Eagles 49 - Long Beach Poly 16
Santa Margarita soars into semifinals
LONG BEACH, CA., November 25, 2011 – The momentum of the game was on the verge of swinging against Harry Welch and his Santa Margarita Eagles in a second-round CIF-SS Pac-5 Division playoff game against Long Beach Poly on Friday night.
Long Beach Poly had just cut the score to five and the Eagles were facing a big call on a fourth-and-goal from the 5.
The choices: Kick the field goal or leave the ball in the hands of Johnny Stanton.
Option B was the call.
"I have a lot of kids that I love," Welch said. "It is a tough love, but I think deep down they know that I trust and believe in them."
Stanton made that trust pay off when he took the snap and ran in for the score, thanks to a final stretch to get the ball over the goal line.
The score set off an avalanche as the Eagles scored the final 28 points on their way to the 49-16 victory over the third-seeded Jackrabbits (10-2) at Veterans Stadium.
"That was scary," Stanton said. "I decided to run up and I saw my (offensive) line right there. It was really scary, because I didn't think we were going to get in. But the line kept on pushing. I had to roll over to get into the end zone and once I saw the refs hands in the air, I was excited.
"It's really Ryan's (Wolpin's) play, but if I'm able to keep it, I'm supposed to."
It seemed only fitting that Stanton would get the ball in his hands on the big fourth-down call. The junior quarterback had quite a game. He rushed for 133 yards and four touchdowns, and he also passed for 107 yards.
"I thought if there was a single difference in the game ... this was Johnny Stanton's game," Welch said. "He controlled it (the game)."
The Eagles (10-2) will be on the road against second-seeded Mission Viejo in the semifinals Friday. The Diablos defeated Huntington Beach, 41-31, in another second-round game.
The teams met in the second round last year, with Mission Viejo winning, 31-28.
"We want to redeem ourselves against them," Stanton said of facing the Diablos. "They have a great team."
The Jackrabbits scored the lone points in the third quarter, a 14-yard touchdown run by Gerard Wicks that cut Santa Margarita's lead to 21-16.
That was as close as the Jackrabbits got.
Santa Margarita started its next possession on its 20 and eventually ended it with Stanton's 5-yard touchdown to take a 28-16 lead.
Wolpin helped put the game away with 60- and 10-yard touchdown runs. Alex Suchesk scored an 8-yard run with 3:43 left in the game.
"Defensively, the kids played real well in the second half, when the game could have gone either way," Welch said. "I don't know the last time somebody put up that many points against a good Poly team ... but I bet it has been a long time."
Connor O'Brien helped anchor the defense with a pair of interceptions. Santa Margarita intercepted four passes overall.
"When the kids are on, they're a good football team," Welch said.
Long Beach Poly scored the first points of the game on a 46-yard run by Gerard Wicks, but the Eagles scored 21 consecutive points, all on Stanton touchdown runs (3, 7 and 18), to take a 21-6 lead.
"We can talk about Johnny Stanton, we can talk about River Cracraft and Ryan Wolpin, but without that offensive line, none of that happens if Max Tuerk and his four friends don't play well," Welch said.
| Santa Margarita | 7 | 14 | 0 | 28 | 49 |
| Long Beach Poly | 6 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 16 |
LBP – Wicks 46 run (pass failed)
SM – Stanton 3 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Stanton 7 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Stanton 18 run (McGrory kick)
LBP – Hunt 36 FG
LBP – Wicks 14 run (Hunt kick)
SM – Stanton 5 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Wolpin 60 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Wolpin 10 run (McGrory kick)
SM – Suchesk 8 run (McGrory kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SM - Stanton 25-133, Wolpin 9-102; LBP - Wicks 8-96, Luuga 3-6
Passing: SM - Stnaton 11-20-0-107; LBP - Pope 18-26-4-220
Receiving: SM - Cracraft 3-34, O'Brien 1-13, Mendoza 1-13, Sweet 1-18; LBP - Luuga 3-45, R. Smith 3-28, WIck 2-49, Gelforth 5-43
By Damian Calhoun
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The Orange County Register
