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Northwood football delivers win over Irvine in Stephen Barbee’s debut

August 22, 2026

IRVINE — Only time will tell if Friday night was the first step toward another championship for Northwood and first-year coach Stephen Barbee, but one thing was clear after 48 minutes of football.

The night was a step forward for his Timberwolves.

They shut out Irvine for three quarters while shining on defense, in particular, to lead Northwood to a 24-7 nonleague victory over Irvine at Portola High.

Barbee won Southern Section titles at St. Margaret’s in the lower divisions and at Long Beach Poly in the upper divisions. Now, mid-tier, he’s hoping to spin some magic again in his first season as head coach in North Irvine.

After going 4-6 last season, the Timberwolves already have a victory in the bank.

“We’ve very young,” Barbee said before kickoff. “Nobody’s picking us but us.”

His players are aggressive and believing in themselves even if nobody else believes in them. But they probably picked up a few believers wearing green after building a 17-0 lead and giving up only one touchdown—a 95-yard run by Seamus Hoffman with 4:01 left in the game. Less than a minute later, Northwood responded as good teams do, driving 50 yards in five plays, capped by L.J. Ulmer’s 15-yard score with 1:33 to go.

Hoffman had the gaudiest stats of the night. The tough Irvine running back rushed 17 times for 199 yards.

Ulmer carried 17 times for 103 yards and a score, and Xayn Ali rushed five times for 57, including a 34-yard scoring burst early in the second quarter that started the season’s scoring.

“It was a changing point,” Ali said of his score. “They started worrying a lot and they started getting scared about the run. It changed my confidence a lot because last year I had a pretty mediocre performance at running back. It boosted the confidence of me and everyone around us.”

Northwood’s next scoring drive was set up by a 10-yard punt after the Northwood defense pinned Irvine deep in its own territory. Quarterback Caden Jacobs passed 10 yards to Elliot Kwon with 3:35 left in the half. Dillan Low’s second PAT extended the margin to 14-0.

Low added to the advantage with 3:17 left in the third quarter by kicking a 20-yard field goal after a drive stalled at the 2-yard line – one of Irvine’s biggest bright spots until Hoffman’s TD burst.

“Incredibly proud of our offensive line, our running backs,” Barbee said. And then there was the defense, which gave up 33 percent of its total yardage on one play – Barbee’s favorite play of the night.

Although Hoffman reached the end zone, he was being tackled by Ali as he crossed the finish line.

“It sucks that they scored, but that play doesn’t require any talent whatsoever,” he said. “It requires not quitting. For one of the biggest guys on the field to run down a running back that’s faster, that exemplifies the kind of program I want to coach. We are not going to quit. That exemplified everything I needed to see. That epitomized our whole team. That’s the personification of our team in a nutshell.”

Orange County Register

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Northwood football delivers win over Irvine in Stephen Barbee’s debut

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