Eagles 49 - St. John Bosco 28
MISSION VIEJO, CA., October 27, 2000 – The Eagles unleashed their offense rolling up 20 first downs and 475 total yards, including a season-high 341 yards rushing, en route to a 49-28 win over the St. John Bosco Braves at Saddleback College. The win was their fourth in four tries against the Braves and improved the Eagles to 6-2 on the year and 1-0 in Serra League play. The loss was the fifth in a row on the season for the Braves and dropped them to 3-5 and 0-1 respectively. Tyler Thompson continued his dominating ways by rushing for 203 yards on a record-tying 32 carries, carried four times for 51 yards in the opening drive, but Jeff Ferrier couldn't connect on a 42-yard field goal. St. John Bosco capitalized on a 66-yard run to set up a six-yard Jacob Mathews to Demond Coins Td pass for a 7-0 lead. The Eagles came right back with a nine-play 74-yard drive capped by Matt Dlugolecki's 19-yard Td pass to Ryan Whelan. Just 19 seconds later Whelan scored on a 30-yard interception return for a 14-7 lead. Thompson scored from a yard out at the 9:39 mark of the second quarter, but after trading punts Coins scored on a 35-yard Td run to close the gap to 21-14 at the half. The second half started with Trevor Zinn recovering a fumble on the kickoff to set up Dlugolecki's 11-yard Td pass to Curtis Cooper (5 catches for 79 yards). Dlugolecki (nine of 13 for 134 yards and three Tds) found Cooper again from 23-yards out at the 11:23 mark of the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 35-14. Ashton White who finished with 137 yards on 15 carries scored from 15 yards out at the 4:01 mark to increase the lead to 42-21. A Brave touchdown at the 2:01 mark was followed by another Thompson Td to close out the scoring. Defensively, Matt Vogel collected seven tackles while Whelan collected three tackles and pass broken up to go along with his interception.
| Santa Margarita | 14 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 49 |
| St. John Bosco | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 28 |
SJB – Coins 6 pass from Souza (Escobedo kick)
SM – Whelan 19 pass from Dlugolecki (Cooper kick)
SM – Whelan 30 interception return (Cooper kick)
SM – Thompson 1 run (Cooper kick)
SJB – Coins 35 run (Escobedo kick)
SM – Cooper 11 pass from Dlugolecki (Cooper kick)
SM – Cooper 23 pass from Dlugolecki (Cooper kick)
SJB – Butler 4 run (Escobedo kick)
SM – White 15 run (Cooper kick)
SJB – Butler 2 run (Escobedo kick)
SM – Thompson 1 run (Cooper kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SJB - Mathews 9-104, Coins 5-44; SM - Thompson 32-207, White 15-137
Passing: SJB - Souza 8-13-1-74; SM - Dlugolecki 9-13-0-132
Receiving: SJB - Rochester 2-27, Lynn 2-20; SM - Cooper 5-79, Whelan 1-19
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
Santa Margarita rushes to victory
MISSION VIEJO – Santa Margarita rushed for 345 yards and three touchdowns and Matt Dlugolecki passed for three touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a 49-28 victory in its Serra League opener against St. John Bosco of Bellflower on Friday at Saddleback College.
Senior Tyler Thompson was the workhorse for the Eagles, tying a school record with 32 carries for 207 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore Ashton White added 15 carries for 137 yards and one touchdown.
"We ran the ball real well," Santa Margarita coach Jim Hartigan said. "Our backs ran hard. I was proud of the way we ran the ball. We had some receivers hurt from last week, so we had to run it and we did."
The Eagles (6-2, 1-0, face top-ranked Mater Dei next Friday at Cal State Fullerton.
Jacob Mathews had a 65-yard run that set up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Joseph Souza to Demond Coins for a 7-0 Braves (3-5, 0-1) lead with 9:21 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles responded with 21 consecutive points to take control of the game. The UCLA-bound Dlugolecki, who was 9 of 13 for 132 yards, connected with Ryan Whelan on a 19-yard touchdown pass to tie the score with 2:37 left in the opening quarter.
Whelan intercepted Souza on the next play from scrimmage and returned it for a 30-yard touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Jeff Ferrier recovered his onside kick to give the Eagles the ball at the Braves 44. Eight plays later, Thompson plowed in from the 1 for a 21-7 lead with 9:39 left in the half.
Coins scored on a 35-yard run with 5:25 left in the half to make it 21-14 at halftime.
St. John Bosco's Brandon Lynn fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half and Trevor Zinn recovered for the Eagles. Four plays later Dlugolecki hit Curtis Cooper on an 11-yard scoring pass.
Dlugolecki hitCooper again early in the fourth for a 23-yard TD pass and an insurmountable 35-14 lead.
By Carlos Arias
Saturday, October 28, 2000
The Orange County Register - D1
