Dana Hills 34 - Eagles 19
Dana Hills makes big splash in opener
DANA POINT, CA., September 4, 2009 – Dana Hills lost its top offensive stars from last season's team to graduation, but Dolphins coach Brent Melbon was optimistic about his team's chances heading into the 2009 campaign.
He had every right to be.
Dana Hills doesn't have quarterback Sean Schroeder (Duke) and wide receiver Dylan Denso (San Diego State) anymore, but the Dolphins have plenty of talented skill position players to light up the scoreboard and a rugged defense.
After looking at a 10-point deficit in the first half, the Dolphins erupted for 31 points in the second half to overwhelm Santa Margarita, 34-19, in the nonleague opener for both teams on Friday night in front of an overflow crowd at Dana Hills High.
Mission Viejo, San Clemente and Tesoro might be considered the top teams in the South Coast League heading into the season, but the Dolphins showed with their victory that they have the ability to push those teams this season.
There were plenty of stars in the game for Dana Hills, but Chris Kearney, who is a wide receiver/defensive back/punter/punt returner for the Dolphinis, deserves much of the credit for igniting the second-half outburst.
Kearney took a lateral from quarterback Josh Dean and found Tanner Crowley streaking down the field for a 78-yard touchdown on the second play from scrimmage to start the second half.
The Dolphins had tied the score, 10-10, less than a minute into the third quarter and it was a new ballgame after Santa Margarita had controlled the flow for much of the first half.
"We weren't as explosive in the first half," said Kearney, who caught a 13-yard touchdown pass on Dana Hills' next possession to give the Dolphins a 17-10 lead.
"We just came out in the second half, got our offense going and made some plays."
Melbon inserted junior quarterback Trent Mason into the game on Dana Hills' next possession. Mason orchestrated a 10-play, 68-yard scoring drive to give the Dolphins a 17-10 lead with 5:15 left in the third quarter.
The Dolphins ran nine consecutive run plays, but they mixed it up with tailback Cole Altuzarra powering up the middle, Kearney taking a couple of end-arounds and Mason tucking the ball down and taking off for some good gains.
The Eagles defense was on its heels after the diverse rushing attack, and that's when Mason executed a perfect play-fake to Altuzarra and found Kearney over the middle for a 13-yard touchdown.
The Eagles still had some fight left in them. On their next possession, tailback Spencer Tyson got around the corner and broke loose for a 72-yard touchdown run to tie it, 17-17.
Unfortunately, for Santa Margarita, it had no way of slowing down Dana Hills' offense, which responded with a methodical 13-play, 66-yard scoring drive after bringing Dean, the starter, back into the game.
Dean made a couple of nice scrambles on the drive to pick up first downs. He capped the drive by lofting a 5-yard touchdown pass to Zach Alario to give the Dolphins a 24-17 advantage less than two minutes into the final quarter.
Santa Margarita fumbled the ball back to the Dolphins and Dean made them pay with a 38-yard touchdown strike to Alario and just like that the Dolphins had a 31-17 lead.
Brenden Beckley added a 29-yard field goal with 3:50 left to make it 34-17.
Santa Margarita did pick up two points on a safety after a bad snap went out the back of the end zone for the Dolphins near the end of the contest.
Next up for the Dolphins is a game against El Toro on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Trabuco Hills High.
Santa Margarita gets a home game against Poway on Friday at 7 p.m. at Saddleback College.
| Dana Hills | 0 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 34 |
| Santa Margarita | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 19 |
SM – Reisinger 45 pass from Higgins (Reisinger kick)
SM – Reisinger 43 FG
DH – Beckley 40 FG
DH – Crowley 78 pass from Kearney (Beckley kick)
DH – Kearney 13 pass from Mason (Beckley kick)
SM – Tyson 72 run (Reisinger kick)
DH – Alario 5 pass from Dean (Beckley kick)
DH – Alario 38 pass from Dean (Beckley kick)
DH – Beckley 29 FG
SM – Team safety - bad snap into end zone
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: DH - Kearney 3-23, Mason 6-28, Dean 9-10, Howe 10-71, Altuzarra 10-41; SM - Reisinger 1-(-2), Higgins 4-(-1), Tyson 17-123, Thomson 2-5
Passing: DH - Kearney 1-1-0-78, Mason 1-1-0-13, Dean 13-19-0-148; SM - Higgins 8-26-0-125
Receiving: DH - Kearney 7-70, Crowley 1-78, Janisch 1-17, ALario 4-72, Howe 1-2, Kaspar 1-1; SM - Wallace 1-7, Reisinger 3-66, Emanuel 1-22, Bock 1-8, O’Brien 1-11, Tyson 1-11
By Carlos Arias
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Orange County Register - Varsity 1
