Palm Desert 26 - Eagles 25 - CIF
Miscues topple Eagles
Santa Margarita loses to Palm Desert, 26-25
MISSION VIEJO, CA., November 29, 1991 – After three missed extra points, two botched field-goal attempts and two ill timed fourth-down runs from punt formation, it only figured the game would come down to one last kicking effort.
And, as before, it was no good.
Santa Margarita's hopes of going from the quarterfinals in 1989 to the semifinals in 1990 to the finals this season were derailed Friday night.
A bad snap on a 23-yard field goal attempt by Sean O'Brien with two seconds remaining ended up as an incomplete pass and Palm Desert outlasted the Eagles, 26-25, in a CIF Southern Section Division V quarterfinal at Saddleback College.
"We missed our opportunities," Eagles coach Jim Hartigan said but the bad snaps were the key thing. We had the same problem at the beginning of the year. It's come back to haunt us."
For Santa Margarita (7-4-1), which hadn't lost in its last seven games, it might have been a case of overconfidence against Palm Desert (8-4), the Desert Valley League champions.
The Eagles vaulted to a 19-0 lead midway through the second quarter, outgaining the Aztecs at one point, 250-37 in total yardage. On their second possession, Anton Villaneuva got a key block from Josh Ireland and ran 90 yards for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead.
The Eagles again went 90 yards on its next possession, 33 on a run by Villaneuva, and scored on a 1-yard run by Ireland. The two-point: conversion again failed and they led, 12-0.
Santa Margarita upped its lead to 19-0 on another Ireland 1-yard. run and Bob Watts' extra point but Palm Desert cut the lead to 19-7 on a 7-yard pass from Mark Pitts to Mike Sprunger.
"I told the kids at halftime they can't sit back, they had to get back into the ballgame," Hartigan said. "After the first quarter we couldn't get it back."
The Eagles rolled up 354 yards on offense, 330 rushing, but managed just 35 in the third quarter as Palm Desert scored 12 of its 26 unanswered points, the final touchdown with 8:52 remaining on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Mark Pitts, to lead 26-19.
But the Eagles rallied with their only successful drive in nearly two quarters on the following kickoff.
On fourth-and-four from the Aztecs 35, quarterback Sean O'Brien found Brian Finneran slanting over the middle for a touchdown with 4:31 left. But the snap on the PAT was too high and the holder couldn't handle it.
Santa Margarita forced the Aztecs to punt with 2:06 remaining. From its own 21, the Eagles got a key pass interference call, moving the ball to the Aztecs 40 and Ireland caught an 11-yard pass on fourth-down to the 14.
A 9-yard run by O'Brien brought it to the Aztecs 5 but two plays netted no yards, forcing a field goal attempt.
| Palm Desert | 0 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 26 |
| Santa Margarita | 12 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 25 |
SM – Villaneuva 90 run (kick failed)
SM – Ireland 1 run (pass failed)
SM – Ireland 1 run (Watts kick)
PD – Sprunger 7 pass from Pitts (Dowdle kick)
PD – Neely 26 pass from Cardona (kick failed)
PD – Williams 1 run (kick failed)
PD – Pitts 1 run (Dowdle kick)
SM – Brian Finneran 35 pass from O'Brien (kick failed)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: PD - Cardona 14-128. Sprunger : 5-36; SM - Villaneuva 14-203, Ireland 33-156
Passing: PD - Pitts 6-9-0-70; SM - O'Brien 11-16-1-130
Receiving: PD - Neely 3-13, Cardona 3-40; SM - Brian Finneran 5-64, Zalta 3-58
By Michael Casey
Saturday, November 30, 1991
The Orange County Register - D8
