Santa Margarita Rolls to Victory

Santa Margarita Coach Jim Hartigan went into Friday’s game against Newport Harbor hoping to improve his team’s rushing attack.

He even challenged his offensive linemen this week.

It lasted three plays.

Santa Margarita instead relied on Carson Palmer’s arm to hand Newport Harbor a 45-6 defeat in front of an overflow homecoming crowd of 6,000 at Saddleback College.

It was a matchup between teams expected to battle for the Sea View League title. Santa Margarita (7-0, 2-0 in league), ranked second in Orange County and fifth in the state, can still win it. Newport Harbor (5-2, 0-2) needs a miracle.

The game was a rematch of last year’s Southern Section Division V championship. It was certainly a better game than Santa Margarita’s 38-0 victory in which it scored all its points in the first half.

The Eagles led Friday at halftime, 17-6, and the score might have been closer had they not gotten a 56-yard pass from Palmer--on a play in which he was dangerously close to running past the line of scrimmage--and a seven-yard scoring run from John Minardi on a fake field goal.

Palmer set a school record, throwing for 352 yards, completing 17 of 29 passes for three touchdowns. He surpassed Sean O’Brien, who threw for 334 against Tustin in 1992.

Despite Palmer’s big night, it was really Minardi who stole the show. He caught all three touchdown passes, on receptions of 56, 42 and 20 yards. He also ran in the fake field goal from seven yards and blocked a punt that Mike O’Gorman recovered and ran in from 25 yards.

“He’s a complete player,” Hartigan said. “You look at our films and he’s all over them.”

With his six catches for 140 yards, Colorado-bound Minardi is averaging 21.8 yards per reception.

And get this: “It wasn’t one of my better games,” Minardi said. “Carson was throwing the ball perfectly.”

A couple of balls hit Minardi in the hands and he dropped them.

Santa Margarita held a 529-176 advantage in yardage, and its running game finished with 162 yards--including Bryant Wolfsberger’s 18-for-85 performance. Most of that came in the second half, including his two-yard scoring run.

The victory was Santa Margarita’s 18th in a row, but its 17-6 lead was tenuous until it opened the third quarter with an 80-yard drive capped by Minardi pulling the ball out of defender Brett Baker’s hands for a 42-yard touchdown and a 24-6 lead.

Santa Margarita scored 28 points in a span of 8 minutes 28 seconds.

“The kids have to get used to playing more than one half,” Hartigan said. “I think we wore [Newport Harbor] down.

“Unfortunately, everyone expects us to lead, 60-0, at halftime and play our reserves in the second half.”

Instead, they played the final 11 minutes.