Eagles 21 - Mater Dei 14
FULLERTON, CA., November 3, 2000 – Cal State Fullerton was once again the site of one of the greatest wins in Santa Margarita history as the Eagles defeated the nationally ranked Mater Dei Monarchs 21-14 in front of an estimated 6,700 fans. The convincing win erased doubts that the Eagles could play with the three-time defending Division I Champion Monarchs, ranked No. 7 in the nation per USA Today, and eased the suffering from last season's devastating 34-0 loss at the hands of the Monarchs. The victory now ranks with the two CIF Championship wins as one of their three greatest ever, and put the Eagles (7-2, 2-0) in position to win their first ever Serra League Championship. The loss dropped the Monarchs to 7-2, 1-1.
The keys for the Eagles going in were establishing a running game, winning the battle of special teams, rebounding from Monarch scores and creating turnovers. Santa Margarita did these, and, in fact, dominated all aspects of the game by using key plays on offense, defense and special teams. On the Monarch's opening drive Tyler Thompson stripped Cameron Carmona of the ball and Ashton White scooped it up and returned it 43 yards to the Mater Dei nine. On the next play Thompson ran untouched into the endzone for a 7-0 lead only 2:09 into the game. After a three-and-out by mater Dei forced them to punt, the Eagles marched down the field on a 14-play 71-yard drive highlighted by a key 26-yard pass completion from Matt Dlugolecki to Curtis Cooper on a third-and-four situation and capped by a five-yard touchdown pass from Dlugolecki to Thompson to make it 14-0 with 1:37 left in the first quarter. Mater Dei struck back with an eight-play 62-yard drive helped by a personal foul by the Eagles and finished off with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Matt Linert to Jeff Diulio at the 10:11 mark of the second quarter to make it 14-7. After an exchange of punts the Eagles drove to the Monarch 38, but the drive stalled and Matt Vogel's punt pinned the Monarchs on their eight. After three incomplete passes Brian New's punt from the endzone was blocked by Ashton White and recovered by Alex Huston on the Mater Dei one. Two plays later Dlugolecki (seven of 10 for 111 yards and one Td) took it in himself for a 21-7 lead with 1:40 left in the half. The Monarchs wasted little time as they drove to the Eagle 21 in six plays before Linert connected with Diulio again, this time from 21 yards to close the gap to 21-14 at the 0:36 mark. In the second half the Eagles kept it simple and focused on ball control drives that ate time off the clock. Dominating the time of possession caused the Monarchs to see the ball three times in the second half where they managed only 90 yards and scored no points. The start of the second half began with an interception by Trevor Zinn at the Eagle goal line to end a Monarch threat. After an Eagle punt the defense came up big with a key stop on 3rd down at the 50 forcing the Monarchs to punt. A 10-play drive by the Eagles netted 54 yards, but most importantly ate five minutes off the clock. On mater Dei's last possession a sack by Matt Vogel and Chris Cutler put Mater Dei into a punting situation where Vogel's block of another New punt gave the Eagles first down at the Mater Dei 41. A holding penalty was overcome by the hard running of Thompson (31 carries for 92 yards) and White (11 carries for 47 yards). Later at the Monarch 21 Dlugolecki's QB sneak for a first down at the 2:02 mark sealed the game. Defensively, the Eagles limited the high-powered Monarch offense to 238 total yards and only 12 first downs (including two that were the result of Eagle penalties). Thomas Cappelletti, Johnnie Walker and Thompson spearheaded the Eagle defensive effort with six tackles apiece.
| Santa Margarita | 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Mater Dei | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
SM – Thompson 9 run (Cooper kick)
SM – Thompson 5 pass from Dlugolecki (Cooper kick)
MD – Diulio 11 pass from Leinart (New kick)
SM – Dlugolecki 2 run (Cooper kick)
MD – Diulio 21 pass form Leinart (New kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: MD - Leinart, 4-16, Carmona, 7-14; SM - Thompson, 31-91, White, 11-47
Passing: MD - Leinart, 17-28-1-190; SM - Dlugolecki, 7-10-0-110
Receiving: MD - Diulio, 12-125, Panique, 3-41; SM - Walker, 2-39, Cooper, 2-38
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
With upset, Eagles reach new heights
FULLERTON – No need to check the scorecards, or wait for late returns. Santa Margarita's first-ever victory over Mater Dei on Friday night was as unequivocal as it was emotional.
The Eagles ran when they wanted to, passed when they had to, and lay confidently in wait for Mater Dei's mistakes at Titan Stadium. Their 21-14 upset knocked down several walls, including any further need to apologize for joining Division I.
Santa Margarita was only 12-7 in D-1 going into this game, but you can expect that percentage to rise with each punishing carry by sophomore Ashton White and senior Tyler Thompson. Jim Hartigan's reborn squad kept going for fourth-and-short and making it. It also blocked two punts, intercepted Matt Leinart at the end zone to begin the third quarter, sacked Leinart when they had to, forced a laundry hamper of holding flags on the embattled Mater Dei line -- and, by the way, took over first place in the Serra League with a 2-0 record.
Someone asked Hartigan how big this was, and he was set to answer when about eight people in blue and gold approached him and hugged him sequentially.
"I guess this answers that," Hartigan said.
On the other side, Monarchs coach Bruce Rollinson took the unaccustomed loss professionally.
"My biggest concern was if they could control the ball on us like they did," he said. "Those are two good backs, and they rammed it right down our throats. We made mistakes, but give credit to them. I thought we'd had a good week of practice, but apparently we weren't prepared, and that's my fault."
On Thursday, Rollinson reclined in his office chair and idly wondered if the Monarchs had been overscheduled. "We had three tough games in a 16-day stretch," he said, "and when you play De La Salle and Edison and St. Paul and Loyola and Servite, and then come back with Santa Margarita, you're asking a lot of these kids."
But the kids had answered eloquently, coming within a field goal of tying De La Salle and beating everyone else, and Rollinson clearly thought the worst was over. Santa Margarita was ranked 10th in the county and had been flattened by Tustin, and its defense had given up 20-plus points four times.
What happened to the Monarchs, in the first half, happens to almost every targeted team that forgets to bring its anger to the ballpark. Mater Dei also forgot to bring the football. The Eagles spread the Mater Dei defense, unleashed White and Thompson against the five Monarchs remaining in the box, and hogged the ball for 16:30 of the 24 minutes.
Mater Dei also peppered the upset stew with mistakes. White ran back Cameron Carmona's fumble to the Mater Dei 5, from where Matt Dlugolecki threw a touchdown to Thompson. Monarchs punter Bryan New couldn't pull the trigger from his own 1-yard-line and got his kick blocked by White, with Alex Huston recovering. That was another touchdown, and Santa Margarita led 21-7 late in the second quarter.
That's when Leinart developed convenient amnesia. He forgot the too-high, too-wide passes, the fumbled snaps, the other imprecisions that marred his first half, and took the Monarchs down the field for the touchdown that cut the lead to a manageable 21-14. An interference call on Thomas Cappelletti in the end zone helped, but it wouldn't have happened without Leinart's perfect lob to Jeff Diulio. On the next play, Leinart hit Diulio for the score.
At that point you expected Leinart to close the deal, as he had done against Servite and Loyola. Not even Friday night's triple crown demolition derby on the 5, the 55 and 405 could have unhinged him. He grew up as a pitcher, after all. Pitchers don't wave disgustedly at their fielders, and they don't yell at the officials. They wear an iron mask and go about their business, sometimes with a smile.
"I think a lot of it comes from pitching," Leinart said. "You have to deal with all kinds of situations as a pitcher, and you can't let anything bother you. During a game, Coach will be getting all excited and I'll run by and say, `Rollo, don't worry about it. We're scoring on this drive.' To me, having a lot of pressure is fun."
The Servite game best exemplified Leinart's attitude. He threw a costly interception that drew Rollinson's wrath.
"Then," Rollinson said, "he goes out there and probably makes the play of the year for us so far -- rolling to his right, stopping, throwing back across the field for a touchdown (32 yards, to Julian Petit).
"He's done that all year."
Santa Margarita's plan was to keep him away from the ball.
"We tried to mess up his timing a little bit," Hartigan said. "We tried to mix up the zone and the man-to-man some, and it was tough because he has such a great touch on the deep throw."
White, the son of USC Heisman Trophy winner Charles White, might set an unofficial high school record for possession time before he's done. Thompson is just an honest warrior who has been named Santa Margarita's player of the game 16 times in 34 games. He might be gunning for 17 in 35.
"We've won CIF titles before, and you can't do better than that," Hartigan said. "But this is right up there. Beating the Monarchs, beating Bruce Rollinson..."
Principal Merritt Hemenway stood on the sideline and watched the clock run out, with Mater Dei out of timeouts, with the Eagles offense already on the cusp of celebration. Words were coming hard, until a local pastor approached.
"Explain this to me," the man said.
Hemenway shrugged. "Pray, pray and pray," he said.
For Mater Dei, it was three and out.
By Mark Whicker
Saturday, November 4, 2000
The Orange County Register - D1
Eagles shock Mater Dei
Santa Margarita hands the county's No. 1 team its first league loss since 1995
FULLERTON – Santa Margarita knew it needed to play a complete game to beat Mater Dei on Friday night, and that's what the Eagles got.
Almost to the letter.
The Eagles, ranked 10th in Orange County, made big plays on offense, defense and special teams to stun top-ranked Mater Dei, 21-14, and seize control of the Serra League in front of an estimated crowd of 6,000 at Cal State Fullerton.
Santa Margarita, a 34-0 loser to the Monarchs in the teams' first meeting last year at Edison Field, became the first Orange County team to beat Mater Dei since San Clemente posted a 23-17 victory against the Monarchs on Oct. 27, 1995. That was also the Monarchs' last league loss.
Santa Margarita's hero, senior running back/linebacker Tyler Thompson, celebrated the victory with a cartwheel. That, just like the Eagles, hit the mark.
"I've been dreaming about beating Mater Dei since preschool," said Thompson, who scored two touchdowns, forced a fumble and carried the ball 31 times for 91 yards. "We knew we had to play great defense, offense and special teams to beat Mater Dei."
All the scoring in the game came in the first half. But Santa Margarita's play was steady throughout, and sometimes spectacular. The Eagles (7-2, 2-0) made their biggest plays on defense and special teams.
On the fifth play of the game, Thompson set the tone by stripping Cameron Carmona at Santa Margarita's 49-yard line. Ashton White scooped up the ball and returned it to the Monarchs 9. On the next play, Thompson scored to give Santa Margarita a 6-0 lead 2:09 into the game.
Thompson gave Santa Margarita a 13-0 lead with 1:37 left in the first on a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Dlugolecki, capping a 71-yard drive.
The Eagles' special teams also came up big, blocking two punts, one in each half. White blocked a punt by Bryan New with 1:53 left in the first half. Alex Huston recovered the ball at the Monarchs 1-yard line, and three plays later Dlugolecki, who has given an oral commitment to UCLA, scored on a keeper from 2 yards out to give the Eagles a 20-7 lead with 1:40 left in the second quarter.
Mater Dei (7-2, 1-1), ranked second behind Long Beach Poly in Division I, made a key stand near the end of the half. Matt Leinart, who has given an oral commitment to USC, guided the Monarchs on a five-play, 70-yard scoring drive that spanned just 1:04. Leinart capped the drive with a 21-yard pass to Jeff Diulio (12 catches, 125 yards) with 36 seconds left in the half.
The second half was scoreless, but Santa Margarita kept making plays. Thompson rushed for 46 yards and helped the Eagles control the clock. In the first half, Santa Margarita held a 16:30-7:30 edge in time of possession.
Mater Dei's best chance to tie the score came midway through the fourth. The Monarchs advanced the ball to their 43, but a penalty call and a sack by Chris Cutler moved the ball back to Mater Dei's 20 and killed the drive.
Santa Margarita's Matt Vogel then sealed the game by blocking another punt with 4:32 left. Santa Margarita recovered at the Monarchs 41 and ran out the clock.
By Dan Albano
Saturday, November 4, 2000
The Orange County Register
