Baldwin Park’s Defense Solid but Not Fancy in 13-7 Victory : Division IV: Santa Margarita held to five first downs and 101 yards in semifinal loss.

Baldwin Park Coach Tony Zane predicted that his defense would not try to do anything fancy in Saturday night’s Division IV semifinal against Santa Margarita.

Well, the Brave defense might not have done anything flashy, but it did find a way to limit Santa Margarita’s offense to 101 yards and lead Baldwin Park to a 13-7 victory at Saddleback College.

With the victory, the Braves advanced to next weekend’s final against Arlington.

“They have a good defense,” said Santa Margarita Coach Jim Hartigan. “Nothing they did surprised us but they have a big line, pretty good pass defenders and great team pursuit.”

Baldwin Park, which gave up an average of 11 points a game during the regular season, held the Eagle offense to one first down and 12 yards in the first half. Santa Margarita could manage only five first downs the entire game. And this from a team that averaged 294 yards and 27 points a game.

The Braves opened the scoring in the first quarter on Dante Casillas’ 95-yard pass play. Santa Margarita defender Davis Shearer slipped in pursuit of Casillas. Reggie Recio’s kick made it 7-0.

The defense took over from there and added a touchdown when Alan Gomez stepped in front of a Trevor Yankoff pass and ran it in from 43 yards to give the Braves a 13-0 lead.

Santa Margarita finally mounted a drive late in the fourth quarter and scored when Yankoff threw 12 yards to Sean O’Brien and Travis Lucero added the extra point.