PREP SOCCER ROUNDUP : Eagles Beat El Toro on Penalty Kick

El Toro Coach Bob Chavez never saw it, but referee Don Feldman said there was no doubt Santa Margarita’s Shawn Saunders was fouled.

“The kid cleaned his clock,” said Feldman, who did not identify the El Toro player who committed the foul. “The El Toro player blew him off the ball. There was no question. He knocked him back five yards.”

Santa Margarita sweeper Mike Allred took the penalty kick 15 minutes into the second half and easily beat El Toro keeper Chris Brigham, giving the top-ranked Eagles a 1-0 lead they never lost Friday at El Toro High.

“It was a great play by the (El Toro) fullback because Shawn could have just tapped it in,” Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer said. “And we’ve missed our last three penalty kicks, so it was a good gamble.”

Bauer’s gamble on letting his sweeper take the penalty kick paid off too. It was Allred’s first penalty kick and first goal of the season.

Chavez, however, wasn’t willing to give his fullback or the referee any credit. “It was a lousy call,” he said. “This is the second game in a row we’ve lost on a call like that.”

El Toro (6-12-2, 3-4-2) needs every victory it can get. The Chargers, who start six sophomores and two freshmen, are fighting Irvine and Newport Harbor for a playoff spot.

Santa Margarita (19-1-2, 6-1-1) is in second place in the Sea View League, but is hoping to be top-seeded in the Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

The Eagles will be without their second-leading scorer, Brian Piesner, for one game. Less than a minute after Allred’s goal, Piesner was given a red card after being whistled for his second yellow card of the game.