BREA — One of the last natural grass fields in Orange County high school football took center stage Friday night in the CIF-SS Division 8 semifinals.
After a week filled with rain, Brea Olinda’s home field faced muddy conditions, but the Wildcats embraced the sludge and beat Irvine 28-12 to advance to their first championship game since 2018.
“The kids just locked in since playoffs (started),” Brea Olinda coach Justin Villasenor said. “They’ve turned into a different beast, and I think playing at home with our fans (helped). But the field, I mean, that’s the MVP right there.”
Brea Olinda (10-3) will host Beckman in the Division 8 title game on Friday or Saturday, Nov. 28-29. The site will be determined and confirmed by CIF on Saturday morning.
Wildcats quarterback Gavyn Nicholson rushed for over 100 yards and scored three TDs, Kolo Liti ran for 97 yards and a touchdown to pace an offense that did not complete a pass during the entire game.
“Throwing was kind of out of the question, you know, with the conditions,” Villasenor said, “but hats off to our offensive line they really embraced the mud.”
Irvine coach Tom Ricci said expressed frustration over the condition of the field, which he thought played a large role in the outcome of the game.
“If this was on a turf field, I think it would have been a different ballgame,” Ricci said, “but you know, I can’t take anything away from them. They played tough, (number) 5’s (Nicholson) a dog, he ran hard. He didn’t seem to have any problems just slipping on the field like we did.
“It’s just frustrating. We couldn’t play our game on this field, like we wanted to because the conditions were so bad.”
The Vaqueros defense made the first big play of the game when Mason Pruce intercepted Nicholson’s first attempt, a short screen pass.
With the ball on its 18, Brea Olinda’s defense kept Irvine out of the end zone and got a turnover on downs.
Irvine (9-4) forced a three-and-out and scored on their third drive of the game, capped by a 6-yard run by QB Sina Saferzadeh.
The Wildcats went on to score 28 consecutive points, including a 21-point second quarter where Nicholson scored all three TDs.
After Nicholson’s first TD, a 47-yard run early in the second quarter, the momentum began to shift.
The special teams forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff recovered by Jaxon Simmons which set up Nicholson’s second TD, a 5-yard run to make it 14-6.
The Vaqueros turned the ball over again on an option pitch from Saferzadeh to Jayden Heo, the ball bounced off Heo’s helmet and was recovered by Chris Bradish at the 36-yard line.
“You know, our kid (Heo) over there slips and falls, and we pitch it and it goes off his helmet,” Ricci said, describing the play. “Little things like that. It was like, you know, I can’t even fault our kids for that.”
The Wildcats took advantage of the short field and scored six plays later as Nicholson added another rushing touchdown.
Liti scored on a 10-yard run in the third quarter to make it 28-6 before the Vaqueros responded with a touchdown run from Seamus Hoffman to make it 28-12.
Nick Davis made sure Irvine would not get any closer as he picked off Saferzadeh in the red zone to end Irvine’s last scoring opportunity.
“I’ve been here for 17 years,” Villasenor said. “I was just telling my principal right now that I haven’t practiced on Thanksgiving since I was going to high school (at La Mirada). So I’m really happy that we get to practice on Thanksgiving.”
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