Eagles 17 - Irvine 0
IRVINE, CA., October 26, 1996 – The Eagles took sole possession of the Sea View League lead with a 17-0 shutout over rival Irvine. The defense led the team as they limited Irvine’s high-powered offense to 18 yards rushing and 68 yards passing. Irvine’s biggest play was on a halfback pass while trailing 10-0. Two plays later the Vaqueros lost the ball inside the 5-yard line. The Eagles then went on an 89-yard drive that consumed over 9 minutes and 17 plays. Damien Minna iced the win with a 5-yard run. It was the first time in school history that the Eagles held sole possession of first place in the Sea View league.
| Santa Margarita | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| Irvine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
SM – Sparks 22 FG
SM – Palmer 47 run (Sparks kick)
SM – Minna 5 run (Sparks kick)
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
Santa Margarita defense shuts down Irvine, 17-0
IRVINE – For the past four seasons, whenever Santa Margarita and Irvine met to renew their rivalry, they played an evenly matched game decided by an average of three points.
But that was not the case Saturday night as the No. 6 Eagles (6-1, 2-0) used 263 yards of offense and an aggressive, blitzing defense to pave the way for a 17-0 victory against the host Vaqueros (4-3, 1-1).
"Our defense did a great job preparing for a good offense," Santa Margarita coach Jim Hartigan said. "We fooled Irvine's offense by giving our blitzes different looks."
The Eagles defense, which allows an average of 261 yards per game, dominated the line of scrimmage, holding No. 9 Irvine to 128 total yards. At times there were more Eagles in the backfield than Vaqueros.
Irvine coach Terry Henigan knew the only way to beat Santa Margarita was to play a perfect game. The Vaqueros didn't, fumbling three times, losing two.
Using a series of short passes to Ryan Brucker to beat the Eagles' relentless blitz in the third quarter, Irvine's Jared Flint enginereed an 11-play drive that gave the Vaqueros their best field position of the game at Santa Margarita's 6 yard-line.
However, Irvine came up empty when the Eagles' Andy Hopper recovered Jake Savona's fumble, setting up an 89-yard Santa Margarita drive capped by Damien Minna's 5-yard run to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead with 4:37 remaining.
Santa Margarita scored first after Billy Newman returned a punt 60 yards to the Vaqueros' 10-yard line. Four plays later, Nick Sparks kicked a 22-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
The Vaqueros defense concentrated on shutting down Newman, the No. 2 back in the county, and the succeeded in the first half, holding him to 36 yards. However, Eagles quarterack Carson Palmer ran for 80 yards, 47 on a touchdown run in the second quarter that gave Santa Margarita a 10-0 halftime lead.
By Damian Dottore
Sunday, October 27, 1996
The Orange County Register - C18
