For one promising and impressive drive to start the game, No. 18
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) flashed its offensive brilliance of yesteryear.
But unrelenting pressure by the defense of No. 4
Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) took over from there in another slugfest in Southern California's Trinity League, leading to a 14-7 victory Friday night at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
Santa Margarita (6-0) sacked dynamic Mater Dei freshman quarterback
Paytyn Guess seven times, including two each from
Kingston Jimmerson and
Ca'ron Williams. The Eagles also got 158 yards passing and one touchdown from
Fletch Palmer to beat the Monarchs for the second year in a row.
Santa Margarita quarterback turned in a solid night to help his dad's team improve to 6-0 on the season. (PHOTO: John Luciano)
Last year's game, a 7-6 Santa Margarita win, featured less than 200 yards of offense by both teams. Both cleared the 200 mark on Friday, but barely.
Mater Dei (4-2), which missed two chip shot field goals, did have a chance to tie or take the lead on its final drive in part due to a face mask on a sack and then a controversial pass interference when the ball was tipped by Santa Margarita.
Guess somehow evaded two rushers and completed a 39-yard pass to
Gavin Honore to the Santa Margarita 15.
But a Mater Dei holding penalty and second sack of the night by Jimmerson pushed the ball back to the 34. Freshman
Jayden Jack intercepted Guess in the end zone to finish off Santa Margarita's 12th straight win over two seasons.
The defending California Open Division state champions, coached by former NFL quarterback Carson Palmer, broke a 7-7 halftime tie to take a 14-7 lead on its first drive of the second half on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Palmer to
Grant Van Raaphorst with 7:47 left in the third. A 20-yard double reverse run by Van Raaphorst set up the scoring strike and the Eagles had their first lead of the night.
Mater Dei powered down field on a 13-play drive but for the second time missed a short field goal, this time a 32-yarder wide right by
Jerry Shifman.
The Monarchs had two weeks to work on a humbling 25-8 home loss to No. 8
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) and recorded perhaps its best scoring drive of the year, a 12-play, 80-yard opening flurry capped with a 6-yard touchdown run by
Asir Nembhard.
Guess was brilliant on the drive, completing four passes to fellow freshman
Tristan Brown, including a third-down, 29-yarder on the run putting the ball near midfield. Another 25-yard strike to Brown helped put the ball down to the 1 and two plays later Nembhard, a sophomore, zoomed left almost untouched into the end zone, making it 7-0 with 3:29 left in the first.
It was the first points Santa Margarita, coming off back-to-back shutouts, had allowed since Sept. 4.
A sack by Santa Margarita's
Ca'ron Williams set up a short field and the Eagles immediately cashed in.
Palmer, the son of the head coach, completed a 34-yard strike to Van Raaphorst set up a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore
Adrian Petero to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:40 left in the half.
Mater Dei, riding the arms and legs of Guess, drove down to the Santa Margarita 19, but a sack by
Isaia Vandermade pushed the ball back and a 41-yard field goal try from Shifman was partially blocked by
Jake Martin to keep the score tied at 7-7 at halftime.
Freshman running back Adrian Petero is part of a promising youth movement at Santa Margarita. (PHOTO: John Luciano)
Santa Margarita broke an 11-game losing streak to Mater Dei last season with a rather unsightly but emotional 7-6 win. The Eagles managed just 194 yards of total offense, including just 20 on the ground. The Monarchs were held to less than 100 yards on both the ground and in the air (189 total).
As good as the Eagles were last year on defense, they entered Friday's game having allowed just 27 points all season (5.1 per game) with three shutouts, including back-to-back zeroes the last two weeks. Over the last three weeks, they allowed just one rushing yard combined.
Since 2004, Mater Dei entered Friday's game with an 18-4 series lead.
Santa Margarita continues Trinity League play next week at home against
Servite (Anaheim) while Mater Dei travels to
JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano).
