Eagles Don’t Miss a Trick in Victory

Despite the coach’s warnings to be wary of Santa Margarita’s penchant for trickery, the Newport Harbor football team still was hurt by the Eagles’ deception.

Santa Margarita scored its first two touchdowns using some sleight of hand and finished off the Sailors with their final touchdown playing the shell game.

The Eagles’ three trick plays all resulted in three touchdowns in their 38-0 Southern Section Division V title victory over Newport Harbor Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.

A flea flicker on the game’s first play resulted in a 49-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to John Minardi and a 7-0 lead 19 seconds into the game.

“That play shouldn’t have changed the game the way that it did,” Newport Harbor Coach Jeff Brinkley said.

Santa Margarita Coach Jim Hartigan said the play, in which Billy Newman took a handoff and lateraled back to Palmer, set the tone for the game.

“It loosens the kids up,” Hartigan said before kickoff about his team’s impending offensive shenanigans. “It lets [Newport Harbor] know that they better be ready for whatever we throw at them.

“In big games, you have to change momentum and we’re going to try to get some momentum changes.”

There was nothing conservative about the Eagles’ play.

On Santa Margarita’s third possession, the Eagles went to their magic hat again, this time a double-fake bootleg.

Palmer faked the handoff to Newman up the middle, then faked the handoff to Billy O’Connor on the end around. The end around worked against Newport Harbor twice in their first meeting this year, but this time, there was a new wrinkle. Palmer kept the ball, rolled to his left and hit Minardi again. The touchdown covered 68 yards. Despite Nick Sparks’ missed point-after attempt, Santa Margarita had a 13-0 lead with 54 seconds left in the first quarter.

The early lead paid dividends. The offense went on to gain 427 yards in the first half and the defense was able to charge forward.

“You’re not so worried about messing up,” defensive lineman Austin Jayred said. “You can relax and start having more fun.”

The Eagles sacked Josiah Fredriksen eight times, five in the first half, in building their 38-0 lead. Jayred finished with four sacks.

Andrew Holstein, Damien Minna and Jason Rowell also had first-half sacks.

Santa Margarita rarely throws to its tight end, and so the final bit of trickery occurred when Minardi lined up at tight end and caught a 38-yard touchdown pass with 1:04 left in the half for a 38-0 lead.