Sunny Hills rolls past Irvine 49-21 in nonleague game

Irvine’s Marc Filia throws a pass in Thursday’s game with Sunny Hills.

For the second week in a row Irvine High’s offense proved it could score points but for the second consecutive game miscues cost the Vaqueros as they fell to Sunny Hills 49-21 in a nonleague game Thursday evening at Buena Park High.

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Lancers quarterback Luke Duxbury completed 16 of 19 passes for 210 yards and threw a career-high three touchdowns passes and he ran for a score to lead Sunny Hills (1-1) to their first win of the season. The Vaqueros dropped to 0-2.

“We have a great stable of receivers and we ran the spread really well,” said Duxbury. “It’s exciting and after losing a close game last week, this gives us confidence for next week.”

Both teams got off to a fast start.

Railan Peace returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown giving Sunny Hills an early 7-0 lead. Irvine countered quickly as Jacob Haley returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a TD. Marc Filia raced in with the two-point conversion and Irvine led 8-7 after 30 seconds of play.

Midway through the opening quarter, the Lancers marched 75 yards to take a 14-8 lead. On a fourth down play, Duxbury fired a strike to Peace on a slant pass over the middle for 21 yards to cap the scoring drive. Peace scored his third TD of the game on a fourth quarter run.

The Lancers upped its lead to 21-8 on a 5-yard TD run by Jun Ahn with 7:55 left in the half. Ahn rushed for 113 yards in the game.

The Vaqueros offense finally got into gear in the second quarter putting together a 10 play, 54-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard TD run by Filia to close the margin to 21-15. However, Sunny Hills rallied and Duxbury tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Wilson Cal to give the Lancers a 28-15 halftime lead.

The Vaqueros nearly scored on the final play of the half but Filia’s pass was broken up in the end zone as the half ended.

The Lancers outgained Irvine in the first half 228-132 and 428-223 overall. Neither team punted in the game.

Filia completed 12 passes for 146 yards and he scored on a 36-yard TD run in the third quarter.

The inability of the Vaqueros defense to consistently stop Sunny Hills’ offense and two costly turnovers proved to the difference in the game.

“We did not come out ready to play, we were slow,” said Irvine Coach Erik Terry. “That’s falls on us, the coaches, to get these guys ready. We were forcing things, we didn’t run crisp routes and we didn’t tackle well. We’ll get back to work on Monday and focus on the on the little things”.

The Vaqueros closed to within to 28-21 following a Filia TD run early in the third quarter but Sunny Hills added three more touchdowns and cruised to the win.

“It was an outstanding game by Luke (Duxbury),” Sunny Hills coach Pete Karavedas said. “We’re happy, it’s great to get the first win”.

Aside from scoring two touchdowns, Cal also had two interceptions for the Lancers.