Sports

Football: Servite Edges Santa Margarita in Overtime, 43-42

Eagles fall to Friars, the defending league and Pac-5 Division champions, in biggest -- and last -- game of regular season at Cerritos College.

They dropped to their knees in disappointment. They watched as the other team celebrated. But Santa Margarita's football team, beaten Friday by Servite, had just delivered one of the great games in school history.

Servite won its seventh consecutive league title by scoring a two-point conversion in overtime to take a 43-42 Trinity League victory in a battle at Cerritos College that was nearly breathtaking.

It was Hagler-Hearns, except it went the distance as the two football programs played like champions.

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Johnny Stanton completed 19 of 27 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed 25 times for 133 yards and scored three touchdowns.

And he was the losing quarterback.

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“It’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever coached,” said Harry Welch, who has coached for more than 40 years and whose team led only once, 42-35, after getting the ball first in overtime. “It’s way up there.”

For the second year in a row, Santa Margarita (8-2 overall, 3-2 in league) is runner-up to Servite (9-1, 5-0). St. John Bosco (7-3, 2-3), which defeated Orange Lutheran, is third and takes the last of the league’s playoff berths in the Pac-5 Division. Servite is the two-time defending Pac-5 champion.

Neither Servite nor Santa Margarita were separated by more than a touchdown all night long as each answered the other’s score with one of their own. Servite scored on all three possessions of the first half and took a 21-14 lead into the third quarter.

Ryan Wolpin delivered three touchdowns for the Eagles, on runs of one and four yards, and a short pass that he took for 60.

Stanton scored on a seven-yard run with 1:50 left in the game to tie the score at 35, and in the overtime the Eagles took possession at the 25-yard line. It took five plays for Stanton to score on a five-yard run and John McGrory kicked his sixth PAT, giving him 107 in a row as he added to his Southern Section record.

A roughing the kicker penalty was assessed when Servite took possession, so the Friars had to go 30 yards. Cody Pittman scrambled nine yards, to the five-yard line, and two plays later Mana Pauu scored from three. That made it 42-41, but Servite never even contemplated kicking an extra point. Thinking there was no way to stop Stanton, and figuring both teams had already qualified for the playoffs, Servite coach Troy Thomas sent Pittman and the offense out to attempt a two-point conversion.

Pittman, like Stanton, was extraordinary. He completed 20 of 23 for 239 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed 18 times for 100 and one touchdown.

With Servite’s 18-game league winning streak in the balance, Pittman rolled to his right and found Ainslie Johnson in the end zone. That set off a joyous celebration by the Friars as Santa Margarita players dropped in disappointment.

“So many kids were emotionally distraught over this,” Welch said. “How we deal with this emotionally is why I get paid.”

Playoff pairings will be announced by the section office on Sunday and first-round games will take place next weekend. A league's first-place finisher is likely to be paired against another league's third-place team, and second-place finishers often are paired against each other. The Pac-5 championship game is set for Saturday, Dec. 10.

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Servite 43, Santa Margarita 42 (OT)

Santa Margarita             7            7            7            14            7 - 42

Servite                        7            14            7            7            8 - 43          

 

FIRST

S-Mana Pauu 10 run (Conner Bevans kick)                               7-0            7:54

SM-Ryan Wolpin 1 run (John McGrory kick)                              7-7            0:48

SECOND

S-Ainslie Johnson 8 pass from Cody Pittman (Bevans kick)       14-7            9:17

SM-Wolpin 60 pass from Johny Stanton (McGrory kick)          14-14            7:01

S-Pittman 5 run (Bevans kick)                                             21-14            0:42

THIRD

SM-Wolpin 5 run (McGrory kick)                                          21-21            6:24

S-M. Pauu 9 pass from Pittman (Bevans kick)                      28-21             1:21

FOURTH

SM-Stanton 11 run (McGrory kick                                      28-28            11:24

S-M. Pauu 3 run (Bevans kick)                                            35-28            7:05

SM-Stanton 7 run (McGrory kick)                                        35-35            1:50

OVERTIME

SM-Stanton 5 run (McGrory kick)                                        35-42            0:00

S-M. Pauu 3 run (Johnson pass from Cody Pittman)              43-42            0:00

RUSHING

SM-Johnny Stanton 25-133, Ryan Wolpin 11-27.

S-Cody Pittman 18-100, Mana Pauu 16-62, Andrew Moore 9-30.

PASSING

SM-Johnny Stanton 20-29-0, 275.

S-Cody Pittman 20-23-0, 239.

RECEIVING

SM-Conner O’Brien 4-65, River Cracraft 5-47, Ryan Wolpin 3-84, Sean Modster 6-46, Cory Mendoza 1-21.

S-Sam Hunt 7-59, Butch Pauu 4-107, Ainslie Johnson 1-8, Mana Pauu 7-56,  Neil Pauu 1-16.


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