Eagles 21 - Trabuco Hills 17
MISSION VIEJO, CA., October 10, 2003 – Quarterback Michael Angelo passed for a career-high three touchdowns and Mark Restelli batted away a fourth down pass in the endzone with 0:47 to play as the Eagles defeated the Trabuco Hills Mustangs 21-17 at Saddleback College. The victory was Santa Margarita’s fifth in a row over their cross-town rivals and allowed them to enter Serra League play with an unblemished 5-0 record for the second year in a row.
With Angelo sitting out the first quarter for disciplinary reasons the Eagles started out slowly as Ryan Nienhuis was only able to guide the team to two first downs. Defensively, the Eagles stopped the Mustangs on downs twice and Matt Steinbach recovered a muffed fumble on a punt to keep an Eagle drive alive. It didn’t take long for Angelo to make an impact. One the third play of the second quarter he found Nienhuis in stride on a 28-yard scoring pass to take a 7-0 lead with 11:00 to go in the half. After former Eagle RB P.J. Vallier scored from five yards out to tie the game at seven, Angelo found Nienhuis on the exact same route – this time from 36 yards out - to make it 14-7 at the 3:17 mark. The score stayed the same until 6:49 was left in the third quarter when Angelo found Colin Schmit on a 14-yard scoring strike to make it 21-7. Trabuco Hills didn’t give up as Vallier’s second touchdown – this one from three yards out made it 21-14 with 2:35 left in the third quarter. A 27-yard field goal by Derik Martinez with 9:41 left in the game was the result of a short field compliments of a failed fourth down conversion attempt by the Eagles at their own 45 yard line. With 7:01 left the Mustangs went on a plodding 14-play drive that finally stalled on the Eagle 21 nearly 6 ½ minutes later. On fourth down QB Alex Aubel’s pass was batted away by Restelli (nine tackles) in the far corner of the endzone preserving the Eagle win.
Besides the play of Restelli, seniors Jack Meehan and Matt Rupp made significant contributions on the defensive side of the ball as they picked up 11 and 10 tackles respectively. Meehan also recovered a fumble and Rupp extended his career sacks record to 25 with 1 ½ in the game.
| Santa Margarita | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Trabuco Hills | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 |
SM – Nienhuis 28 pass from Angelo (kick good)
TH – Vallier 5 run (kick good)
SM – Nienhuis 36 pass from Angelo (kick good)
SM – Schmit 14 pass from Angelo (kick good)
TH – Vallier 3 run (kick good)
TH – Martinez 27 FG
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: TH - Vallier 28-102
Passing: –
Receiving: –
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
Eagles survive scare
Santa Margarita holds off Trabuco Hills' late charge to win, 21-17
MISSION VIEJO – Santa Margarita's football team learned a valuable lesson Friday night against winless Trabuco Hills: Never underestimate your opponent.
The fifth-ranked Eagles withstood a fourth-quarter charge by the Mustangs and held on for a 21-17 nonleague victory in front of 5,000 at Saddleback College.
"We were holding on for dear life," said Eagles quarterback Michael Angelo, who had to sit out the first quarter because he missed a practice this week.
Angelo sparked the Eagles with two touchdowns passes when he entered the game in the second quarter to give Santa Margarita a 14-7 lead at halftime. Both of his touchdown passes in the first half went to wideout Ryan Nienhuis, who got the start at quarterback in the first quarter.
Angelo's first touchdown pass was a 28-yarder. He lofted the pass over two defenders and hit Nienhuis in stride for the score and a 7-0 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.
The Mustangs, who have struggled on offense all season, showed signs of improvement and came back with an 11-play, 72-yard scoring drive. Tailback P.J. Vallier, a sophomore transfer from Santa Margarita, was instrumental on the drive. He carried four times for 36 yards, including a powerful 5-yard run to get into the end zone for the tying score with 6:21 left in the second quarter.
But Angelo didn't waste any time orchestrating another scoring drive. His second touchdown pass was nearly a mirror image of the first, this time going for 36 yards to Nienhuis for a 14-7 advantage with 3:17 left in the half.
It looked like the Eagles were in control after marching 80 yards on their first possession of the half, despite two holding penalties at the beginning of the drive that put the Eagles in a first-and-32 hole. Colin Schmit caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Angelo to make it 21-7 with 6:49 left in the third quarter.
The Mustangs responded with a 65-yard scoring drive that was helped by a pass interference penalty against the Eagles. Vallier, who finished with 102 yards on 28 carries, scored his second touchdown on a 3-yard run to cut the deficit to 21-14 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.
Linebacker Justin Champieux stuffed Santa Margarita's Omar Villamar for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-inches to give the Mustangs the ball at the Eagles' 43. It resulted in a 27-yard field goal by Derik Martinez.
By Carlos Arias
Saturday, October 11, 2003
The Orange County Register - HS1
