THE TIMES ORANGE COUNTY ALL-SPORTS AWARD : One-Two Punch : Mater Dei, Santa Margarita Lead Large-School Division of Times All-Sports Award

Maybe there is something to that parochial school argument.

Last year, Mater Dei’s overall excellence in sports translated into The Times Orange County All-Sports award.

After two-thirds of this year’s prep sports season, the Monarchs are again the highest-scoring large school in Orange County.

But clipping at Mater Dei’s heels comes a bit of a surprise--Santa Margarita.

“The public schools are going to love that,” Santa Margarita Athletic Director Rich Schaaf said.

Santa Margarita, a parochial school that opened in 1987,, has become a serious player for the first time in The Times’ competition, which awards points based on performance and counts boys’ and girls’ sports equally, regardless of the sport.

And now, Santa Margarita is in second place--its highest position in the three-year-old competition--after strong showings in boys’ basketball and both soccer programs during the winter sports season.

And here’s a tasty tidbit: the Santa Margarita girls’ soccer team was ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section (Mater Dei was second), lost and tied its final two Sea View League games to effectively lose the No. 1 seeding, then lost in the quarterfinals of the playoffs (just like second-seeded Mater Dei).

If the Eagles had reached the final and picked up the accompanying 16 playoff performance points (instead of eight for reaching the quarterfinals), Santa Margarita would be in first place and Mater Dei would be second.

The all-sports competition is designed to identify the county’s best all-around athletic programs in two enrollment classes, large school (1,275 or more students) and small school (fewer than 1,275). Santa Margarita is the smallest of the large schools with 1,280 students.

At the end of the school year, the totals for the fall (six sports, 240 points), winter (five sports, 200 points) and spring (10 sports, 400 points) will be totaled to determine champions in both divisions.

In the small-school category, Brea Olinda (216.2 points), which had the highest scoring average of any school (23.9 of a possible 40 points per sport) this winter, surpassed five teams to take the lead. Brea is in perfect position to win the title but was in the same spot last year, when it also leapfrogged five teams to take the lead going into the spring, only to be surpassed by Laguna Hills at the end.

Laguna Hills outscored Brea by 56.8 points last spring and won the title by seven points, moving from fifth-place to first. This year, Laguna Hills (186.3) is in third place and needs to make up only 32.5 points. Good position? You bet.

“[Winning last year] made quite a stir in the community,” Laguna Hills boys’ Athletic Director Dave Brown said. “I was even a little surprised at how much significance it had. The calls and comments. . . . the booster meetings took note of it, the city council sent us a big letter of congratulations.

“You tend to get worked up in your own little area [as a coaching staff], and I think there was a general feeling of a job well done by all the coaches. It gives you a chance to pause and appreciate the whole instead of just the part.”

Santa Margarita was in third place after the fall sports grading period, and is second now with 226.7 points. Mater Dei (233.9) was in fourth place after the first scoring trimester, but was catapulted to first with Southern Section championship appearances in boys’ and girls’ basketball.

Last year, the Eagles were in third place after the winter and finished 14th overall among large schools. In the first year of the competition, they were in 13th place (131.0) after two-thirds of the year and ultimately finished fourth among small schools.

“This is just an unusual year for us--last year we weren’t that good,” Schaaf said. “I think we’re a typical school. We’ll fluctuate according to the quality of the class. A normal high school fluctuates. Some years it will be Capistrano Valley, sometimes it will be Irvine. There are the exceptions, of course--some schools are always at the top . . . quality of coaching, whatever--people can speculate.”

Yes, people speculate. And Schaaf says the stigma attached to the parochial schools is undeserved--at least nowadays.

“Yeah, [the stigma] bothers me,” he said. “The way CIF has its Blue Book now, I believe everyone plays by the same rules. The big difference between us and public schools is we get more parent involvement, and that comes because they’re paying [directly] for their kids’ education.”

But that involvement, at least for now, doesn’t guarantee Santa Margarita any success beyond this year, Schaaf said.

“Our first-string kids are good, but I think we’re a few years away from having any real depth,” Schaaf said. “I think numbers are the difference when you’re looking at schools like Los Alamitos and Esperanza, who are always up there at the top. Then those schools have a combination of good coaches, good kids, parent involvement, facilities, supportive administration and faculty.

“The way CIF wants you to do it is play with the hand that’s dealt you. It kills me when people know already who’s coming to their school, who’s good and who’s not. You’re supposed to work with the kids who are at your school at that time.”

Both parochial schools, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita, as well as Esperanza (212.4), passed the previous front-runners, Villa Park and Los Alamitos, in the large-school division.

Esperanza jumped from 10th place (94.8 points) to third (212.4), the biggest gain of any large school.

Villa Park dropped from first place (128.7) to fifth (188.2), and Los Alamitos dropped from second (127.4) to fourth (194.9).

Villa Park, which never registered much more than a blip in the first two years of the competition, finds itself needing to make up 45.7 points to have a chance to win. That could be made doubly-tough for the Spartans because Mater Dei has the section’s top-ranked softball team, which lost only one player from last year’s section finalist.

A repeat performance by Mater Dei’s softball team would be a boon to the Monarchs because teams that go deep into the playoffs make the serious points.

But Santa Margarita has a chance because the Eagles trail by a scant 7.2 points, a margin easily made up--and easily lost.

Though Mater Dei has softball and baseball (the county’s top-ranked team) up its sleeve, Santa Margarita has baseball (unranked in county but ranked eighth in Division III), boys’ swimming (third in county), boys’ tennis (fifth in county), boys’ track and field (third in the county), boys’ volleyball (fourth in county, eighth in Division I), and a golf team that is among the best in the county.

“I know we’ll probably have a pretty good spring,” Schaaf said.

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Here’s a look at how Mater Dei took over the top spot in the winter:

* Boys’ basketball: Mater Dei was 32-1 (the all-sports award doesn’t include state playoffs to avoid weighting sports that have state championships higher than those without) for a .970 winning percentage (which translates to 9.7 points), won the South Coast League title (earning 10 points), and won the Southern Section title (20 points). Total: 39.7.

* Girls’ basketball: The Monarchs were 25-3 (8.9 points), won the league title (10 points) and finished second in the section playoffs (16 points). Total: 34.9.

* Boys’ soccer: Mater Dei was 17-8-2 (6.7 points), finished third in league (five points) but lost in the first round of the playoffs (no points). Total: 11.7.

* Girls’ soccer: The Monarchs were 17-4-2 (7.8 points), won the league (10 points) and reached the quarterfinals of the playoffs (eight points). Total: 25.8.

* Wrestling: The Monarchs were 2-3 (4.0 points) in league, but earned no points for their league finish or postseason performance. Total: 4.

A year ago at this time, Mater Dei had 245.2 points, 11.3 more than this year. At that time, the Monarchs had a 34.9-point lead over Edison, and they eventually won by 12.9 points over Sunny Hills, which began the spring trailing by 84.9 points.

Sunny Hills is in worse position this year, needing to jump over 12 teams and make up nearly 100 points.

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The question at Brea Olinda is how to hold on and avoid a repeat of last year.

Laguna Hills reaped its harvest last spring in boys’ and girls’ swimming (68 points combined) and boys’ and girls’ track and field (52 points combined). Those were also Brea’s best sports last year. However, Brea scored only 80 in those four programs combined (40 points less than Laguna Hills), and Brea’s lead over Laguna Hills this year is a mere 32.5 points.

The reason Laguna Hills is so close at this point this year is its girls’ basketball team, which contributed 30.9 points after scoring only 11.8 last year.

“We have strong spring sports teams,” Laguna Hills’ Brown said. “The key thing for us last year was we swept swimming in CIF, and we went up a level to Division II this year. To be able to win CIF again, for example, will be harder. But by the same token, we didn’t do as well in baseball last year as we usually do.

“It’s best to just sit back and wait--there are too many variables right now to predict what will happen.”

El Modena (201.1 points) is a close second, 15.1 points behind, but the Vanguards haven’t made much noise the past few springs.

Brea’s winter performance was the best of any school in Orange County. The girls’ basketball team earned 39 points, the girls’ soccer team 28.7. Those programs were complemented by boys’ basketball (16.8), boys’ soccer (16.8) and wrestling (15).

Although Laguna Hills outscored Brea by 56.8 points last spring to win the title, there are six schools within 56.8 points of Brea this year, including Orange Lutheran (177), El Dorado (175.5) and Corona del Mar (161.8).

Servite/Rosary, the small-school parochial entry, is seventh (152.9).

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Winter’s Leaders

Mater Dei remained atop the large school category, and Brea Olinda continued in the No. 1 spot among small schools.

Large Schools

1. Mater Dei

2. Santa Margarita

3. Esperanza

4. Los Alamitos

5. Villa Park

6. Capistrano Valley

7. Edison

8. University

9. El Toro

10. Irvine

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Small Schools

1. Brea Olinda

2. El Modena

3. Laguna Hills

4. Orange Lutheran

5. El Dorado

6. Corona del Mar

7. Servite/Rosary

8. Newport Harbor

9. Ocean View

10. Tustin

Complete top 20 breakdowns on page V3