Orange County schools and now after waiting his turn Abe is the head football coach at Portola.

Abe, 35, looks right at home at Portola, bringing enthusiasm, a wealth of knowledge and an ability to communicate with young athletes. He also had the patience and work ethic to help launch a first-year program. Abe is also tough on his players, demanding a lot from them and he seems to have a great relationship with the school’s boosters.

He has qualities than any new school would appreciate.

“I just go with the flow,” Abe said after his team’s 39-20 victory over Fairmont Prep Friday, the first varsity game for the school.

• RELATED STORY: Bullldogs win varsity opener over Fairmont Prep

Football fans may get to see a lot of Abe in the coming years.

The City of Irvine has had some legendary coaches with long-running careers. Terry Henigan (who coached Abe) coached Irvine for 29 years, Mark Cunningham retired after 32 years as University’s head coach last season and Rick Gibson is in his 29th year at Woodbridge.

Could Abe be the next head coach who steps in and has a long run coaching in Irvine?

Irvine Coach Erik Terry thinks so.

“It’s hard because they only have juniors, but they have Peter,” said Terry, now in his eighth year at Irvine. “Peter is one of the best around. He’s going to be the guy who is going to carry on the Irvine tradition. You never know with Rick (Gibson). He says every year he has to re-evaluate. But he’s not going to be two or three more years I would imagine. I’m going to be 50 in six months so maybe I have 10 years, I don’t know, we’ll see.

“So it would be fun to watch Peter kind of be the next generation of Irvine football coaches with an Irvine pedigree. He’s really a product of the city of Irvine.

“He grew up seeing how things are done the right way. All that being said, I think Peter is going to have his guys ready to play.”

Abe seemed thrilled after Friday’s victory, the first step in building a Portola tradition.

“I think we did a fantastic job of getting out there and playing four quarters and getting out there and getting knocked down and getting back up and we had our opportunities and guys got up there and made the plays,” he said. “It’s infectious. I think this is a great win for us because it’s going to do a lot for our confidence and for how we practice.

“The goal, as we’ve said before, is improvement and steady, consistent and sustained success and rally around each other when bad things happen. If we continue to do that…I’m not a predictions guy, I’m just saying this team has got the potential for a lot of success.

“I don’t know what that means, we don’t equate success to wins but playing Bulldog football and protecting the pedigree, that’s what we’re trying to do and every time we come out here, I hope that’s what we’re doing, making the community proud and the students and staff and I think we did that tonight.”