Eagles 27 - Newport Harbor 7
|
| Photo: Paul E. Rodriguez |
NEWPORT BEACH, CA., December 5, 1997 – The Eagles defeated Sea View League rival Newport Harbor 27-7 at Davidson Field to post their 24th consecutive win and advance to their second consecutive CIF Division V Championship Game. It was the fourth time in 22 games and fifth time in 30 games that the Eagles and Sailors have squared off. The Eagles scored on their first possession as Bryant Wolfsberger scored on a 12-yard run on the Eagles’ first drive to post a 7-0 lead. On the Sailors’ first play from scrimmage, John Minardi intercepted a pass to set up Nick Sparks’ 39-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead.
Late in the second quarter Carson Palmer found Matt Brooks on a 57-yard Td pass to make it 17-0 at the half. In the third quarter Greg Orlando took a lateral from Palmer and found Minardi on a 25-yard Td pass to up the lead to 24-0. A 20-yard field goal from Sparks made it 27-0. The Sailors were never able to penetrate mid-field and only were able to set up shop in Eagle territory on the basis of an interception (Eagle 45) and a botched snap on a punt (Eagle 29). The botched snap led to a Brett Baker Td with 4:00 left which cut the Eagle lead to 27-7. The sailors struggled all night managing 130 yards of total offense and eight first downs on 51 plays.
Palmer led the offense with 300 yards passing, while Minardi contributed 160 yards on eight receptions and added two interceptions. Andrew Holstein spearheaded the Eagle defense with 14 tackles while Nick Cappelletti and Jesse Wyatt added 12 each.
| Santa Margarita | 10 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 27 |
| Newport Harbor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
SM – Wolfsberger 12 run (Sparks kick)
SM – FG Sparks 39
SM – Brooks 57 pass from Palmer (Sparks kick)
SM – Minardi 25 pass from Orlando (Sparks kick)
SM – FG Sparks 20
NH – Baker 1 run (Baker kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SM - Wolfsberger 17-87, McCroskey 10-62; NH - Baker 21-61, Gorman 2-7
Passing: SM - Palmer 14-29-1-297, Orlando 2-2-0-22; NH - Gorman 8-27-2-62
Receiving: SM - Minardi 7-145, Brooks 1-57; NH - Baker 2-21, Garcia 3-15
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
Santa Margarita sinks Sailors again
The Eagles advance to the Division V championship game by defeating Newport Harbor for the fourth consecutive time.
NEWPORT BEACH – Santa Margarita coach Jim Hartigan detected some misfires in his high-powered offense Friday night during the Eagles' CIF Southern Section Division V semifinal game against Newport Harbor.
Unfortunately for the host Sailors, there was nothing wrong with Santa Margarita's defense.
The Eagles defense smothered Newport, allowing the Sailors past midfield only two times, holding them to 68 yards rushing and only 130 yards in total offense during a convincing 27-7 victory before an estimated 3,400 fans.
The victory returns Santa Margarita (13-0) to the CIF championship next Saturday against either Tustin or Brea Olinda, which play tonight. Newport Harbor finishes the season 10-3.
"Our offense was sloppy at times but it's nice to get back to the finals," Hartigan said. "Hopefully this was the one game that we didn't execute well, but our defense did an outstanding job."
It was the fourth time in the past two years Newport Harbor has faced Santa Margarita and the results have been disappointing for the Sailors in all four games. The Sailors, who are 22-1 against other teams over the past two seasons, lost to the Eagles in the championship game, 38-0, last year. The Sailors were unable to mount any sort of offensive challenge Friday until the fourth quarter when the game had been decided.
Santa Margarita's defensive front, composed of Andy Hopper, Troy Brenes, Jordan Beckner, Colin Rooke, Nick Cappelletti, John Schweitzer and Andy Holstein, held Newport Harbor running back Brett Baker 61 yards on 21 carries, his lowest run production of the season. Baker, who finished the year with 1,845 yards had only four carries of more than 4 yards.
Santa Margarita scored on its first series, going 68 yards and scoring on a 12-yard run by tailback Bryant Wolfsberger.
Wolfsberger, who came into the game with 1,557 yards, was held to 87 yards by a swarming Newport defense. But the Sailors couldn't contain Eagles quarterback Carson Palmer, who came up with some big numbers.
He completed 14 of 29 passes for 297 yards and one touchdown. He was especially impressive in the first half, completing 8 of 17 passes for 185 yards and having four other passes dropped.
The biggest pass of the game was a 57-yard pass to Matt Brooks from Palmer with 46 seconds left in the half.
By David Osterman
Saturday, December 6, 1997
The Orange County Register - Sports 4
