No. 8 Irvine Flattens Los Amigos, Then Eases Off

By DAVE McKIBBEN

Sept. 30, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Los Amigos bus pulled up to Irvine Stadium only 40 minutes before kickoff. The Lobos would have been wise to stay on the bus.

They were hit with 28 first-quarter points and didn’t pick up a first down until four minutes remained in the third quarter. It could have been a lot worse than the 65-6 final Friday night, but Irvine Coach Terry Henigan substituted freely and didn’t call a pass play after the first 15 minutes.

About the only negatives for Irvine were the 12 penalties for 105 yards and the third-quarter knee injury to offensive lineman Brett Murillo, a team captain.

Eighth-ranked Irvine has outscored its first four opponents, 191-43.

Incredibly, the Irvine offense actually started sluggishly. Quarterback Travis Otott overthrew his first passes by 10 yards and Irvine was whistled for two illegal procedure and one holding penalty on its first drive.

“We were horrible that first drive,” Henigan said. “It was expected. We had a horrible week of practice on offense.”

Because of the penalties and an overthrow, Otott faced second and 30 on Los Amigos’ 37. But he recovered quickly to hit Peter Abe on a 13-yard slant and a wide-open Greg Patton for 24 yards and a touchdown. Otott burned the Los Amigos secondary with scoring passes two more times in the next six minutes--hitting Patton for 22 yards and Mike Brooks for 26 yards.

“We had a lot of guys run great routes,” Otott said. “They were open all night.”

Otott, who completed nine of 16 passes for 158 yards, scored the Vaqueros’ fourth touchdown on a one-yard plunge.

Irvine made it 35-0 on an Abe 20-yard run off a draw play. Fourth-string tailback Jason Cannata’s 51-yard sprint up the middle gave the Vaqueros a 42-0 halftime lead.

The third quarter belonged to Irvine’s junior running back Godfrey Young, who returned kickoffs 96 and 70 yards for touchdowns. Irvine scored its last touchdown when defensive end Jorian Guinn picked up a fumble--Los Amigos’ seventh--and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. Los Amigos scored with 3:35 left on a seven-yard keeper by Lobos quarterback Matthew Hardin.

The Lobos (1-3) were playing without starting quarterback Richard Dinh, who hurt his knee two weeks ago against Valencia.

“If they had that quarterback, they’d be a different ball club,” Henigan said. “I don’t know where we’d be without our quarterback.”

Henigan praised Los Amigos for continuing to play hard despite the score.

“A game like this is not fun for anybody, but it was a clean game,” Henigan said. “That’s a classy bunch of kids and they never gave up.”