Smith Spivey (left) and Sina Saferzadeh led Irvine to a league victory Friday night. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Irvine’s football team wasn’t about to take Sonora lightly entering Friday night’s Iota League game, especially with so much on the line.
The Raiders came in with one on the season but still had a chance to earn the third and final automatic CIF playoff berth from the league with a victory.
Irvine (7-3, 3-2) took care of business scoring on its first possession, took control by halftime and went on to win 42-15 on senior night at Irvine Stadium to clinch third place. Sonora (1-9, 1-4) needed to pull off an upset to force a three way tie and a coin flip.
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“In the first half, we only ran 26 offensive plays, our guys were executing really well, I felt good about our scheme this week,” said Irvine Coach Tom Ricci. “We knew they had some big dudes up front. They’re like 300 across the lines, we knew were going to have a tough time moving them. Our guys worked our plan all week and they executed when we needed to.”
Leading the way for Irvine was quarterback Sina Saferzadeh, who completed 8 of 11 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 113 yards on seven carries, running seemingly at will.
The top Irvine receiver was Smith Spivey, who hauled in a 43-yard TD pass from Saferzadeh in the first quarter. An interception by Saferzadeh who also plays linebacker, set up the score. Spivey had three catches for 68 yards.
The two have been teaming up all season on big plays.
“It was amazing, our last regular season game and going to the playoffs,” said Saferzadeh. “I feel like we have all the momentum and our offense is firing on all cylinders and our defense is playing tough, so it feels great to have a great win going into post-season.”
“It was a great team win, we all came together as a whole, offense and defense,” added Spivey, also a standout baseball player. “I think we have a great chance of going very far. We’re solid all-around. It’s a tough loss losing people, like our safety but I think we have a good chance of going deep.”
In the second quarter, Seamus Hoffman scored from 1 yard out, Saferzadeh had a 34-yard TD run and Kyle Fogarty hauled in a 21-yard TD pass for Irvine.
Alexsay Nazaroff scored Sonora’s only TD in the first half on a 1-yard run but Irvine held a 27-7 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, Saferzadeh connected with Fogarty again, this time on a 13-yard TD pass, to put the Vaqueros ahead 35-7 following a successful two point conversion.
Nazaroff scored his second TD on a 25-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter. He led his team offensively rushing for 145 yards on 17 carries. Starting quarterback Levi Santos passed for 101 yards but left the game with an injury late in the first half.
Irvine’s Jordan Yeroushalmi intercepted a pass late in the game and returned the ball for a touchdown for the Vaqueros final score.
The Vaqueros will find out Sunday what playoff division they’re in. Ricci thinks his team will wind up in Division 8.
“That was our goal coming in, we’re shooting for playoffs,” Ricci said. “Obviously, last couple weeks, we have liked to get those games back (losses to Troy and El Toro) but our goal is to go and do some damage in the playoffs.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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