Santa Margarita football reaches Division 1 final by beating Orange Lutheran

COSTA MESA – Carson Palmer was the Santa Margarita quarterback when the Eagles won CIF football championships in 1996 and ‘97.

Palmer returned to his alma mater this year as the school’s head coach, with the goal of returning the football program to that level of success.

Santa Margarita got there, and quickly. The Eagles beat Orange Lutheran 31-6 on Friday in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal at Orange Coast College.

Santa Margarita (9-3) will play Corona Centennial (11-1) the championship game Friday at the Rose Bowl. Santa Margarita beat Centennial 33-27 in overtime on Aug. 28 at Trabuco Hills High.

Centennial beat Mater Dei 28-27 in Friday’s other Division 1 semifinal.

After those two Palmer-led CIF championships, the Eagles appeared in two other CIF-SS football finals, in 1998 that was a loss to Woodbridge and 2011 when they beat San Clemente.

Palmer was happiest for the players after Friday’s game.

“I’m really excited for our guys,” Palmer said. “For our seniors who fought and fought and fought. Now for the chance to go play in the Rose Bowl is incredible.”

Personally, though, it is satisfying for Palmer, a Heisman Trophy winner at USC before a long and distinguished career as an NFL quarterback, to lead his alma mater to a CIF championship game.

“It’s a special place for me,” he said. “This is where it all started. It’s such a special, unique school and I couldn’t be prouder of it.”

Santa Margarita beat then-undefeated Sierra Canyon 21-9 on the road last week to advance to Friday’s semifinal.

The Eagles took Friday’s game over early.

Santa Margarita took the opening kickoff and had excellent field position thanks to a 50-yard return by Jayden Crowder that put the Eagles on the Orange Lutheran 45-yard line. They got a first down on fourth-and-3 via a 7-yard direct-snap run by receive Trent Mosley.

Mosley caught a pass from quarterback Trace Johnson in traffic in the middle of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. It was Mosley’s first TD reception of the season.

The Eagles then recovered an onside kick at the Lancers 45 and turned that into a touchdown – a 13-yard run up the middle by Duce Smith to make it 14-0.

Santa Margarita got the ball back quickly. On Orange Lutheran’s second play after receiving the kickoff, Eagles linebacker popped the ball loose and Logan Hirou made the recovery at the Lancers 29-yard line with 2:23 left in the quarter. Six plays later, 20 seconds into the second quarter, Santa Margarita freshman running back Adrian Petero scored on a 3-yard run through the middle for a 21–0 lead.

Santa Margarita ran 18 offensive plays in the first quarter. Orange Lutheran ran two offensive plays in the quarter.

After the Petero touchdown the Eagles had to punt on their other two second-quarter possessions. Orange Lutheran’s best chance to to score in the second quarter came on the final snap of the second quarter, a 55-yard field goal attempt by Aiden Migirdichian that was short.

Santa Margarita took a 21-0 lead into the second half.

Mosley magic was on display again in the third quarter. He took a quick pass to the left side of the line, dodged a tackler and outsprinted the Orange Lutheran defensive backfield to the end zone to stretch the Eagles lead to 28-0.

Tyler Wiegand kicked a 41-yard field goal to make it 31-0 with 6:02 to go in the third quarter.

Orange Lutheran scored its touchdown with 2:15 left in the game on a 15-yard run by Sean Morris. The Lancers’ run for two points was stopped, leaving the score at 31-6.