IRVINE – Irvine withstood a furious late charge by Esperanza to post a 28-25 victory in a wild nonleague game at Irvine High on Friday night.
The game wasn’t decided until a 46-yard field-goal attempt by Esperanza fell short with no time left on the clock.
Esperanza (0-1) missed two extra points and had another blocked during the game.
Irvine (1-1) led, 28-7, at halftime and looked like it might run away with an easy win.
After Teejay Johnson scored on a 1-yard run midway through the first quarter, Vincent Sandoval returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown with 3:32 left in the opening quarter to give Irvine a 14-0 advantage.
Esperanza answered back. Anthony Koclanakis returned an interception 35 yards to put Esperanza on the board.
But the Vaqueros went into halftime with a three-touchdown cushion after Brent Miller scored on a 73-yard run on a draw play, and Mikey Filia ran in from 17 yards out in the second quarter.
Those were all of the points Irvine ended up needing, but just barely.
Patrick Campos scored on a 4-yard run and Brett Mullins dashed in from 5 yards out in the third quarter to cut Irvine’s lead to 28-19 and Parker Hinds scored on a 10-yard run with 7:22 left in the game to bring the Aztecs within 28-25.
Esperanza tried to complete a comeback after recovering an Irvine fumble. It moved the ball to the Irvine 8 with under two minutes left, but the Vaqueros’ Clinton Rahimi stripped Esperanza quarterback Trevor Markowitz of the ball and Irvine fell on it.
Esperanza got the ball back once more with time running out and had to rush to try a last-second field goal.
Mullins finished with 153 yards on 22 carries for Esperanza. Irvine ended up with 332 yards rushing.
