Orange County High School Football PREP EXTRA : Santa Margarita Struggles Again Without Quarterback

Quarterback Chris Collins’ return to the Santa Margarita lineup can’t come soon enough for the Eagles.

For the second consecutive week, the offense failed to score a touchdown. Santa Margarita was held to 17 yards in 14 plays in the second half during a 21-0 loss to Glendora Friday in front of 2,500 at Saddleback College.

Collins, a 6-2 junior, said before the game that he’ll likely be out another two or three weeks because of the knee injury he suffered before the season-opener.

Still, Coach Jim Hartigan doesn’t sound too optimistic about the prospects for the Eagles (0-2), even after Collins returns.

“We’re (in a) deadlock offensively but we still have a lot of problems besides the quarterback,” he said. “We didn’t eliminate our mistakes from last week, and it’s not just one person either. I can’t pinpoint it. It’s everyone.”

Glendora (1-1) controlled the game from the beginning, and two trick plays by its two star players in the first half put them ahead, 14-0.

The first came on the Tartans second possession when halfback Mathis Ward completed an eight-play drive by throwing a 22-yard touchdown pass to wide open Ben Russell. Then, with 6 minutes 37 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Ward took the handoff and handed it back to Russell on the end-around. Russell wasn’t untouched on his 58-yard touchdown.

Glendora scored to open the second half. Quarterback Jon Smith completed three passes for 58 yards, the final one a six-yard touchdown to Andrew Kassotis. Cory Amos’ third point-after kick made it 21-0. Santa Margarita’s defense played well but was on the field too long. Tartans finished with 275 yards total offense. The Eagles had 116.

“It’s real discouraging because I thought our defense was real good,” Eagle defensive end Rik Glover said. “We got hurt by those two plays and they got real tired at the end.”