Irvine holds off Cypress

IRVINE - Irvine's football team earned some respect for the Pacific Coast League on Friday night at Irvine High.

The Vaqueros held on to defeat Cypress, 7-6, in a nonleague game to improve their overall mark to 5-1. (Full game stats.)

Cypress, the defending CIF Southern Division champion, defeated University, another PCL team, 35-7, last week at Western High. But the Centurions ran into a fired up Irvine team that had two interceptions and forced three fumbles by Cypress (2-3).

“It was exciting, that’s for sure,” Irvine coach Terry Henigan said. “Our offense moved the ball and our special teams did a great job.

“They have great special teams and we were scared to death and we didn’t want them to win the game on that and we didn’t, so we were happy about that.”

But Cypress came close.

Shawn Hansen kicked a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter and a 42-yarder at the end of the second quarter.

Hansen had a chance to give his team the lead when he attempted a 45-yard field goal with 1:33 left, but under a ferocious rush, the kick fell short.

“The whole team worked pretty hard,” defensive lineman Nik Abele said. “We practiced hard and came out in the game and worked hard.”

Cypress was led by quarterback Max Reza, who completed 9 of 18 passes for 102 yards. Reza also rushed for 105 yards on 19 carries.

The Centurions had a chance to take control of the game late in the half when they drove near midfield. But Cypress fumbled, Abele recovered and Justin Reihanifam capped the scoring drive with a 1-yard dive to put Irvine ahead, 7-3.

Cypress cut the lead to 7-6 on Hansen’s second field goal but Irvine was able to hold on in the second half.

• Click here for full game stats.

Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com