St. Bonaventure 15 - Eagles 14
MISSION VIEJO, CA., August 31, 2007 – The fourth ranked Seraphs trailed, 14-0, with 3 minutes 54 seconds left at Saddleback College before mounting a comeback behind quarterback Tony Macarena.
St. Bonaventure drove 70 yards in seven plays to pull within 14-7 with 2:06 left and then went 74 yards in four plays, the last one a 39-yard touchdown pass to Blayne Lewis with 37 seconds left. Darrell Scott then ran in the two-point conversion.
Scott finished with 17 carries for 76 yards in his eagerly awaited debut after transferring from Moorpark. Carlo Audagnotti carried 24 times for 192 yards and one touchdown for No. 19 Santa Margarita (0-1).
| St. Bonaventure | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Santa Margarita | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
SM – Audagnotti 11 run (Gabriel kick)
SM – Mason 1 run (Gabriel kick)
STB – Macarena 1 run (Kirk kick)
STB – Lewis 39 pass from Macarena (Scott run)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: STB - Scott 16-72; SM - Audagnotti 26-202, Brooks 12-44
Passing: STB - Macarena 14-22-0-196; SM - Mason 7-12-1-47
Receiving: STB - Lewis 3-63, Gibson 3-53; SM - Brooks 3-31, Cruz 1-7
By Martin Henderson
Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Los Angeles Times
Santa Margarita - St. Bonaventure - Remastered
MISSION VIEJO, CA., August 31, 2007 – My Santa Margarita-St. Bonaventure blog in its entirety…
PREGAME
Weeee baaaaaccckkk!!! We’re here live from Saddleback College, my favorite high school football destination to get lost at. Actually, I made it here fine and was able to snag a parking space in a spot I’m sure I’m not supposed to be at. Oh well, I have my faults…
Anyway, we’re about to commence on a new high school season and we all have so many questions: Who’s the best team? Who’s the best player? Who’s the best quarterback? I try not to get too caught up in national rankings because I don’t understand how you can really compare teams and players who will never be on the same field. Yet, we have a team here in St. Bonaventure who is ranked first in the state and a running back in Darrell Scott who some regard as the best in the nation. So we know he’s good and the team is good. But how good?
I was talking to their radio guy a few minutes ago and he was saying how weak the Seraphs league is. Playing against Sant Margarita, who’s legitimacy is justified by its league, should begin to answer that question.
FIRST QUARTER
I’m sitting on the hill now. The press box was five degrees hotter than you know what and there was no room for Dan Albano, who was doing some fieldwork for OCVarsity. So I told him if he’s gonna get dirty, I’m getting dirty too. (Even though I was very comfortable in my booster seat in the press box, where I had begun to make friends with someone I’d like to be friends with. There’s always halftime.
Ah, my favorite part. The Eagles just ran out of the ginormous eagle moon bounce. I think I’d be a little too excited after that to be on the kickoff return team, but that’s what 11 of these kids are set to do.
The kick goes into the end zone and we’re underway. or the other way around.
Brett Mason is under center. In our league previews we had a couple people vying for it. He’s a sophomore and the Eagles announcer says he’s the future. He better be the present if the Eagles are going to beat the so-called best team in the state.
Three plays in and the Eagles have sludged their way to midfield.
"They haven’t had pass play. They haven’t needed to." My boy Dan is astute.
Santa Margarita fumbles it away…Now introducing, Darrell Scott.
SM 0, StB 0
Early 1Q
Santa Margarita just committed a cardinal (or is it Bishop?) sin with a late hit on Scott, this after he ran for 18 yards. St. Bonnie (that’s what I’m calling em from now on) is inside the red zone.
"Horrible call," Albano mouths under his breath after St. Bonnie throws an incomplete pass on fourth and one inside the Eagles’ 10.
Santa Margarita takes over and Carlo Audagnotti picks up where he left off. The kid is fast. And elusive. I’ve been around the Eagles enough to know the coaching staff knows exactly what it’s doing, but you still get the impression when watching them that they’re just scrapping plays together and hoping for the best. Either way, it does them well. Audagnotti is doing a wonderful job of running behind his blockers. At 5-9, he’s gotta be hard to spot.
As the first quarter ends Dan gets up and walks away without saying a peep. So much for loyalty.
SM 0, StB 0
End of 1Q
SECOND QUARTER
I personally don’t have much of a problem being cramped up here outside the press box on this dust-covered hill. As I look at my wrist and see my w.w.j.d. bracelet I believe this is what Jesus would have done (i.e. sit here with Dan and pretend to listen to him while he announces the play-by-play to himself)…BUT my feet are lost souls and could care less. They want to go back inside and drape themselves over stool bars.
Enough of that, Eagles defensive lineman Logan Harrell livens things up with a ferocious tackle on Scott in the St. Bonnie backfield.
I see no one has emailed me any responses to my questions: who is the best player/quarterback in the county? And which game are you most looking forward to? Guess I’ma have to answer these questions myself. And you will read them.
St. Bonnie punts it away and the Eagles have it at about their own 20.
"I’m not so comfortable anymore," Dan says. Yeah, buddy, what do you think these tears running down my face are about?
SM 0, StB 0
HALFTIME
Where are my drafts? I just posted a good size entry about what’d been going in the final minutes of the second quarter but it is lost in the stratosphere. There’s supposed to be a draft saved here but there’s not…So basically, St. Bonnie had a 20-yard screen pass and looked like it was about to score in the final minute of the half. And then the St. Bonnie QB fumbled as he was in a throwing motion. From what I remember of the Tuck Rule, I think Santa Marg got away with one. The Eagles then sat on the ball and the half ended.
BTW, Darrell Scott has 59 yards on 11 carries. He’s looked good. But the Eagles defense hasn’t exactly bene overwhelmed. At the same time, St. Bonnie’s D has been superb.
SM 0, St.B 0
THIRD QUARTER
I think some kid just walked by me and said "Peace out." I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine this. And now that I’m publishing it, it’s basically fact. For the record, I responded to him with a "peace out."
As I look on Sametime, the Register’s personal AIM-type chat network, I see my boy Miguel Melendez’s current status says he is live from New York. I feel bad for Miguel. He’s not live from New York. He’s in Santa Ana right now, where I know it’s not live…And I’ll be joining him in about two hours :(.
Here we go, the opening kickoff of the second half…and the Eagles kick an onside. (Can I say that?) They recover! That is now the play of the game.
Six plays later and that onside means nothing. They’re punting.
Since I have a moment, I’d like to let everyone know where I stand in this young season. I believe Servite OL Matt Kalil is the best player in the county. His ability at his position–in contrast to his peers–supercedes what anyone else can do at their respective positions. The Friars can make a living running to the left side. He’s that good.
As for the best quarterback, I would like to see Edison’s Nick Crissman, especially now with some new receivers. I’ve seen him throw and I know he’ll find a way to make plays for the Chargers. Even though my instincts tell me Mater Dei’s Matt Barkley is more talented and should prove to be an excellent quarterback, I can’t say with confidence that he is better right now. Call them 1 and 1-A. (Yeah, I know I copped out on that one but I really feel like I need to see more of Crissman before I can say definitively who is better.)
St. Bonnie’s Darrell Scott sends off another fabolous punt and the Eagles start another drive inside their own 20.
And the game I’m most exited to see is Mater Dei-Servite. The streak, the rivalry, maybe the best three players in the county (including D.J. Shoemate and Barkley). And let’s not forget the rats at Angel Stadium. Last year, Splinter and friends might’ve been the biggest rodents I’d ever encountered. Wait, was I not supposed to bring this up?
SM 0, StB 0
FOURTH QUARTER
It FINALLY happened. A score. The Eagles Carlo Audagnotti runs it in from 11 yards. He has 103 yards, Dan says. What he has is a soul in his heart because I’m not sure I could endure overtime sitting in the position.
The whole reason the Eagles were inside the 20 was because St. Bonnie seemed to have botched a fake punt. The weird thing was it wasn’t Scott back to receive the punt. He’s been doing it all night and doing it well, but St. Bonnie had another guy back there and it all fell apart.And Dan and I are unsure what exactly the intent was.
"They’re panicking," Dan says after St. Bonnie pitches it on consecutive plays. Sure enough, St. Bonnie is punting. And sure enough, an ant crawled into my keyboard.
SM 7, StB 0
6:46 in 4Q
I think one cut by Carlo Audagnotti just pust this game away. As he bursted out of the backfield I could tell it would be a good size gain, maybe 15 yards. But when he met his first would-be tackler, Audagnotti made a simple cut to his left and nearl outran the entire St. Bonnie defense for a 63-yard gain.
OK, we’ve got a crisis here. The Eagles are facing a fourth-and-one at the one…And they’ve called timeout. There’s nothig to decide here. Kick the field goal. A 10-point lead with four minutes left means the game is over. I know a failed conversion means St. Bonnie would have to go 90+ yards, but still. A two-possession lead is just as god. Why chance it?
As I write those words, the Eagles go for it and score a touchdown. They still should have kicked.
I’m going to stand up now.
SM 14, StB 0
3:54 in 4Q
Oh, the things that happen when I stand up…
St. Bonnie marched right down the field and scored. Seemed innocent enough. Santa Marg then got a first down, maybe two before its drive stalled. With less than two minutes left, Darrell Scott snagged a shovel pass and took it for about 15 yards. A couple plays later and St. Bonnie receiver Blayne Lewis is by himself, streaking down the sideline for a touchdown.
And St. Bonnie is going for it…Scott runs it in.
Santa Marg has 37 seconds left. A couple running plays go for little. After a first down, the Eagles are at their own 35 with five seconds remaining…Eagles QB Brett Mason heaves it down field…incomplete…It’s over…Again.
What just happened?
FINAL: SM 14, StB 15
POSTGAME
In the three minutes it took St. Bonaventure to make one of the swiftest comebacks I’ve ever seen, I had developed an entire set of questions for Santa Margarita coach Mike Jacot. I wanted to ask him if it were true that he had not scouted St. Bonnie RB Darrell Scott before the game, as I had heard. I wanted to know what it was that kept Scott under 100 yards. I was going to ask him how far into the game he realized this St. Bonnie team was one-dimensional on offense, as it was for 44 minutes.
Then I wanted to end the football conversation and ask him what’d he done to mentally prepare the Eagles for this challenge, against the supposed top team in the state. The Eagles seem to be underdogs even when they are not. And tonight, despite the outcome, proved that yet again. I can’t imagine Santa Margarita carries this underdog mentality that many of us project on them when the team demonstrates time and time again that not only can it hang with the best teams in Southern California, but beat them. I guess I wanted to know if Jacot was at all surprised by this victory.
But then the Eagles lost.
By Adam Maya
Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Orange County Register - OCVarsity.com
