Bishop Amat - Game Notes
This week the Eagles kickoff their 26th varsity seasonwith a home game against the Bishop Amat Lancers. It marks thefirst game under new Head Coach Rick Curtis and the ninth meeting betweenthese two Pac-5 foes with the Eagles holding a 5-3 series edge dating backto 1999.
Please note that kickoff is set for 7:30 pm atSaddleback College and the game will be broadcast live on the Internet viaFox Sports West's Fox Prep Zone. The game can be viewed at www.foxsportswest.com. For those attending the game in person, please note that space in thepressbox is limited and if you would like to reserve a seat, or have anyspecial requests related to your coverage of the game please let us know.
The Eagles are 2-2 against the Lancers at SaddlebackCollege, and 3-1 at Bishop Amat.
Through 294 games dating back to 1989, the Eagles are 195-96-3 fora .688 winning percentage. They arealso 17-7-1 in season openers and 16-8-1 in home openers. Their record at Saddleback College is93-40-2 (.696).
This will be the ninth meeting between the Eagles andthe Bishop Amat Lancers and their first at Saddleback College since theEagles posted a 45-21 win in the opening round of the Pac-5 playoffs in2011. Inthat game the Eagles collected 540 yards of offense and a school record 30first downs on their way to a state championship four weeks later.
Last year, in week 1, the Lancers recovered from an early two touchdown deficit to prevail 38-28 at Bishop Amat, The Eagles rolled up 526 yards of offense but could not overcome six turnovers and fell 38-28 on the road in Week 1 to the Lancers at Bishop Amat High. In that game, sophomore QB KJ Costello threw for 243 yards and two TDs while junior all-everything Kyle Sweet caught seven passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns, rushed four times for 13 yards, completed a pass for 25 yards, returned two punts, punted three times and recorded a tackle in the game to become the first Eagle to ever have a rushing, passing, receiving, scoring, kicking, special teams and defensive stat in a game. His 221 receiving yards were, at the time, the second most in school history behind John Minardi's 242 set at Fountain Valley in 1997. Junior DE Rick Wade led the defense with 12 tackles and two sacks.
In the past two match ups the Eagles have averaged 533 yards ofoffense, 36.5 points, 26 first downs and nearly eight yards per play.
Bishop Amat finished the 2013 campaign with a 6-4 record. They are led by Head Coach Steve Hagertywho is 45-20-1 entering his seventh season with the Lancers.
The Eagles and Lancers used to be in the Serra Leaguetogether from 2002-2005, and their first meeting was in 1999 whenBishop Amat was ranked #12 in the nation by USA Today. The Eaglesprevailed that night 35-26.
Next week, the Eagles play host to the Corona SantiagoSharks out of the Pac-5's Big VIII League. This will be the firstmeeting between these two schools, but not the first between the Eaglesand a Big VIII foe. The Eagles are currently 3-0 against these teamsincluding 1-0 vs Corona Centennial and 2-0 vs. Norco. Kickoff forthe Santiago game is also set for 7:30 and will also be streamed liveas part of Fox's Prep Zone package.
The Eagles are 50-21 (.704) all-time against teams from LA County. They play Dorsey, Venice and St. JohnBosco on this year’s schedule too.
This season the Eagles play teams ranked #1 (Bishop Gorman), #2(St. John Bosco), #18 (Mater Dei) and #19 (Servite) in USA Today’s Super25 Poll.
The Bishop Amat game will be the Eagles 48th consecutivegame against Division I-level competition dating back to the middle of the2010 season. Through the first 47games in that stretch the Eagles have gone 34-13 (.723). 63 of the Eagles’ last 67 games havebeen against Division I-level competition.
Santa Margarita has gone 97-64-1 (.601) against Division Icompetition dating back to a 13-12 win over Servite in 1991. This includes a 15-4 mark against Division I teams outside of theSouthern Section such as San Jose Bellarmine Prep, Phoenix Brophy Prep andLas Vegas Bishop Gorman.
The Eagles have several players who are receiving recruitinginterest including Rivals four-star 2016 QB KJ Costello, three-star DE and2015 recruit Rick Wade who has made a verbal commitment to UCLA,three-star WR Kyle Sweet who has several BCS offers including Arizona andthree-star OT Austin Maihen who has offers from at least seven schoolsincluding Kansas State, Washington State, San Diego State and BYU.
EAGLE NOTEABLES:
Senior WR Kyle Sweet has school records for receiving yardagein a game (294 vs. Bishop Gorman in 2013) and most 200-yard receivinggames in a career. He is 7th in career receiving yardage with1,279, 11th in career receptions with 66, 12th intotal TDs with 18, 15th in All-purpose yards with 1,836, 15thin career passing yardage with 1,300 and 18th in career totaloffense with 1,813 yards.
Junior QBKJ Costello holds the school record for passing yardage in a game with 446set last year vs. Bishop Gorman. He is 14th in career passing yardage with 1,478.
Senior LBGrady Higgins is 33rd in career tackles with 149.
HEAD COACH RICK CURTIS:
Rick Curtis was named the fourth Head Football Coach at SantaMargarita on December 23, 2013. Coach Curtis came to Santa Margarita from Northwood High Schoolwhere he was the head football coach and athletic director for the last 13years. The Timberwolves went75-75-3 during his time at the helm. Before taking over at Northwood, he spent 14 years at Irvinehelping the Vaqueros win three CIF titles. Coach Curtis, who grew up inMission Viejo and graduated from Mission Viejo High, has also coached atServite, University High and Laguna Hills during his 37 years as a highschool football coach.
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
