Football: Eagles Trounce Long Beach Poly, 49-16

As much as a 49-16 victory over third-seeded Long Beach Poly in the Jackrabbits' backyard during the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division quarterfinals can be called "routine," that's exactly what it was for Santa Margarita Catholic on Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach.

Quarterback Johnny Stanton rushed for four touchdowns, Ryan Wolpin and Alex Suchesk added three more scores on the ground, and the Eagles' swarming defense forced five Long Beach Poly turnovers, including four interceptions, two of them swiped by safety Connor O'Brien.

In other words, it was the same ol' same ol'.

"It was so much fun," Stanton said. "It was really cool being able to play such a legendary team and do so well against them. They have so many guys in the NFL right now, and so many guys that are probably going to be in the NFL."

The Eagles, who finished the regular season in second place behind Servite in Trinity League play, moved to 10-2 overall while (8-4).

Next Friday, Santa Margarita will play a familiar foe, South Coast League champion Mission Viejo (10-2) in the semifinals, for the right to take on Tesoro or San Clemente (11-1) at Angels Stadium on Dec. 10 in the Pac-5 championship game.

"I don't know what happened there," Max Tuerk said, referring to the Servite loss, news of which began filtering through the Santa Margarita sideline with about five minutes remaining. "I'm kinda [angry], I wanted them again. But we got Mission. We have to beat Mission. It's a huge game for us, because they beat us last year."

Tuerk and his barrel-chested cohorts on the Santa Margarita offensive line were their usual downhill-sledding selves Friday night.

The Eagles rushed for 266 yards and turned in a pair of 100-yard nights. Stanton finished with 151 yards in 26 carries, while Wolpin cleaned up in the fourth quarter, carrying a power up the gut for a 60-yard touchdown that made it 35-16 with 5:34 left, followed by a 10-yard jaunt seconds later after River Cracraft returned an interception 48 yards.

"Cracraft is a difference-maker," Santa Margarita Coach Harry Welch said. "He hasn't played defense since last year. He came out and made the interception and [that brought] some confidence to the kids. Defensively, the kids played really well in the second half."

Suchesk finished off the scoring with just under four minutes to play from eight yards out after a Sean Donegan interception, the Eagles' second in a span of 20 seconds.

But while the fourth quarter was a laugher, the first three were anything but.

The Jackrabbits sprinted out of the gates on their first drive, thanks to tailback Gerard Wicks (nine carries, 93 yards), who broke several tackles on his first carry, then found the edge and, 46 yards later, paydirt, to give Poly an early 6-0 lead.

Santa Margarita stopped the Jackrabbits' two-point conversion, then marched eight plays and 80 yards in the other direction before Stanton tip-toed into the end zone on an option keeper from four yards out, making it 7-6 at the 6:13 mark.

Poly was flagged 12 times for 86 yards to compound its turnover woes. After a defensive holding penalty against the Jackrabbits that negated a sack of Stanton on fourth down, the Eagles' wily signal-caller made it 14-6 when he somersaulted over a tackle at the goal line for his second score.

"I didn't know I could jump that high," Stanton said with a grin. "It was fun, it was a lot of fun. I just saw the guy was going for my legs, so I just decided to jump."

Stanton (11-of-18 passing, 104 yards) kicked it up a notch after O'Brien's second interception — a diving grab that thwarted Poly a yard from Santa Margarita's goal line — by busting loose from three tackles behind the line of scrimmage before racing to the sideline and diving over the pylon for his third touchdown.

"[Poly] had probably the best defensive line we've played against all year," Tuerk said. "They were all studs — strong, quick guys -- but we just followed our rules. Coach [Marty] Spalding put up a great game plan."

Down 21-6, Poly responded with a 35-yard Hayden Hunt field goal as the first-half clock expired.

Wicks ran in his second score from 14 yards away to cut the Santa Margarita advantage to 21-16 midway through the third quarter, but the Eagles, fueled by three second-half turnovers, scored 28 unanswered points to end it. It started with Stanton's fourth touchdown, a five-yard keeper on fourth down only 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.

"I'm a silly coach," Welch said in reference to going for it on fourth down with his team up by less than a touchdown. "But I've got a lot of kids I love. It's tough love, but I think deep down they know I trust them. I believe in them, and I love them.

"I thought if there was a single difference in the game, I don't have any idea what the statistics were, but this was Johnny Stanton's game."

GAME STATISTICS

                                  1     2     3     4   --   T

Santa Margarita        7    14     0    28  --   49

Long Beach Poly      6      3     7     0   --   16


                                 SM               LBP

First Downs               18                 17
Rushing Yards           266               103
Passing Yards           104                254
Total Net Yards          370               357
Turnovers                   0                   5
Penalties-Yards         4-45             12-86


SCORING

1st Quarter

LBP -- Gerard Wicks 46 run; conversion failed, 10:42
SM -- Johnny Stanton 4 run; John McGrory kick, 6:12

2nd Quarter

SM -- Stanton 7 run; McGrory kick, 9:37
SM -- Stanton 19 run; McGrory kick, :43
LBP -- Hayden Hunt 35 field goal, :00

3rd Quarter

LBP -- Wicks 14 run; Hunt kick, 3:56

4th Quarter

SM -- Stanton 5 run; McGrory kick, 11:50
SM -- Ryan Wolpin 60 run; McGrory kick, 5:34
SM -- Wolpin 10 run; McGrory kick, 4:08
SM -- Alex Suchesk 8 run; McGrory kick, 3:43