Ireland Sparks Santa Margarita Rout of Banning

Santa Margarita soothed two weeks of frustration before halftime Friday night and went on to rout Banning, 55-13, at Saddleback College.

Josh Ireland rushed six times for 143 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, helping the Eagles (1-2) to a 41-0 lead. He took the second half off to rest a thigh injury that kept him out of two practices this week.

Ireland is one of only a handful of seniors on a young football team that is still adjusting to a switch from an I-back offense to a split veer.

“None of the returning starters are used to losing,” Ireland said. “It’s tough. But now people are going to find out what it’s like to win.”

Santa Margarita opened the scoring 45 seconds into the game when quarterback Sean O’Brien went 22 yards on a keeper for the touchdown. Six minutes later, the Eagles went 68 yards in seven plays for a touchdown to make it 14-0.

A 27-point second quarter ended any suspense. Among those points was a odd touchdown by linebacker Tim Sulick, who grabbed a punt deflection off a Banning blocker and raced nine yards to the end zone to make it 34-0 with 7:06 remaining in the half.

Banning (0-3) relied almost exclusively on the running of Lamont Hicks, who finished with 179 yards in 29 carries and his team’s only two touchdowns.

Junior running back Chris Tiernan took over for Ireland in the second half and finished with 101 yards in five carries.

“It’s nice to get a win at home,” Eagle Coach Jim Hartigan said. “Hopefully, this will put bring some spirit to our kids.

“I think we wanted to come out and prove tonight that we are a good football team. And we are a good football team.”