Eagles Fly Past Servite Again

FULLERTON — One might be hard-pressed to find the kind of offensive performance turned in by Santa Margarita Friday night.

The top-seeded Eagles, trying to successfully defend their Southern Section Division V championship, won their 23rd consecutive game by making short work of Servite, 59-18, in front of 4,000 at Cal State Fullerton.

Just how short?

In the first half--while Santa Margarita still had all its starters in--all five touchdowns were scored on drives of three plays or fewer. One, a 46-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to John Minardi, was a one-play drive.

The 20-yard field goal kicked by Nick Sparks to give Santa Margarita a 10-6 lead came at the end of an eight-play, 72-yard drive that stalled at the two.

Servite drove 74 yards on its first possession but failed to tie the score when Greg Orlando blocked his first of two point-after attempts.

In the first half, Palmer completed nine of 14 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns--46 yards to Minardi to make it 17-6, and 32 and 22 yards to Orlando, a junior.

Minardi caught four passes for 90 yards by halftime. Orlando had four for 109 yards.

Palmer played one series in the second half, and Minardi did not play offense in the second half.

It was a dominating performance in the mold of Santa Margarita’s 55-14 victory over Servite in Week 3. But that was an injury-depleted Friars’ team. This one wasn’t.

“It was a physical game, but we connected on everything,” said Minardi, whose 102 career receptions qualifies him for the state record for yards per reception (22.2), nearly two yards better than Yuba City’s Brian Brown (20.4).

Santa Margarita (12-0) faces Sea View League-rival Newport Harbor on Friday in the semifinals. Servite finishes 6-6.

The Eagles wasted no time getting started Friday. Garrett Thompson took the opening kickoff 61 yards. Three plays later, Palmer found Orlando on a short slant and he found the end zone untouched up the middle.

But Servite showed it was inspired, scoring on its first possession. Ryan Garko, who missed the first game between the teams, scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak. Garko ran the option on the opening drive, once stretching for the first down on fourth and three, and throwing for 15 on third and seven to get the ball to the one.

The game might have changed on the next series. Trailing, 7-6, Servite would have taken the lead had Garko not led Matt DeLellis too much on a streak pattern. No defender was within 15 yards of DeLellis.

Santa Margarita then scored 45 points in a row.

Bryant Wolfsberger rushed 11 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns; the second gave him the school record for rushing (24) and total touchdowns (26) in a single season.

Servite’s Vince Reed, who averaged 4.7 yards per carry, rushed 15 times for 42 yards against the Eagles’ defense, which held Servite to 97 yards in the first half.