Football: Santa Margarita 17, Orange Lutheran 14

A week after losing to Mater Dei and relinquishing its grasp as the favorite to win the Trinity League, Santa Margarita Catholic took the field Friday without Ryan Wolpin.

Already without quarterback Johnny Stanton, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, the absence of the Eagles' tough tailback was doubly difficult.

But responding like champions—Santa Margarita is the defending champ of the Southern Section Pac-5 Division—the Eagles pulled out a 17-14 victory over Orange Lutheran.

Defense and the leg of Alex Ury deserved much of the credit. Ury kicked a 19-yard field goal with 37 seconds remaining for the decisive points.

Still, Orange Lutheran—which trailed by 14 points going into the fourth quarter—wasn't done. The Lancers drove to the Santa Margarita 43-yard-line when River Cracraft intercepted a pass with four seconds left in the game.

Santa Margarita came into the game ranked No. 5 in the Orange County top 10, and the Lancers came in ranked No. 7.

With the victory, Santa Margarita (7-1, 2-1 in league) is tied with Mater Dei in second place in the Trinity League; both trail St. John Bosco (4-4, 3-0), which scored a 27-19 victory over Mater Dei (6-2, 2-1). All of Bosco's losses are by forfeit for using an ineligible player.

The Eagles play JSerra (5-3, 0-3) next week and finish the season at Bosco.

Orange Lutheran (6-2, 1-2), under new coach Chuck Petersen, will play Mater Dei next week and close with JSerra.

The winning kick by Ury, a junior, amounted to little more than a regular point-after attempt. He had connected on 38 of 40, including 22 in a row, before attempt his short field goal. It was his first field goal attempt of the season for the Eagles, who have averaged more than 33 points per game on the season, but only 15 in league play.

Cracraft had a big night for Santa Margarita. He had a 54-yard reception that set up Ury's game-winning kick. He also caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Sweet to open the scoring in the third quarter.

Santa Margarita added to the lead when R.J. Mazolewski scored from 2 yards, but the Lancers answered in the fourth on touchdown runs of 7 yards by Tylen Drake and 4 yards by quarterback J.D. Pickell.

Sweet did what he was supposed to do in place of Stanton, turning in a solid performance; he completed 10 of 12 passes for 134 yards. He also rushed for 56 yards.

Duncan Hume carried 15 times for 69 yards in place of Wolpin, who this season has rushed for 826 yards (7.4 per carry) and 14 touchdowns.

The Eagles defense limited OLu's Tavi Jimmerson to 63 yards; he rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-14 come-from-behind victory over Servite a week ago.

It's the third consecutive victory for the Eagles over OLu, which still leads the series, 5-4.