JSerra 26 - Eagles 7
JSerra football wins, now awaits its fate
MISSION VIEJO, CA., November 8, 2013 – JSerra coach Jim Hartigan noticed more confidence in his team after the Lions defeated Servite for their first Trinity League victory of the season last week.
Friday night’s matchup with No. 7 Santa Margarita proved confidence can go a long way.
Like in the game against the Friars, No. 5 JSerra hurt its opponent with the big play, and the momentum helped put the Lions on track for a 26-7 victory against the Eagles in a Trinity League showdown at Saddleback College.
The JSerra triumph, along with wins by Mater Dei and St. John Bosco, created a three-way tie for third place in the league between the Lions (7-3, 2-3), Orange Lutheran (7-3, 2-3) and Servite (5-5, 2-3).
The tie was broken with a coin flip Thursday night at Servite, which resulted in the Friars finishing third, the Lancers fourth and JSerra fifth. So now the Lions will have to hold out hope for an at-large berth in the Pac-5 Division playoffs.
“Very exciting for our school, for our football team,” Hartigan said after the game.
“Our guys gave a great effort, I thought we had a great start. Just a great win for us.”
It was the first time in school history the Lions had won two Trinity League games in the same season. JSerra had won only a total of three league games coming into 2013.
Dante Pettis caught a 7-yard touchdown from Nick Robinson to put the Lions on the board.
Pettis extended that lead to 14-0 when he intercepted a KJ Costello pass and returned it 21 yards for a score with 5:26 left in the first.
Casey Eugenio essentially put the game out of reach late in the first half when he zig-zagged through the Santa Margarita defense on a 34-yard scoring scamper to make it a 23-point lead.
Eugenio finished with 77 yards on 15 carries.
Santa Margarita went down without posing much of a threat in its final game under head coach Harry Welch, who was reflective after the game.
“I’m trying to think how I can best help these young men,” Welch said.
“It was a season I know all of them had much higher expectations for. I’m trying to figure out what exactly I could’ve done better to help them reach their potential.
“So right now, I’m going through self-examination, because they are about as fine as young men as I’ve ever known.”
| JSerra | 14 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 26 |
| Santa Margarita | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
JS – Pettis 7 pass from Robinson (Capps kick)
JS – Pettis 21 interception return (Capps kick)
JS – Capps 21 FG
JS – Eugenio 34 run (Capps kick blocked)
JS – Capps 20 FG
SM – McNichols 3 run (Ury kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: JSer - Robinson 8-43, Eugenio 15-77; SM - McNichols 9-54, Hume 5-45
Passing: JSer - Robinson 13-20-0-188; SM - Sweet 10-15-1-105, Costello 1-8-1-(-6)
Receiving: JSer - Pettis 3-49, Aguayo 4-84, Williams 5-52; SM - LaBonty 2-47, Clancy 4-38
By Antonio Morales
Saturday, November 9, 2013
The Orange County Register
