IRVINE — Troy Mills’ 17 tackles and Connor Leonard’s two interceptions were enough to help Canyon’s football team hang on for a 28-22 win over Irvine in a nonleague game Friday night at Irvine High.

Canyon’s defense had to withstand the Vaqueros’ stronghold on the football and the clock in the second half.

“The biggest thing was our defense,” Canyon coach Phil Hughes said. “I told our defense that Irvine was going to do their best job to hold on to the football and keeping our offense limited, and Irvine did a great job of that tonight.

“They had a couple of drives where they had the ball for six minutes. I told our defense it was going to be up to them to win the game. We got a couple of key stops early in the game to give us a good lead and we played good enough defense to keep that distance.”

The Comanches (2-0) got on the scoreboard first with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Christian Lundsberg to Jaden Gonzales.

Irvine (1-1) responded with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Joseph Tierney to Harry Soltes, but trailed by one point due to a blocked point-after kick.

The Comanches extended their lead to 21-9 at halftime with a pair of touchdown passes from Lundsberg to Fox Haugen, for 19 and 12 yards, and Leonard added an interception.

Leonard grabbed his second interception at the beginning of the third quarter.

“I always read and react,” Leonard said. “I love playing defense and tonight I read and reacted and got lucky.”

Canyon’s Connor Leonard intercepted two passes in a victory over Irvine on Friday, Aug. 26. (Photo by Manny Alvarez, Contributor)

Irvine’s offense took control of the ball in the second half, and it scored on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Tierney to Soltes.

Following Lundsberg’s fourth touchdown pass, Irvine drove down the field thanks to Kendyn Beaver’s runs, and that led to Brandon Figeroa’s 3-yard TD run.

Canyon cleanly fielded the ball on a squib kick and ran the clock out to secure the victory.

“They made it a fight,” Mills said of Irvine. “We stood right up there and fought back and ended up in front.”

Beaver rushed for 176 yards on 31 carries for Irvine while Tierney was 11-of-23 passing for 185 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Soltes caught two passes for 80 yards with two scores and Ieveck Guerrero had two sacks. Carson Walker grabbed an interception for Irvine.

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Lundsberg completed 11 of 14 passes for 220 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.

Haugen caught five passes for 101 yards and two scores, Kyle Krause rushed for 47 yards on seven carries, and Colin Chu caught three passes for 40 yards and a score for the Comanches.

Canyon plays at Fullerton on Friday, Sept. 2, while Irvine will host Troy on the same night.