Woodbridge scores late TD to win PCL thriller against Irvine 23-17

Warriors’ senior Elyjah Rush (No. 3) celebrates with his teammates after their victory over rival Irvine 23-17 Friday night at Irvine Stadium.

Woodbridge’s football team looked more like a team favored to win the Pacific Coast League Friday night.

The Warriors, who had been inconsistent at times during their non-league schedule were definitely on Friday, defeating Irvine 23-17 in the PCL opener for both teams in front of about 3,200 fans at Irvine Stadium.

“My hats off to Erik (Coach Terry) and that group, they prepared for us and I was just proud of the way our kids rallied back,” said Woodbridge Coach Rick Gibson. “It was just a great high school football game.”

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo.

Woodbridge quarterback Kyle Hurry stepped up big completing 16 of 23 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Marc Filia led Irvine completing 10 of 16 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.

Woodbridge did not have any turnovers and Irvine (1-5, 0-1) was victimized by three

Woodbridge (3-3, 1-0) moved ahead 23-17 on a 7-yard TD run by Nikos Reza with 4:50 left in the game. The Warriors missed the point after so Irvine  still had a chance to come back and tie or win it.

But Elyjah Rush intercepted a pass on a third and three play and Woodbridge got the ball back around midfield. Rush later sealed the win when he extended for a first down on a fourth down play with 1:39. By then, Irvine had used all of its timeouts.

“I felt like coming into the game we were two evenly matched teams and it was going to be the team that made fewer mistakes at the end of the day,” Terry, the Irvine coach said. “I think we turned the ball over three times and I think that’s what really hurt us at the end of the day.

“We had some drives going and we were moving the ball and we turned it back over to them. I’m excited, I want to believe this is how the league is going to go. I think it’s going to be super competitive like this. I think coming into the league we’re so evenly matched that it’s so hard to predict who is going to be the eventual winner.”

Woodbridge jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a 29-yard field goal by Jakob Trestik in the first quarter.

Irvine moved ahead 7-3 when FIlia hooked up with Jacob Haley on a 75-yard pass early in the second quarter.

Woodbridge took a 10-7 lead on a 16-yard TD pass from Hurry to Jacob Nash with 10:22 left in the second quarter.

But Irvine tied it 10-10 on a 24-yard field goal by Bryce Tanikawa with 24 seconds left in the half.

The Vaqueros then moved ahead 17-10 when Filia connected with Tanikawa on a 39-yard TD pass with 8:30 left in the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter, Rush hauled in a 19-yard TD pass from Hurry to tie the game 17-17 and put the Warriors in position to win it. Rush was able to break away from a tackle and scamper in.

“Honestly, we were just trying to get the first down and it turned into more,” Rush said. “I was just trying to stay on my feet and make a play and midway through the play, Colin (Turner) just told me to stay on my feet (but he thought ‘no I got to score,’ so I just took it in.”

“It was a big win,” Hurry said. “We really just needed to get a victory. Last game (a loss to Santa Ana) didn’t go so well so this game everybody was hyped and it’s the Irvine game so we came out firing.”

Nash also had a big game for Woodbridge with 59 rushing yards and 87 receiving yards.

Tanikawa hauled in five catches for 39 yards.

STATS

Wood                     3     7      7    6      –   23

Irvine                      0     10    7    0      –   17

RUSHING: Wood Nash 9-59, Rush 9-51; Irvine Filia 6-16, Ellis 5-14.

PASSING: Wood Hurry 16-23-0, 198 yards, 2 TDs; Irvine Filia 10-16-2, 148 yards, 2 TDs.

RECEIVING: Wood Nash 5-87, Rush 5-68; Irvine Tanikawa 5-59, Haley 2-80.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone