Eagles 9 - Long Beach Poly 7
Lacy connects for Santa Margarita
In his return to action, he hits from 27 yards to beat L.B. Poly after missing three field goals
MISSION VIEJO, CA., September 1, 2006 – Senior linebacker/kicker Mike Lacy never knew how much he would miss football until he sat out his junior season because of mononucleosis.
He got the chance to play the hero for his Santa Margarita teammates in the team's opener against powerhouse Long Beach Poly on Friday night at Saddleback College.
Lacy had missed on three previous field-goal attempts before drilling a 27-yard field goal with 30 seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 9-7 upset of the Jackrabbits, ranked No. 14 in the state by CalHiSports.com.
"My team was all I was thinking about," said Lacy, who never had kicked a game-winning field goal. "I didn't want to let my teammates down."
Lacy missed wide right on a 47-yard attempt that had enough leg to go more than 50 yards in the first quarter. He had a 21-yard attempt blocked in the second quarter. He missed wide right on a 36-yard attempt in the third quarter.
Santa Margarita coach Mike Jacot said there was never a doubt that he was going to give Lacy another shot when the Eagles were faced with fourth-and-3 from the Jackrabbits 11-yard line.
"I knew we were going to need our kicking game at some point this year," Jacot said. "I didn't want him to lose confidence. I knew he was going to make it. He stepped up and made it."
Santa Margarita alternated senior Eric Reisinger and sophomore John Michael Davis at quarterback.
Both had interceptions on Santa Margarita's first two possessions, giving Long Beach Poly great field position on its first two series.
But the Jackrabbits had similar problems on offense. They went three-and-out after starting at Santa Margarita's 29-yard line on their first possession. Poly started at Santa Margarita's 20-yard line on its second possession and fumbled it right back to the Eagles.
Santa Margarita return specialist Ryan Maxwell set up the Eagles first score with a 56-yard punt return to the Long Beach Poly 12-yard line. Reisinger scored on a 1-yard keeper four plays later. Reisinger missed the extra-point attempt to make it 6-0 with 9:08 left in the half.
Long Beach Poly's only highlight on offense came in the third quarter when Thomas Thomas rolled left and connected with Donovan Warren on a short pass play that Warren turned into a 67-yard touchdown for a 7-6 Jackrabbits lead.
Santa Margarita took over with 4:58 left in the game and used senior running back Chris Spangenberg to pound away at the heart of the Long Beach Poly on eight consecutive runs for 44 yards to set up Lacy's winning field goal.
| Santa Margarita | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Long Beach Poly | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
SM – Reisinger 1 TD - run (Kick failed)
LB – Warren 67 TD - pass from Thomas (Heinze Kick)
SM – Lacy 27 FG
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SM - Maxwell 9-52, Spangenberg 22-88; Poly - Thomas 7-49, Green 4-23
Passing: SM - Reisinger 4-7-1-36, Davis 1-5-1-0; Poly - Thomas 4-6-0-79
Receiving: SM - Pizzurro 3-31, Gotschall 1-5; Poly - Warren 2-84
Records: Poly 0-0, 0-1; SM 0-0, 1-0
By Carlos Arias
Saturday, September 2, 2006
The Orange County Register - Varsity 16
