St. Bonaventure - Game Notes
Santa Margarita (4-0) will host the St. Bonaventure Seraphs (4-0) in their fifth and most challenging game of the 2012 season so far at Saddleback College Friday night. They are 186-87-3 over 275 games dating back to 1989 for a .679 winning percentage with 3 CIF-SS Titles (1996, 1997 and 2011) and one State Championship (2011) and one media State Championship (1997) to their credit. They are 26-5 (.838) in two plus seasons under Head Coach Harry Welch and are on a nine (9) game overall winning streak and nine (9) game home winning streak.
Entering the year, the Eagles returned 36 varsity lettermen from their 2011 State Championship Team including 15 starters from a squad that averaged 36.5 points, 411.5 yards and 20.6 first downs per game.
The 2012 edition of the Eagles are averaging 47.3 points, 440.8 yards and 17.8 first downs per game. The school record for points (46.5) and yards (450.2) per game was in the 1997 season.
Last week, the Eagles set several school records including points in a quarter (44), half (65) and game (72) as they shutout the Carson Colts at Saddleback College In Week 3, the Eagles defeated the Trabuco Hills Mustangs 55-0 at Mission Viejo High School. Three weeks ago they beat Long Beach Jordan 35-6 on the road and in Week 1 the Eagles won at Phoenix Brophy Prep 27-14 before a live ESPN2 prime time audience. At the time the Broncos were ranked as high as #1 in Arizona and #67 in the nation (rivals.com).
After two road games to start the season the Eagles returned home for a five game home stand – their longest ever. The Eagles will be playing at Saddleback College for the second time this season and they are 90-35-2 (716) there over 127 games dating back to 1989.
Santa Margarita enters the game ranked #1 in two prominent national polls – ESPN and the National Prep Poll by PrepNation. Overall the Eagles average a 2.22 ranking in the nine major national polls as shown below. They are ranked #1 in the CIF-SS Pac-5, LA Times’ Southland Top 25 and Orange County Top 10 polls.
Santa Margarita has won nine in a row and 12 of their last 13 with their only setback since mid-2011 being a heartbreaking 43-42 overtime loss to Servite in Week 10 of last season. Their last three losses dating back to mid-2010 have been by a cumulative total of 11 points. Their nine consecutive wins are the third best all-time.
The Eagles generated a school record 610 yards against Trabuco Hills on 49 offensive plays. In their nine (9) offensive drives (8 TDs and 1 punt) they averaged 67.8 yards on 5.4 plays in 2:12 time of possession. The previous school record was 583 yards generated in the 55-42 CIF-SS Division V Championship Game in 1997.
Santa Margarita has scored TDs on 17 of their last 20 offensive drives and if you include RJ Mazolewski’s 63 yard kickoff return score against Carson it’s 18 TDs in their last 21 possessions.
The Killer “C’s”….Santa Margarita scored a school record 72 points against Carson in Week 4. It broke the previous mark of 63 points set in 1997 at Corona Del Mar (63-0) and later tied in 2010 at Canyon (63-10).
This will be the 3rd time these two teams have met with the Seraphs holding a 2-0 edge including a 1-0 mark at Saddleback College – an emotional last second 15-14 win in 1997. Their last meeting was a 35-14 loss in 2008.
The Seraphs are in the Marmonte League and like the Eagles compete in the CIF-SS Pac-5 Division (I). They are led by Head Coach Todd Therrin who is 4-0 this year and 77-20 in his 8th year.
This will be the Eagles 28th consecutive game against Division I-level competition dating back to the middle of the 2010 season. During that stretch the Eagles have gone 23-4 (.852).
Santa Margarita has gone 88-55-1 (.614) against Division I competition dating back to 1991 and 15-4 against Division I teams outside of the Southern Section such as Phoenix Brophy Prep.
The Eagles finished the 2011 season 13-2 and reached at least ten wins for the sixth time in their then 23-year history and at least 12 wins for the fourth time. They finished 12-1 in 1990, 13-1 in 1996, 14-0 in 1997, 10-4 in 1998 and 10-3 in 2006.
