St. John Bosco - Game Notes
The following statistics are thru the Eagles' ninth game game of the season a 19-14 loss at Mater Dei this past Friday. The loss dropped the Eagles record to 6-3 and 2-2 in Trinity League play. Despite the loss the Eagles are guaranteed to finish no worse that 4th in Trinity League play thus making a Pac-5 playoff berth as either a guaranteed entry or as an at-large selection highly likely. An Eagle win at St. John Bosco (8-1) this week could put the Eagles into a 3rd place finish if Mater Dei were to lose to Orange Lutheran.
As press time kickoff for the St. John Bosco game is set for 7 pm. More details are pending.
This will be the 18th meeting between the Eagles and the Monarchs with Santa Margarita holding a 10-7 series edge dating back to a 42-6 win in 1992. The Eagles have beaten the Braves more than any other team in their 26-year history and are 6-3 all-time at Fr. Frank Ribotta Field. The Eagles and Braves have split their past eight meetings with each team winning two in a row.
New Eagle Head Coach Rick Curtis is off to a great start at Santa Margarita. He is the 4th Head Coach in school history and is 6-3 at Santa Margarita and 79-76-3 in his career including 14 as the Head Coach at Irvine Northwood. As the Defensive Coordinator at Irvine High in the early 90's he helped lead the Vaqueros to CIF-SS Titles in 1991, 1993 and 1993. Coach Curtis has certainly kept pace with his predecessors and he's worked hard to keep up the Eagle's winning tradition. The best coaching starts at Santa Margarita after nine games are as follows:
1t. Mike Jacot (2003) 7-2
1t. Harry Welch (2010) 7-2
3t. Rick Curtis (2014) 6-3
3t. Jim Hartigan (1989) 6-3
The St. John Bosco game will be the 57th consecutive game against Division-I level competition for the Eagles dating back to week 5 of the 2010 season - a 31-7 win over then Pac-5 (Division I) Los Alamitos. Through the first 56 games in that stretch the Eagles have gone 40-16 (.714). Amazingly, 72 of the Eagles’ last 76 games have been against Division I-level competition.
Santa Margarita has gone 102-67-1 (.603) against Division I competition dating back to a 13-12 win over Servite in 1991 when the Eagles were in their third varsity season. This includes a 16-5 mark against Division I teams outside of the Southern Section such as San Jose Bellarmine Prep, Phoenix Brophy Prep and Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.
The St. John Bosco game will close out the 2014 regular season. On Sunday, November 9th at 11 am the CIF-SS Pac-5 playoff draw will be announced.
News and Notes
The Eagles registered their 200th win in program history with the victory over Orange Lutheran. In 26 seasons and including the win over Servite in Week 8, the Eagles have posted an all-time record of 201-99-3.
Milestone program wins include:
1st: Jurupa Valley 41-0, 1989
50th: Trabuco Hills 20-0, 1995
100th: St. John Bosco 35-17, 1999
150th: Paloma Valley 38-7, 2007
200th: Orange Lutheran 42-41, 2014
Santa Margarita has already set a number of team and individual records this year. These include: plays in a game (86 vs. Bishop Amat), total yards in a game (613 vs. Corona Santiago), passing attempts (47) completions (34) and passing yards in a game (495) by KJ Costello vs. Orange Lutheran, attempts (313), completions (193) and yards (2,627) in a season by Costello, receptions in a game (15, Kyle Sweet vs. Dorsey and against Orange Lutheran), receptions in a season (74, Kyle Sweet, tied with Brian Finneran from 1992), longest punt (65 yards, Kyle Sweet at Bishop Gorman). Kyle is also the first receiver to reach 30 receptions in his first three games and 40 receptions in his first four games and KJ is the first QB to reach 1,000 yards passing on the season in three games and the first to have four consecutive 300-yard passing games. KJ has 4,105 yards passing in his career and is also closing in Carson Palmer's record of 4,692. Costello needs just 588 yards to pass Carson.
KJ Costello has a school record six 300-yard passing games in his career and three 400-yard passing games and how has 2,253 yards passing on the season after just seven games. His totals thru the first four games were 308, 407, 315 and 320 to become the first Eagle to reach 1,000 yards passing on the season in just three games and the first to have four 300-yard games in a row. KJ reached 2,000 yards in just seven games with his 495-yard effort against Orange Lutheran. It took Sean O'Brien and Ryan World nine games to reach 2,000 yards in 1992 and 2008 respectively. Carson Palmer needed ten games to reach it in 1997.
Costello has the best single season passing yardage total in Eagle History.
- KJ Costello (2014) 2,627
- Sean O'Brien (1992) 2,617
- Carson Palmer (1997) 2,608
- Johnny Stanton (2011) 2,439
KJ now has 4,105 career passing years passing Johnny Stanton in the Servite game to move up into 2nd place all-time.
- Carson Palmer (1995-97) 4,692
- KJ Costello (2013 - ) 4,105
- Johnny Stanton (2010-12) 3,763
Senior OLB Grady Higgins has 219 career tackles - good for 11th best all-time. With 10 tackles Grady will jump into 8th place. Higgins also has eleven 10-tackle games in his career. Higgins leads the team with 3.5 sacks. Grady has caught four passes at tight end. The most by an Eagle TE since Max Tuerk had 17 in 2009. Fellow senior Rick Wade recorded 10 tackles at Servite and 13 against Servite to give him seven 10-tackle games of his own.
Senior S/RB/WR/KR Rick Ellison recorded ten tackles at Mater Dei. Rick had one of the best all-around games in recent Eagle history against Servite in Week 8 as he rushed for a career high 118 yards including the game winning 26-yard TD run in the 4th quarter. He also added eight tackles, a pass broken up and a blocked field goal in the 22-17 win. Ellison is tied for the team lead with 83 total tackles and leads the team with seven passes broken up.
Senior RB Christian Caragao ran for a team-high 102 yards against JSerra and also a team-high 80 yards against Venice. and scored his fiirst two career touchdowns. He now has 306 yards rushing and three rushing TDs on the season. Junior RB/LB Matt Mark has posted 57 tackles and scored a team-leading nine touchdowns in his first six games this year including a team-high eight on the ground, while fellow junior RB Dre Hall leads the team with 492 yards rushing with four scores of his own.
Senior DE Rick Wade now has two interceptions and two defensive touchdowns in his career after picking off a pass and returning a fumble for a score against Venice. Last year he returned an interception 74 yards for a score against Carson. Wade, who has given a verbal commitment to UCLA,is tied for the team lead with 83 tackles and is second with 3 sacks. No Eagle defensive lineman has ever led the team in tackles.
Kyle Sweet boomed a school record 65-yard punt at Bishop Gorman to break current assistant coach John Byszewski's 25-year old record of 64 yards set at Whittier Christian in 1989. As the story goes, John's punt actually travelled 64 yards in the air and rolled another 10-20 yards; however, it was entered into the books as 64 yards. Kyle is the only person in Eagle history with: a receiving TD, rushing TD , passing TD, a punt return TD, an interception, a tackle, a successful PAT and field goal, and a punt. Sweet is 31/33 on PATs this season and 2/4 on field goals on the season and is averaging 37.2 yards per punt.
Kyle has 74 receptions for 1,078 yards on the season including 15 for 210 vs. Dorsey, 10 for 199 at Bishop Gorman and 15 for 235 vs. Orange Lutheran. Sweet's 74 receptions are tied with Brian Finneran for the most in school history. Sweet now has 140 receptions for 2,389 yards in his career - the 2nd and 3rd best totals in Eagle history.
Receptions in a career:
- Brian Finneran (1991-93) 178
- Kyle Sweet (2014) 140
- River Cracraft (2010-12) 134
Receptions in a season:
1t. Brian Finneran (1992) 74
1t. Kyle Sweet (2014) 74
3. John Minardi (1997) 70
4. Brian Finneran (1993) 67
5. Mike O'Gorman (1998) 61
6. Conner Bianchini (2014) 58
7. River Cracraft (2012) 56
8t. Bobby Whithorne (2002) 53
8t. Ryan Maxwell (2006) 53
10. Kyle Sweet (2013) 51
Senior WR Conner Bianchini has 58 receptions on the season (for 740 yards and six TDs) which is the 6th best single season total all-time. Conner caught 11 passes vs. Bishop Amat and 10 against Orange Lutheran and is averaging 6.4 receptions per game.
Receiving yardage in a season:
- John Minardi (1997) 1,469
- Mike O'Gorman (1998) 1,144
- Brian Finneran (1992) 1,141
- Kyle Sweet (2014) 1,110
- John Minardi (1996) 1,040
Receiving yards in a career:
1. Brian Finneran (1991-93) 2,546
2. John Minardi (1995-97) 2,539
3. Kyle Sweet (2011-14) 2,389
The Eagles are averaging a remarkable 436.6 yards per game, 20.9 first downs and 38.9 yards per possession. They have also run 117 more plays than the opposition thru their first nine games.
The Eagles are averaging 436.6 yards per game which is on pace to be the 2nd highest total ever. Their record total is 450.2 set in 1997 when Carson Palmer was the QB.
In their 2011 CIF State Championship season the Eagles averaged 58.2 plays and 20.6 first downs per game and many observers talked about how much they were controlling the tempo and the clock. This year they are averaging 69.4 and 20.9 respectively.
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
