Mater Dei - Game Notes
The 22-17 win over Anaheim Servite at Saddleback College this past Friday improved the Eagles record to 6-2 and 2-1 in Trinity League play setting up a key showdown with Mater Dei (7-2, 1-2) this Friday night October 31st at Santa Ana Stadium. An Eagle win will assure them of a Pac-5 playoff berth. A loss by either team won't eliminate either from playoff consideration.
As press time kickoff for the Mater Dei game is set for 7 pm.
The win over Servite improved the Eagles record to 2-2 vs. National HS Football Top 100 teams with Mater Dei and St. John Bosco still on the schedule. (www.nationalhsfootball.com). If Bishop Amat enters the Top 100 this week their record will improve to 3-2.
This will be the 16th meeting between the Eagles and the Monarchs with Mater Dei holding a 9-6 series edge. The Eagles won at Santa Ana Stadium last year 16-7 for their first win at that venue since 2001 and overall Santa Margarita is just 2-5 at "The Bowl".
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 6-2 at Santa Margarita and 79-75-3 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 eight games are as follows:
1t. Mike Jacot (2003) 7-1
1t. Harry Welch (2010) 7-1
3. Rick Curtis (2014) 6-2
4. Jim Hartigan (1989) 5-3
The Mater Dei game will be the 56th 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 55 games in that stretch the Eagles have gone 40-15 (.727). Amazingly, 71 of the Eagles’ last 75 games have been against Division I-level competition.
Santa Margarita has gone 102-66-1 (.606) 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 following week after the Mater Dei game (Friday, November 7th) the Eagles travel to St. John Bosco to close out the 2014 regular season. At this time kickoff for that matchup is set for 7 pm.
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 201-98-3.
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), 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, completions in a season (178 - tied with Sean O'Brien from 1992) receptions in a game (15, Kyle Sweet vs. Dorsey and against Orange Lutheran), 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 in 3 games and the first to have four consecutive 300-yard passing games. KJ is also closing in on records for attempts (298) and yards (2,617) in a season.
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 4th best single season passing yardage total in Eagle History.
- Sean O'Brien (1992) 2,617
- Carson Palmer (1997) 2,608
- Johnny Stanton (2011) 2,439
- KJ Costello (2014) 2,387
KJ now has 3,865 career passing years passing Johnny Stanton this past week to move up into 2nd place all-time.
- Carson Palmer (1995-97) 4,692
- KJ Costello (2013 - ) 3,865
- Johnny Stanton (2010-12) 3,763
Senior OLB Grady Higgins has 212 career tackles - good for 11th best all-time. Higgins has eleven 10-tackle games in his career. Fellow senior Rick Wade recorded 13 against Servite and has six 10-tackle games of his own. Higgins leads the team with 3.5 sacks.
Senior S/RB/WR/KR Rick Ellison 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 73 total tackles and leads the team with six 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 45 tackles and has 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 365 yards rushing with three scored 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 73 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 29/31 on PATs this season and 2/3 on field goals on the season and is averaging 37.5 yards per punt.
Kyle has 71 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 now has 137 receptions for 2,357 yards in his career - both 2nd best in Eagle history.
Receptions in a career:
- Brian Finneran (1991-93) 178
- Kyle Sweet (2014) 137
- River Cracraft (2010-12) 134
Receptions in a season:
1. Brian Finneran (1992) 74
2. Kyle Sweet (2014) 71
3. John Minardi (1997) 70
4. Brian Finneran (1993) 67
5. Mike O'Gorman (1998) 61
6. River Cracraft (2012) 56
7t. Bobby Whithorne (2002) 53
7t. Ryan Maxwell (2006) 53
7t. Conner Bianchini (2014) 53
10. Kyle Sweet (2013) 51
Senior WR Conner Bianchini has 53 receptions on the season (for 643 yards and six TDs) which is tied for the 7th best single season total all-time. Conner caught 11 passes vs. Bishop Amat and 10 against Orange Lutheran and is averaging 6.6 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) 1,078
- 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) 2,357
The Eagles are averaging a remarkable 452.6 yards per game, 21.8 first downs and 40.23 yards per possession. They have also run 128 more plays than the opposition thru their first eight games.
The Eagles are averaging 452.6 yards per game which is on pace to be the highest total ever breaking 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 many observers talked about how much they were controlling the tempo and the clock. This year they are averaging 72.0 and 21.8 respectively.
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
