Santa Margarita Eases Off but Still Pounds Sea Kings, 63-0

History will note that Santa Margarita’s Carson Palmer threw five touchdown passes in the second-ranked Eagles’ 63-0 Sea View League victory Friday over Corona del Mar. It will not note that he did it in less than a half.

Palmer left the game with a 42-0 lead, two school records in his hands and county and section records in his sights.

The county single-game record for touchdown passes is seven, the section record eight. They could have fallen if Eagles’ Coach Jim Hartigan was greedy or mean-spirited.

Instead, he used four quarterbacks. Santa Margarita outgained Corona del Mar (2-4, 0-1) in the first half, 269 yards to 10. The final tally was 429-64.

Palmer’s five scoring passes broke his school record of four, set last season against El Toro, and also gave him 35 in his career, eclipsing the 33 by Sean O’Brien from 1990-92.

Santa Margarita (6-0, 1-0 in league) failed to score in the first half only when it ran one play with 16 seconds left in the half. Second-string quarterback Greg Orlando handed off.

Palmer was 12 of 15 passing for 186 yards. He threw three touchdowns to Jordan Beckner, and one each to Orlando and John Minardi.

“Not to take anything away from Corona del Mar, but if I could throw five touchdown passes in a game against these guys or Newport Harbor, I would much rather do it against Newport Harbor just because of the challenge they’ll give us,” said Palmer, who played his first full game last week after recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. The Eagles play Newport Harbor next week in a rematch of last year’s section championship game.

Palmer said he is about 90-95% of where he was before the injury.

“He was a little rusty last week against Fountain Valley,” Hartigan said. “This week, he got a lot of time in practice.”

Santa Margarita scored on its first six possessions. Bryant Wolfsberger, who rushed 15 times for 126 yards and scored twice, scored on a 17-yard run, but the other touchdowns came via Palmer on passes of 16 yards to Minardi, 22 to Beckner, 16 to Orlando, and 14 and two yards to Beckner.

Minardi’s seventh consecutive game with a touchdown reception also set a school record. Double-covered, he caught only two passes for 31 yards, but created opportunities for Orlando, who had six catches for 81 yards. Orlando had averaged 27 yards per catch and Minardi 21.9.

Santa Margarita also scored on its first three possessions of the second half. Through three quarters, Corona del Mar ran only two plays in Santa Margarita territory; one was an interception and 57-yard return by Matt Lopez that set up Orlando’s two-yard scoring run, the other was the first of consecutive sacks by Colin Rooke and Spencer McCroskey.

On the ensuing possession, McCroskey scored from 14 yards.