Going to State Takes More Than a Dream and a Cheer

The phone began ringing early Monday morning in the athletic department at Santa Margarita High.

On Saturday, the boys’ basketball team qualified for this weekend’s state final by beating Compton, 60-50, in the Southern California title game at Pauley Pavilion.

By Monday morning, Eagle fans were calling about tickets to Friday’s Division II title game against Santa Rosa Montgomery at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

At the same time Monday, on the first floor of the three-story building that houses Santa Margarita’s student activities office, cheerleader Danielle Deblieux and song leader Stacey Santefort met with others to paint signs and choreograph a special routine for Friday night’s halftime.

Meanwhile, in Monarch Bay, travel agent Rachel Swarts, whose daughter Casey is a sophomore at Santa Margarita, was negotiating with airline companies, trying to whittle down $300 round-trip ticket prices for parents, boosters and students planning to make the trip north.

By the time the Eagles tip off Friday at 8 p.m. in their first state title game, thousands of man hours by volunteers, students and school personnel will have gone into making this a special treat for the players and spectators.

“We pull together. Our school is very supportive,” said Andy McKee, 18, a senior from San Clemente and leader of the school’s ROTC, which is expected to present the colors before Friday’s game. “We’re kind of like family and that’s what separates us from public schools.”

The state title game has sparked a whirlwind week of activities--and expenses--for followers of the Eagles. Though the CIF state office reimburses participating schools for many team expenses, Santa Margarita Athletic Director Rich Schaaf said the school expects to spend about $15,000, including $600 in game tickets for faculty and staff.

Planning for such an event can be full of pitfalls no matter how far in advance the work is done, said Schaaf, who gained valuable experience in coordinating state final appearances as an assistant basketball coach and assistant athletic director at Mater Dei in the 1980s.

“It’s the little things that kill you,” he said. “We’re trying to make things as simple as possible for people who want to go. But there are always things that come up.”

At Mater Dei, Schaaf recalled, a priest wanted to have a pregame prayer with the team but a security guard stopped him because he didn’t have the correct color pass to enter the team room.

Even events like Friday night’s post-game pizza party, prearranged at a Sacramento restaurant, had to be carefully planned because state law prohibits alcohol being served to adults when students are present.

“These are little things, but they are a pain,” Schaaf said. “You don’t think it’s that much, but they mean a lot.”

Others agreed.

Santa Margarita activities director Tom Smith arranged for a 47-passenger rooters’ bus that was supposed to leave campus at sunrise Friday, arrive at Arco Arena by game time, then return to campus by Saturday morning.

But those plans fell through when Smith discovered state law prohibits bus drivers from making the estimated 450-mile one-way trip on consecutive days without a day’s rest in between. So the school has rented vans and parents will drive carpools to the game, Smith said.

To get the best deal on airline tickets, cheerleaders and band members will have to leave from different airports. Both groups, however, must return early Saturday for competitions that day.

“It feels great that the school really cares about having us represent it at the games and it would go this far to get us there,” said jazz drummer Allen Galutera, a junior who lives in Trabuco Canyon. “We just want to entertain people. We like to play and have fun doing it.”

Deblieux, of Tustin, and Santefort, of Laguna Niguel, both seniors, agreed it was a lot of trouble to go to for such a short performance, but also agreed it will be worth it.

“Our three-minute routine at halftime will provide energy for the spectators, which the players will feed off of,” Santefort said.

Coach Jerry DeBusk’s basketball team is scheduled to fly to Sacramento Thursday night and return Saturday afternoon to Los Angeles around 3 p.m.

The CIF reimburses participating schools for air travel (up to $2 per mile for the entourage), a night’s lodging for up to 15 players and two coaches, and $15 per person per day for meals. The school will pick up the expense of sending two additional players and two more coaches, Schaaf said. When all is said and done, players say they will benefit from all the preparations.

“They do a good job of supporting us,” Eagle center Dekker McKeever said. “We can’t complain.”