Eagles 31 - Orange Lutheran 6
COSTA MESA, CA., November 21, 2025 – WRITEUP COMING SOON
| Santa Margarita | 14 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 31 |
| Orange Lutheran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
SM – T. Mosley 4 pass from Johnson (Wiegand kick)
SM – Smith 13 run (Wiegand kick)
SM – Petero 4 run (Wiegand kick)
SM – T. Mosley 40 pass from Johnson (Wiegand kick)
SM – Wiegand 41 FG
OLU – Morris 14 pass from Brown (run failed)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: SM - Smith 16-69, Johnson 2-12; OLU - 9-18;
Passing: SM - Johnson 11-23-0-123; OLU - Toki 12-20-1-93;
Receiving: SM - T. Mosley 5-83, Brahm 2-21; OLU - Morris 6-63, Bland 6-55;
Summary by Chuck Nan
Statistics by Shane Mielke
Coach Carson Palmer heads to championship game as Santa Margarita dominates Orange Lutheran
COSTA MESA, CA., November 21, 2025 – Santa Margarita’s defense suffocated Orange Lutheran in a 31-6 victory, the Eagles advancing to the Southern Section Division 1 final.
First-year coach Carson Palmer, the 2002 Heisman Trophy winner, is leading his alma mater toward its first Southern Section title since 2011.
The Eagles will rematch Corona Centennial in the championship game, facing the team they defeated in overtime this season without star receiver Trent Mosley.
Hard to pick a better time to play your most complete game of the season.
Carson Palmer, the first-year Santa Margarita High coach, put it best as his players surrounded him after the clock hit zero.
“Phenomenal effort,” the former NFL quarterback and 2002 Heisman Trophy winner from USC said. “Rose Bowl bound.”
Santa Margarita (9-3) will be playing at the Rose Bowl in the Southern Section Division 1 final after an end-to-end dominating effort to take down Orange Lutheran in a 31-6 steamroll Friday at Orange Coast College.
Four of Santa Margarita’s first five drives started in Orange Lutheran territory. It was one of those nights for the Eagles, as an offense led by senior wide receiver Trent Mosley started to click at the same time as their stellar defense.
Mosley put the Eagles on top with a four-yard touchdown grab in the first quarter, the USC commit accounting for 37 of the drive’s 45 yards after Jayden Crowder began the game with a 55-yard kick return. Santa Margarita sparked its second drive with a successful onside kick grounded by Hunter McKinney.
“You got to be aggressive,” Palmer said. “And we definitely were aggressive tonight. On the defensive side of the ball, on the offensive side of the ball, and obviously on special teams.”
Soon the Eagles were up 14-0 — after a 13-yard touchdown from sophomore running back Jaion Smith — and then 21-0, following a five-yard score from freshman tailback Adrian Petero.
The Lancers (3-9) tallied only three plays of 10 or more yards in the first half. Even when quarterback Reagan Toki showed comfort, driving the Lancers 77 yards from his own 10-yard line in the third quarter, he was hit with Santa Margarita’s defensive fury.
Eagles senior linebacker Vai Manutai forced Toki to fumble inside the Santa Margarita 20-yard line, halting the Lancers’ chances of scoring. On the previous drive, Santa Margarita senior linebacker Leki Holani dragged Toki to the ground for a 14-yard sack. On the next play, senior do-it-all linebacker Dash Fifita picked off a Toki pass.
“We came out here, we set the tone early,” said Holani, a part of a defensive front guided by defensive coordinator Steve Fifita that tallied seven tackles for loss and two sacks.
Mosley already had placed the Eagles up by 28 — catching a screen pass, making a defender miss with a step-back juke and turning on the burners for a 40-yard touchdown. Mosley finished with 82 yards on five catches for two touchdowns.
“Job’s not done,” Mosley said. “Coming and making it to the championship is a big deal for us. Excited to be here in this moment and live in the moment.”
Santa Margarita has a chance to win its first Southern Section title since winning the Pac-5 championship in 2011. The Eagles will match up against Corona Centennial, whom Santa Margarita defeated this season in overtime — for Palmer’s first coaching victory — without Mosley.
Is Year 1 earlier than Palmer was expecting potential Southern Section glory?
“Maybe it’s quick,” he said, “but, I mean, … our senior class is phenomenal.”
By Benjamin Royer
Friday, November 14, 2025
The Los Angeles Times
Santa Margarita football reaches Division 1 final by beating Orange Lutheran
COSTA MESA, CA., November 21, 2025 – Carson Palmer was the Santa Margarita quarterback when the Eagles won CIF football championships in 1996 and ‘97.
Palmer returned to his alma mater this year as the school’s head coach, with the goal of returning the football program to that level of success.
Santa Margarita got there, and quickly. The Eagles beat Orange Lutheran 31-6 on Friday in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal at Orange Coast College.
Santa Margarita (9-3) will play Corona Centennial (11-1) the championship game Friday at the Rose Bowl. Santa Margarita beat Centennial 33-27 in overtime on Aug. 28 at Trabuco Hills High.
Centennial beat Mater Dei 28-27 in Friday’s other Division 1 semifinal.
After those two Palmer-led CIF championships, the Eagles appeared in two other CIF-SS football finals, in 1998 that was a loss to Woodbridge and 2011 when they beat San Clemente.
Palmer was happiest for the players after Friday’s game.
“I’m really excited for our guys,” Palmer said. “For our seniors who fought and fought and fought. Now for the chance to go play in the Rose Bowl is incredible.”
Personally, though, it is satisfying for Palmer, a Heisman Trophy winner at USC before a long and distinguished career as an NFL quarterback, to lead his alma mater to a CIF championship game.
“It’s a special place for me,” he said. “This is where it all started. It’s such a special, unique school and I couldn’t be prouder of it.”
Santa Margarita beat then-undefeated Sierra Canyon 21-9 on the road last week to advance to Friday’s semifinal.
The Eagles took Friday’s game over early.
Santa Margarita took the opening kickoff and had excellent field position thanks to a 50-yard return by Jayden Crowder that put the Eagles on the Orange Lutheran 45-yard line. They got a first down on fourth-and-3 via a 7-yard direct-snap run by receive Trent Mosley.
Mosley caught a pass from quarterback Trace Johnson in traffic in the middle of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. It was Mosley’s first TD reception of the season.
The Eagles then recovered an onside kick at the Lancers 45 and turned that into a touchdown – a 13-yard run up the middle by Duce Smith to make it 14-0.
Santa Margarita got the ball back quickly. On Orange Lutheran’s second play after receiving the kickoff, Eagles linebacker popped the ball loose and Logan Hirou made the recovery at the Lancers 29-yard line with 2:23 left in the quarter. Six plays later, 20 seconds into the second quarter, Santa Margarita freshman running back Adrian Petero scored on a 3-yard run through the middle for a 21–0 lead.
Santa Margarita ran 18 offensive plays in the first quarter. Orange Lutheran ran two offensive plays in the quarter.
After the Petero touchdown the Eagles had to punt on their other two second-quarter possessions. Orange Lutheran’s best chance to to score in the second quarter came on the final snap of the second quarter, a 55-yard field goal attempt by Aiden Migirdichian that was short.
Santa Margarita took a 21-0 lead into the second half.
Mosley magic was on display again in the third quarter. He took a quick pass to the left side of the line, dodged a tackler and outsprinted the Orange Lutheran defensive backfield to the end zone to stretch the Eagles lead to 28-0.
Tyler Wiegand kicked a 41-yard field goal to make it 31-0 with 6:02 to go in the third quarter.
Orange Lutheran scored its touchdown with 2:15 left in the game on a 15-yard run by Sean Morris. The Lancers’ run for two points was stopped, leaving the score at 31-6.
By Steve Fryer
Friday, November 21, 2025
The Orange County Register
