Irvine rolls dice, comes up short against CdM

NEWPORT BEACH - Irvine's football team  decided not to go for a tie Friday night in a Pacific Coast League game against Corona del Mar.

The Vaqueros went for two points and the win  after a touchdown in the fourth quarter but couldn't convert on a pass play and fell to the Sea Kings, 14-13, at Newport Harbor High.

The loss ended Irvine's six-game winning streak.

"We wanted to win," Irvine Coach Terry Henigan said. "If we didn't want to win, I wouldn't have gone for two. We thought it was important."

Corona del Mar (6-2, 1-1) moved out to a 14-7 lead when quarterback Mitch Sands connected with J.D. Abbott on a 3-yard touchdown pass  late in the third quarter.

But Irvine  (6-2, 1-1) made it 14-13 when quarterback Allen Merritt hit Lang Pierce on a  15-yard touchdown pass with 7:44 remaining.

The pass play on the conversion was incomplete.

"Knowing Coach Henigan, it doesn't surprise me; he's the kind of  guy who comes to win a football game, that's the kind of competitor he is," Corona del Mar Coach Jason Hitchens said. "I told him after the game, I thought  it was a gutsy call on his part."

Irvine  looked like it might get another chance to rally late in the game. But John  Christian booted a 865-yard  punt, pinning Irvine  back to its own 8-yard line with 1:52 left.

Two plays later, the Vaqueros fumbled and the Sea Kings recovered.

Sands then went to his knee two times to run the clock out.

"All the way around, I thought we played a pretty complete game,"  Hitchens said.

Sands led the way, completing 15 of 25 passes for 149 yards and two touchdown passes. The first came when he hit Max Haase on a 9-yard  touchdown pass in the first quarter.