Eagles 56 - Long Beach Jordan 0
Santa Margarita off to a strong start
MISSION VIEJO, CA., September 2, 2011 – The going will be considerably tougher next week at the same location, when another team based in Rancho Santa Margarita — Tesoro — provides the competition.
But the Santa Margarita football team looked every bit worthy of its No. 3 rating while cruising to an eased-up, 56-0 season-opening victory over Long Beach Jordan on Friday night at Saddleback College.
Quarterback Hudson Romain, who had an exceptional sophomore season while leading the Panthers to third place in the Moore League and a first-round CIF-Southern Section Pac-5 game with Servite, felt the brunt of the Eagles’ sharp defensive effort.
Romain was sacked nine times — eight of those in a first half that ended with the Eagles ahead by four touchdowns and four Johnny McGrory conversion kicks — for a net loss of 47 yards. Tackle Chris Frost, a 6-foot-4, 258-pound senior, was a part of five of those tackles of Romain.
Coach Harry Welch’s defense also picked off four of Romain’s passes, junior R.J. Mazolewski returning one of them for 25 yards and a score and classmate Connor O’Brien getting two of the thefts.
The Panthers were held to a net of 52 yards on 38 plays.
The visitors converted on three fourth-down situations on the opening drive but collected just one more first down — with 36 seconds to go in the third quarter — the rest of the way.
It took the Eagles’ offense about six and a half minutes to finally get on the field, via O’Brien’s first interception that he returned 17 yards to his team’s 32.
Once it did, quarterback Johnny Stanton and his teammates quickly established their dominance, Stanton capping an eight-play, 68-yard march by scoring over left guard from a yard out.
Stanton, a junior who didn’t play in a fourth quarter that was played with a running clock, completed seven of 12 passes for 134 yards and a 5-yard score to sophomore Sean Modster, who had an impressive varsity debut with four catches for 56 yards.
Stanton, who was intercepted twice, once in the Jordan end zone, the other at the Panthers’ 1, rushed for 59 yards on nine carries and two scores while yet another junior, Ryan Wolpin, had 12 carries for 92 yards a couple of touchdowns.
| Santa Margarita | 7 | 21 | 21 | 7 | 56 |
| Long Beach Jordan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
SM – Johnny Stanton 1 run (John McGrory kick)
SM – Stanton 40 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Sean Modster 5 pass from Stanton (McGrory kick)
SM – Ryan Wolpin 1 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Wolpin 39 run (McGrory kick)
SM – RJ Mazolewski 25 interception return (McGrory kick)
SM – Alex Suchesk 2 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Suchesk 14 run (McGrory kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: Jordan 3, Santa Margarita 20
Rushing Yards: Jordan -7, Santa Margarita 205
Passing Yards: Jordan 64, Santa Margarita 178
Total Yards: Jordan 57; Santa Margarita 383
Turnovers: Jordan 5; Santa Margarita 2
Penalties/Yards: Jordan 6/36; Santa Margarita 5/50
By Frank Burlison
Saturday, September 3, 2011
The Orange County Register
