Football Preview: Santa Margarita Eagles vs. Mater Dei Monarchs
Santa Margarita is 0-10 against Mater Dei since October of 2014 but things could change on Friday. After each having a week off, both will dust off their jerseys to face off against one another at 7:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few points on average, (Santa Margarita: 16.8, Mater Dei: 15.2) so any points scored will be well earned.
Santa Margarita's upcoming match probably won't be as stressful as their last, when they took on another nationally ranked opponent: Leuzinger, who was ranked 49th at the time (Santa Margarita was ranked 57th). Santa Margarita and Leuzinger were almost perfectly matched up last Friday, but Santa Margarita suffered a 14-13 loss. Despite 156 more yards than the Olympians, the Eagles couldn't convert that extra yardage to scores.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Sean Embree Jr., who picked up 147 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, Mater Dei put another one in the bag last Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They walked away with a 25-14 win over St. Frances Academy. The Monarchs pushed the score to 22-0 by the end of the third, a deficit the Panthers cut but never quite recovered from.
The critical scores for Mater Dei came from Marcus Harris, Trenton Dunn, and Tomuhini Topui.
Mater Dei's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged three passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Aaryn Washington, Danny Lang II, and Semi Taulanga picked up one apiece. Another thorn in St. Frances Academy's side was Nasir Wyatt, who picked up two sacks, forced two fumbles, and made eight total tackles (3.0 for loss).
The defeat snapped Santa Margarita's winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 3-2 record. As for Mater Dei, they pushed their record up to 4-0 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season.
Things could have been worse for Santa Margarita, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 35-19 loss to Mater Dei when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Will Santa Margarita have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other football content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
