Eagles 49 - Servite 24
MISSION VIEJO, CA., November 4, 2016 – In an almost “must win” game for both teams, the Eagles showed their true colors by playing arguably their best game of the year when it mattered the most. Fresh off their 23-7 statement win over Orange Lutheran, the Eagles found themselves in the driver’s seat to secure a third place finish in the Trinity League barring a Mater Dei or St. John Bosco loss, which would guarantee them a playoff spot and a favorable seed. With all of the chips falling as they did, every Trinity League team made it to the playoffs, with the Eagles hitting the road in the first round to take on Serra of Gardena tonight at 7:30pm.
The Eagles put up some astonishing numbers against the Friars last week, including 344 rushing yards, 264 of which went to junior Chad Magyar on 32 carries. Magyar, the clear workhorse for the Eagle offense, scored twice and averaged 8.3 yards per carry with his longest run going for 50 yards. Magyar’s running partner on the night was junior Malone Mataele, who carried the ball 15 times for 71 yards and two touchdowns. What didn’t show up in the box score were some other quality Mataele carries that went for big yards but were negated by penalties. When your offense is able to garner almost 350 rushing yards, the passing game becomes secondary, no pun intended. With that said, Richard Wagner still completed 11 of 19 passes (58%) for 183 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Wagner’s longest completion of the night was sophomore Munir McClain’s only catch, but it went for 61 yards and a touchdown that left several Friar defenders in his wake. Wagner distributed his passes fairly, with Grant Calcaterra bringing in four passes for 76 yards and a score, and five others going to Magyar who had 35 receiving yards to add to his total (299).
Defensively, the Eagles controlled the Servite running game, limiting the Friars to just 68 yards on 22 carries. Santa Margarita held Servite to just seven points in the first quarter before allowing 17 second quarter points. That would be the end of the scoring for the Friars as the Eagle defense would pitch a second half shut out of Orange Counties number six ranked team. Senior safety Brennan Gibbons had one of his biggest nights after returning from injury, including four solo tackles and 3 assisted tackles. Senior linebacker Jadon DiGravio had one of his finest performances of the season with six tackles and a crucial interception in Servite territory which would turn into points for the Eagles.
With the regular season in the books, the up-and-down season found the Eagles with a 6-4 overall record and finishing third place in one of the countries toughest leagues with a 2-3 record. Playing their best football as of late, Santa Margarita hits the road tonight to take on Serra of Gardena to open up the Division 1 playoffs. Serra, fittingly won the Mission league with familiar foes in Alemany, Loyola, finished 7-3 overall and 6-0 in league. Serra’s three losses came in the first three games of the season to schools from Arizona, New Jersey, and Narbonne of Harbor City, CA. Since their last loss on September 3rd, they have won their last seven straight. Serra averages 214 rushing yards and 220 passing yards per game with the Eagles averaging 176 rushing and 203 passing. Santa Margarita averages 32 points per game with Serra averaging 26. Tonight’s game was selected as the Fox Sports West Game of the Week. Check with your local cable provider for channel listings. The winner of tonight’s game will take on the winner of the Upland/St. John Bosco game on November 18th.
| Santa Margarita | 21 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 49 |
| Servite | 7 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
SER – Rae 45 pass from Lytle (Fuller kick)
SM – Calcaterra 16 pass from Wagner (Brady kick)
SM – Mataele 5 run (Brady kick)
SM – Mataele 4 run (Brady kick)
SM – Magyar 4 run (Brady kick)
SER – McMahon 26 pass from Lytle (Fuller kick)
SM – McClain 61 pass from Wagner (Brady kick)
SER – Fuller 49 FG
SER – Ford 75 pass from Lytle (Fuller kick)
SM – Wagner 1 run (Brady kick)
SM – Magyar 3 run (Brady kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SM - Wagner 2-9, Mataele 12-79, Magyar 32-252; Ser - Muise 8-37, Mumphrey 7-24
Passing: SM - Wagner 11-20-0-175; Ser - Lytle 16-34-1-248
Receiving: SM - McClain 1-61, Calcaterra 4-74, Magyar 5-36; Ser - McMahon 1-22, Hurt 5-44, Ford 6-125, Rae 1-45
Sean Zeitler
Sports Information Director
Santa Margarita pulls off pressure-packed win
Santa Margarita running back Chad Magyar attacks the Servite defense for some of his 252 rushing yards.
MISSION VIEJO – The pressure of a must-win game is nothing new for the sixth-ranked Santa Margarita football team.
The Eagles, who lost their first three Trinity League games, have been in must-win mode for weeks.
With third-place and a qualifier spot on the line for the upcoming CIF-SS playoffs, the Eagles carried over their momentum from last week’s victory over Orange Lutheran and recorded a 49-24 victory over fifth-ranked Servite on Friday night at Saddleback College.
The Eagles (6-4, 2-3) finished third in the Trinity League. The top three finishers qualify for entry to the playoffs. The pairings for the CIF-SS playoffs will be released Sunday.
The Friars finish the regular season 4-6 overall and 1-4 in league (fifth place). They are expected to receive a spot in the Division 1 playoff bracket.
“We started off with the two juggernauts (Mater Dei and St. John Bosco) to start league play,” Santa Margarita coach Rich Fisher said. “That can be a humiliating process, but I’m really proud of the kids.
“I would say from the first half of the Bosco game where we battled them really good, played them really solid, all the way through this game, our kids have continued to keep grinding and keep believing.”
The Eagles jumped to a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter, but appeared to have lost a bit of the momentum as the Friars managed to cut the score to 35-24 heading into halftime on a 75-yard touchdown pass Tyler Lytle to Kyle Ford and Asa Fuller’s 47-yard field goal.
After a quick three-and-out by the offense to start the second half, the Eagles forced a fumble that was recovered by Alex Kilander.
On the next series, the Eagles kept every play on the ground, with Chad Magyar and Malone Mataele eating up yards to get the ball inside the 5. From there, quarterback Richard Wagner concluded the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run for a 42-24 lead.
After forcing another three-and-out from the Servite offense, the Eagles started from the Friars’ 48. On the third play, Magyar punched the ball into the end zone from the 4 for a 49-24 lead.
“I came into the game trying to work hard,” Magyar said. “The more I ran the ball the coaches saw I was working hard so they just kept giving it to me.”
Magyar finished the game with 252 rushing yards and one touchdown. Mataele had two rushing touchdowns.
“If you look at last week and this week’s game, we have a lot of confidence,” Fisher said.“Hopefully, we will get a good draw. I think the kids are playing a high level right now and with a lot of confidence.”
The Friars started league play splitting their first two games, with their first victory coming against JSerra (38-14). From there, they lost to Orange Lutheran, Mater Dei and JSerra
Despite their ending, the Friars could still be in the running for an at-large berth.
“We got that score right before half (Fuller’s field goal), had a little momentum and after that they just pounded the rock at us,” Servite coach Scott Meyer said. “This is a great league, huge, huge challenge, but I enjoy that challenge and obviously we have a lot of work to do.”
By Damian Calhoun
Saturday, November 5, 2016
The Orange County Register
