Talented senior Cameron Goods looks forward to being Irvine’s featured running back

Cameron Goods carries the ball for Irvine during a game last spring against Northwood. (Photo courtesy Jim Tomlin, For OC Sports Zone)

Irvine High senior Cameron Goods is poised to carry the load in the backfield for the Vaqueros’ football team this season.

Goods shared the duties in the spring and had some outstanding games. His best effort came against Dana Hills when he rushed for 254 yards on 14 carries and scored three touchdowns in the Vaqueros win. Goods had eight touchdowns in the abbreviated five-game schedule averaging 10 yards a carry and earned first team all-league for Irvine’s Pacific Valley League championship squad.

This fall, the 5-10, 185-pound Goods is expected to be the one Vaqueros coach Tom Ricci calls on in the backfield. He will also be a kick returner and punt returner on special teams.

“I can’t wait for it, I’ve been playing running back since I’ve been in (youth football) so it’s always been my dream to come out and take most of the workload and have the ball in my hands as much as possible because I like to help my team win as many games as possible,” Goods said Thursday. “It’s going to be fun for me for sure and I’m ready for it.”

Ricci said Goods’ totals in the spring were remarkable.

“We rotated our backs so he did all this while taking every third rep,” Ricci said. “This year he will be our featured back.” 

Goods said he is excited about the season, which begins Friday night when Irvine meets Canyon in a non-league game at Fred Kelly Stadium.

“I feel we’re great all around, we have a great returning line, I’m returning at running back, we have a new quarterback Jack Condon but he’s been putting in a lot of hard work going to training, so that’s looking very promising and we have good receivers,” Goods said. “On defense, we still have the same linebackers, first team all-league linebackers. D-line, some are returning and are dbs are all brand new and some of them are juniors but they’re still putting in that work, so I think we’re going to be strong pretty much all around.”

Goods has been putting in the work in the off-season and in the months in which athletes were off due to the pandemic.

“Over quarantine, while a lot of people decided they were going to take a break, that’s when I decided I was going to hop on my horse and put that work in with my (older) brother,” he said. “He got some weights for me and ever since then, we just kind of took off. We would bench, we would squat, we would do all that.”

Ricci took notice of Goods’ work ethic.

“Cam is an athlete that prides himself on his improvement,” Ricci said. “He is one of our hardest workers in the weight room putting up 280 on the bench and 415 on the squat. You can usually find him in Irvine High School Stadium on weekends working out with our other seniors or with his trainer. Besides all that, he is a fantastic individual. He’s a great senior leader and teammate. I can’t wait to see what he is going to accomplish this year.”

Last season was pretty special too for Goods too, including his game vs. Dana Hills.

“I was waiting just to get my chance. Early in the season I had a couple good runs, but I still felt I could have been doing more for the team,” he said. “Against Dana Hills …. coach started giving me the ball and I thought, ‘I have to take this in my own hands’ and luckily I had a great O-line and that helps and made it a lot easier on me. I hit was hitting the holes and I was just running and the rest is history.”

Goods was also part of Irvine’s league championship team in the spring.

“It was a great team performance all-around, the senior and junior cohesion we had was amazing. It was just a great outcome,” he said.

Goods said he hopes the Vaqueros can once again show their talents in the full 10-game regular season.

‘Everybody is working hard, I’m excited to see what happens,” he said. “We’re going to pick off where we left off last year, hopefully we can do the same, win league first and go to CIF (playoffs). I feel if we keep working hard, I feel like nobody can stop us, we could probably easily go 10-0 if we keep our heads.”

Goods is also trying to get his name out there and attract the attention of college coaches with more outstanding games so that he can continue his football career.

“I went to a couple camps this summer, hopefully that helped but if I get a chance to play in college, I will for sure take it if I get an offer,” he said.

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