MaxPreps Top 10 Games of the Week

San Clemente (Calif.) vs. Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.)

The highly competitive Pac-5 Division championship – and potentially a chance to represent Southern California in one of next week’s state bowl games – is on the line Saturday night at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Depending on your point of view, a case could be made that the Pac-5 is down this season or actually better than ever because neither San Clemente nor Santa Margarita were champions of their own league in the regular season. San Clemente (12-1) lost only to South Coast champion Mission Viejo while Santa Margarita (11-2) was beaten twice in the rugged Trinity League.

Led by three touchdown passes from Utah commit Travis Wilson, San Clemente blew out Tesoro (Rancho Santa Margarita), 51-16, in last week’s semifinals. It was an eye-opening result, given that Tesoro had beaten two-time defending division champion Servite the week before. On the other side, Santa Margarita earned its first trip to a section final since 1998 when it beat Mission Viejo, 21-20. Junior quarterback Johnny Stanton engineered a 12-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in the go-ahead touchdown with just over one minute left to play.

Mitch Stephens: Santa Margarita 28, San Clemente 27
Steve Montoya: Santa Margarita 21, San Clemente 10
Stephen Spiewak: San Clemente 28, Santa Margarita 27
Kevin Askeland: Santa Margarita 30, San Clemente 14
Jamie DeMoney: Santa Margarita 34, San Clemente 31

Jamie DeMoney is National Content Manager for http://www.xosdigital.com XOS Digital PlayerOnDemand. He has covered high school sports and recruiting for more than 15 years.