Bishop Gorman - Game Notes
The following statistics are thru the Eagles' third game game of the season - a 21-10 win over Los Angeles Dorsey on Friday, September 12th.
The Eagles are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2012 and 11th time in 26 varsity seasons.
This week the Eagles (3-0) travel to Las Vegas to play the Bishop Gorman Gaels (4-0). It will be their first road game of the season and the Eagles are 18-7 dating back to 1989 in road openers. The Gaels are ranked 3rd nationally by USA Today and 5th nationally in the Media Compilation Poll (USA Today, HSFB 100, Scout Top 50, MaxPreps Xcellent 25, Prep Nation Top 25 and Freeman Computer Top 25) tracked by rivals.com. The Gaels are coming off a thrilling 43-42 win over Corona Centennial and wil have played three Trinity League teams (Servite, SM and SJB) in their first six contests. This will be the second meeting between these two Catholic foes. The Gaels are led by Head Coach Tony Sanchez who is a remarkable 60-4 in his sixth season at Bishop Gorman. Last year, Bishop Gorman prevailed 34-31 in overtime at Saddleback College. In that game sophomore QB KJ Costello threw for a school record 446 yards, while WR Kyle Sweet caught 13 passes for a school record 294 yards.
Over the years the Eagles have fared well against out-of-state teams going 3-1 with wins over Las Vegas Durango (1997), Kona Kealakehe (2005) and Phoenix Brophy Prep (2012).
New Eagle Head Coach Rick Curtis is off to a great start at Santa Margarita. He is 3-0 at Santa Margarita and 76-73-3 in his career.
The Gaels play at the Nevada Class 4A Classification (Division I) and the Bishop Gorman game will be the 51st consecutive game against Division-I level competition dating back to week 5 of the 2010 season - a 31-7 win over then Pac-5 (Division I) Los Alamitos. Through the first 50 games in that stretch the Eagles have gone 37-13 (.740). Amazingly, 66 of the Eagles’ last 70 games have been against Division I-level competition. The following week (September 26th) the Eagles will host the Venice Gondoliers from the LA City Section Division I at Saddleback College. Kickoff for that matchup is set for 7 pm.
Santa Margarita has gone 100-64-1 (.609) 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 15-4 mark against Division I teams outside of the Southern Section such as San Jose Bellarmine Prep, Phoenix Brophy Prep and Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.
News and Notes
Santa Margarita has already set a number of team and individual records this year. These include: plays in a game (86 vs. Bishop Amat), yards in a game (613 vs. Corona Santiago), completions in a game (27, KJ Costello vs. Corona Santiago), receptions in a game (15, Kyle Sweet vs. Dorsey). Kyle is also the first receiver to reach 30 receptions in three games and KJ is the first QB to reach 1,000 yards passing in 3 games.
The Eagles are averaging a remarkable 503.3 yards per game, 24.3 first downs and 40.8 yards per possession. They are also dominating the clock by averaging 26:34 in time of possession and running 50 more plays than the opposition thru three games.
The Eagles are averaging 503.3 yards per game which is over 50 yards more than their record total set in 1997 when Carson Palmer was the QB. In that year the Eagles averaged 450.2 yards per game.
In their 2011 CIF State Championship season the Eagles averaged 58.2 plays and 20.6 first downs per game and 25:23 minutes of possession per game and many observers talked about how much they were controlling the tempo and the clock. This year they are averaging 76.3, 24.6 and 26:34 respectively.
KJ Costello has a school record four 300-yard passing games in his career including three in a row. His totals are 308, 407 and 315 to become the first Eagle to reach 1,000 yards passing on the season in just three games.
KJ now has 2,508 career passing years - good for 7th best all-time.
Kyle Sweet has 30 receptions for 444 yards this season including 15 for 210 vs. Dorsey. Sweet has 96 career receptions for 1,723 yards in his career. The 96 receptions is 7th best all-time and the 1,723 yards is third best.
Senior OLB Grady Higgins has 169 career tackles - good for 25th all-time.
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
