Wolpin Carries Santa Margarita Past Trabuco Hills, 35-14

After a pair of breezy home blowouts to start the season, Santa Margarita Catholic hit the road for the first time and, for the first time, were hit back by an opponent Thursday night as the previously undefeated Trabuco Hills Mustangs represented their home turf well in a 35-14 Eagles victory.

Junior tailback Ryan Wolpin polished off Santa Margarita's opening drive with a one-yard plunge set up by a 27-yard hookup from quarterback Johnny Stanton to Sean Modster on a designed roll-out off play-action. The touchdown was one of four for Wolpin, who tied a Santa Margarita school record with his final trip to paydirt, a game-icing 34-yard romp up the gut with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

"Give the credit to my O-Line," Wolpin said. "They worked great tonight. We were a little flat coming out, but we were able to pick it up."

Eagles coach Harry Welch was none too pleased with his team's effort, which included a pair of first-half interceptions, both swiped by Trabuco Hills cornerback Mathew Kirkland.

But while Santa Margarita countered with four picks of its own, including two in the span of a quarter from Reid Andrew, Trabuco Hills was able to gash the Eagles on the ground to the tune of 102 net rushing yards, including 112 in 20 carries from Mitchell Simonsen.

Simonsen, who has run for 320 yards in his past two games, made it 14-7 just 12 seconds into the second quarter with a 49-yard score off a stretch around the right side.

"This was a step forward for us," Trabuco Hills coach Scott Orloff said. "We felt we could play, and the kids executed our game plan. We just have to keep working and bounce back next week."

Following RJ Mazolewski's pick of a Jonathan Newsom pass at the goal line -- Newsom's third intercepted pass of the night -- Trabuco Hills' starting quarterback was knocked out of the game when senior defensive tackle Mack Pierson brought him down four yards behind the line of scrimmage on the Mustangs' next drive.

Pierson and defensive end Sean Donegan collected two sacks each on a night in which the Eagles collected five total, and Newsom's evening (3-of-9 passing, 31 yards) came to a premature end after he suffered a hyper-extended elbow.

Although back-to-back sacks had left Trabuco Hills with an untenable fourth-down situation, Santa Margarita extended the drive when they roughed the kicker on the punt attempt, but the Eagles' special teams woes didn't end there.

Trabuco Hills also pulled off a fake punt in the third quarter that set up a Simonsen plunge for a score that made it 28-14 with 14 seconds left.

"[Trabuco Hills] lost their quarterback, and they played with creativity and enthusiasm," Welch said. "I thought we were grossly outcoached, at least at the head coaching position. Their coach had them ready to play with enthusiasm and desire, even after a devastating loss of a quarterback. We were still resting on our laurels of beating Tesoro."

With Newsom knocked out, junior quarterback Nathan Perry was rushed into action and showed his rust early, tossing an ill-fated pass to the flat that Andrew whisked 41 yards in the opposite direction for a momentum-hijacking pick-six that gave the Eagles some breathing room at 21-7 heading into the locker room.

Perry bounced back in the second half, completing five of eight attempts for 58 yards, and didn't turn the ball over. But Andrew's heroics combined with Wolpin's consistency were all Santa Margarita would need.

"We'll never quit. We'll go four quarters, no matter what the score is," Simonsen said. "They created more turnovers than we did. We need to work harder. We need to lift harder. We need to run harder. We'll see them again in the playoffs. They're a great football team."

Santa Margarita (3-0) will now prepare for a challenging road game on Friday, Sept. 23, against the Carson Colts. Trabuco Hills (2-1), meanwhile, will gear up to host their second Trinity League foe in as many weeks, as JSerra comes calling next Friday.

GAME NOTES

• Stanton finished the night with 166 yards passing (11-of-18) and added 43 more on the ground.

• Santa Margarita racked up 232 rushing yards all told, including 70 in eight carries from Alex Suchesk.

• Santa Margarita defensive end Chris Frost collected a tackle-for-loss and his eighth sack of the season.

• The Eagles have 17 sacks through three games.

• Konner Kafentzis nabbed Santa Margarita's first interception, and deflected the pass to Reid Andrew for his first interception.

• Trabuco Hills had three tackles-for-loss and junior defensive end Spencer Herson notched a sack.

• Santa Margarita now holds a 6-2 all-time record against Trabuco Hills.

GAME STATISTICS

                                  1     2     3     4       T

Santa Margarita         14    7    7     7   --  35

Trabuco Hills               0     7    7     0   --  14

                                  SM                TH

First Downs                19                 10
Rushing Yards            232              102
Passing Yards            116                89
Total Yards                 348               191
Turnovers                     2                  4
Penalites-Yards          3-30             7-40

SCORING

1st Quarter

SM -- Ryan Wolpin 1 run; John McGrory kick, 5:04
SM -- Wolpin 3 run; McGrory kick, 1:29

2nd Quarter

TH -- Mitchel Simonsen 49 run; Kyle Nguyen kick, 11:48
SM -- Reid Andrew 41 interception return; McGrory kick, 2:03

3rd Quarter

SM -- Wolpin 3 run; McGrory kick, 8:23
TH -- Simonsen 1 run; Nguyen kick, :24

4th Quarter

SM -- Wolpin 34 run; McGrory kick, 5:57