Santa Margarita 41. Orange 6

[Luca]

Santa Margarita (3-2) defeated Orange (0-4) 41-6 tonight at Saddleback college. The final score was pretty much indicative. Santa Margarita scored touchdowns on six of the first seven possessions and ended all hopes for Orange with a 20-0 blitz in the first eight minutes of the third quarter, at which point the final score had already been reached. Orange simply didn't have the quickness or the speed to stay with Santa Margarita

Orange received the opening kickoff and went three and out. Santa Margarita took possession in its own territory and kept on the ground (they didn't throw any passes that I remember in the first half) with most of the damage being done by Spencer Tyson, who collected 238 yards before he sat down in the late third quarter. Orange mounted a short drive to midfield where they unaccountably went for it on fourth and three for reasons known only to God and their coach. It failed and Spencer Tyson shortly thereafter broke a 60+ yard run as well as a few tackles, making it 14-0. Orange was plagued by some missed tackles throughout the night and they had three or four linemen - big kids - going both ways. They looked tired at the end of the first half.

At this point late in the first quarter, Orange put on its best show of the night with an admirable 80 yard drive pretty much on the ground which must've chewed up seven or eight minutes on the clock. They missed the extra point, making it 14-6 but it was a wake-up call for Santa Margarita which, after being forced to punt on its next possession took its final drive of the half the length of the field to score with three or four minutes left making it 21- 6 at the half.

It wasn't the most exciting half of football. There wasn't much passing and that which there was isn't going to make any highlight films. Santa Margarita has gone back to two platooning their quarterbacks. That's a little unusual but it seems that they rotate their offensive line pretty regularly, also. It's hard to tell who the starters are. But they relied mostly on Tyson and junior RB Corey Thompson to get through the holes, break a few tackles and move the chains, to be trite.

I don't think I've ever seen as small a crowd as Orange brought to this game. They must've had 40 kids who suited up and it doesn't look like all the parents even showed up. They can't all be orphans. But you can always spot some talented players. There was a promising defensive tackle, Thomas Manitisa, who is 230 pounds, penetrates well and only a sophomore. I was amazed. This kid will be very, very good when he is a senior. They also have a fairly hard running tailback in Axel Sanchez who ran for a pretty quiet 115 yards. But speed and a passing game they lack. Tackling was less than ideal and eventually it spelled disaster for them.

Everything worked to perfection for Santa Margarita in the third quarter. They took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in not more than six or seven plays, keeping it on the ground and making it look a lot easier than it was in the first half. Junior Jeff Emmanuel picked off a pass on Orange's next possession and took it down inside the five where Santa Margarita promptly took it in to make the score 34-6 halfway through the third quarter. Another defensive stop and a long Santa Margarita drive made it 41-6 with a few minutes to go in the third quarter and at this point the bench was emptied for Santa Margarita.

These two teams had never played before and I am not sure why they scheduled each other. I'd heard a rumor that Tesoro had agreed to a game but had backed out, leaving Santa Margarita in the lurch. I don't know how true that is but it's hard for Santa Margarita to get local games anyway. LB Troy Willett had another big game with probably a dozen tackles, which would bring him up to about 70 after five games. Sophomore linebacker Matt Anderson keeps looking better. There's a promising big tight end in soph Max Tuerk. A little tentative blocking, but he'll hopefully get over that.

Overall a good performance by Santa Margarita but it's hard to draw definitive conclusions in a game like this. I had hoped they would work on the passing game more because God knows they will need it in the weeks to come. They have a bye next week in preparation for league, and their first opponent will be JSerra followed by St. John Bosco. That's probably a good draw since those are the teams they will have the best shot at and if they take those two games it can give them momentum and a 5-2 record going into the final three games against a Servite, MaterDei and Lutheran. With Dana Point trouncing Newport badly, the opening game second-half fold against Dana doesn't look quite so bad and the other loss — to LaCosta (5-0) - was against one of the ranked teams in the state. With half the season gone I'm still not sure how strong this team is but the next two weeks could be profitably used on improving the the passing game and the defensive backfield tackling. Luca

[SuperChargers]

[quote="Luca"]These two teams had never played before and I am not sure why they scheduled each other. I'd heard a rumor that Tesoro had agreed to a game but had backed out, leaving Santa Margarita in the lurch.

This game was scheduled after Glendora and Vista backed out of agreements with SM for this week. Orange had an open date and called SM. Coach Tom Meiss is in the first year of rebuilding the Orange Football Program and wants to improve the level of competition.

[Luca]

I've heard that name, Tom Meiss. What do you know about him? Luca

[slowyoroll]

I've heard that name, Tom Meiss. What do you know about him? Luca

I heard he is a personal friend of Jacot

[ancient]

Luca, it was indeed disappointing to see the lack of fan support for the Orange team. Those young athletes deserve better than that, and I felt badly seeing that there were more players suited up than there were fans in the stands. Sanchez was a work horse and did an amazing job for his team. Now, it's time for parents and classmates to show up at the games and support their sons and friends.

I am and always will be an Eagle fan first but, like you, I have a heart for all these young men who work so hard and have a love for the game of football.

Now it is time to get back to the ND Washington game.

[Lionhunter]

I've heard that name, Tom Meiss. What do you know about him? Luca

When I heard that name I thought of Santa Ana HS (as a player I mean). I could be wrong. Here is his coaching history:



Q: What former schools did you coach at?

A: I’ve coached for the Arena League, Chapman College, Foothill, Santa Ana, Santa Ana Valley, and Savanna of Anaheim.

http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tab ... Meiss.aspx

[ocfootball]

Meiss also had a stint at orange in which he took them to the cif championship game in 89, and several playoff runs before leaving for foothill.

[ArroyoGrande]

Meiss also had a stint at orange in which he took them to the cif championship game in 89, and several playoff runs before leaving for foothill.

Sm will go 2-3 in league AT BEST, and could easily go 0-5 :ROFL:

[slowyoroll]

Sm will go 2-3 in league AT BEST, and could easily go 0-5 :ROFL:

Ouch..