Vaqs win con(Vinson)ly

Barry Faulkner

It wasn’t the Irvine High defense, or any passing sophistication

by the Vaqueros’, or Coach Terry Henigan’s vaunted special teams. The

difference in Thursday’s 28-20 Sea View League football victory over

visiting Newport Harbor came down to one single factor. Make that a

single digit.

Ubiquitous Irvine senior Terrell Vinson, who wears jersey No. 1,

rushed for 309 yards, added 39 more on four receptions, returned two

kickoffs for 14 yards and was in on numerous tackles at cornerback to

propel the hosts to the crucial triumph.

“It was one guy,” said Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley, whose

team (5-2, 1-1 in league) now faces a steep uphill battle to defend

its league crown. “There was one guy we had to stop and we didn’t

stop him. We knew he was their guy, the one they ran with and threw

to. We talked about it all week.”

The Sailor coaches surely mentioned Vinson as a matter of review

at halftime, but if the 5-foot-10, 160-pound standout hadn’t yet

slipped through the Sailors’ consciousness, he had less trouble with

the Tars’ defense after intermission.

Vinson, who scored on a 32-yard catch and run to put the Vaqueros

(5-2, 2-0) up, 6-0, two plays into the second quarter, sprinted 65

yards to the end zone on the third play of the third quarter. Vinson

then caught a bootleg pass from Luke Tracy for the two-point

conversion, erasing a lead Newport created with some impressive work

from its own star senior tailback, Dartangan Johnson.

With the game deadlocked, 14-14, the Irvine defense stepped up,

forcing a three-and-out and Newport’s only punt. Three plays after

Irvine took over at its own 8 and one play after Vinson fumbled a

handoff he was able to fall on at his own 6, the latest in a long

line of Irvine backfield workhorses burst through the line and outran

the secondary for a 94-yard touchdown that just may have propelled

the hosts into prime playoff position.

“He’s something,” Henigan said of Vinson, who upped his season

rushing total to 1,269 yards and now has 17 touchdowns. “He’s some

kind of athlete. There are times this year when he has had to get his

yards on his own, but we actually blocked decent tonight.”

After Vinson’s final touchdown, Newport drove to the Irvine

22-yard line on consecutive possessions, but both times turned the

ball over with fourth-down incompletions.

Irvine then went 77 yards on eight plays, the first seven of which

resulted with the ball in Vinson’s hands, to expand the lead. On the

eighth play, Tracy faked the handoff to Vinson and Newport’s defense

bit, leaving Tracy enough room to scoot along the left sideline for a

24-yard touchdown keeper. Noe Santana’s conversion kick made it 28-14

with 6:04 left, but the Sailors weren’t done yet.

The visitors, forced to the air, went 73 yards on nine plays,

including four Michael McDonald completions and a 9-yard scramble by

the senior quarterback. McDonald capped the drive by hitting receiver

Spencer Link, who spun away from a tackler and sprinted to paydirt

for a 29-yard score. A dead-ball personal foul on the Tars forced a

35-yard conversion-kick attempt, which was blocked with 3:22 left.

Irvine recovered the ensuing onside kick and used six straight

Vinson carries, including a 29-yard burst to the Newport 6, to help

him collect 266 second-half rushing yards. Vinson’s final series also

ran out the clock, helped vanquish the visitors and allow Irvine to

take a 10-9 lead in the hard-fought series.

Vinson’s heroics overshadowed a record-setting night for Johnson,

who finished with a season-high 175 rushing yards and two TDs. His

first scoring run, a 24-yard jaunt, put him at 2,715 career rushing

yards, surpassing the school career record of 2,700 set by Steve

Brazas in 1982-83. On his next carry, Johnson surpassed the 100-yard

mark for the 14th game of his career, establishing a record he

previously shared with the late Andre Stewart. Johnson, however,

gained only 23 yards on eight second-half carries.

McDonald finished 15 of 26 for 196 passing yards and Link made six

catches for 83 yards.