Dana Hills Drops the Ball and Chance for Upset

Dana Hills showed it could match up physically with one of county’s top-ranked teams, but the Dolphins also showed there is more to winning a football game than dominating time of possession.

Dana Hills kept the ball away from fourth-ranked Santa Margarita most of the night, but the Dolphins lost two crucial fumbles and fell, 26-15, Friday night before 5,000 at Dana Hills High.

“I feel we beat them up front,” Dana Hills Coach Scott Orloff said. “And we were more physical than they were. But the difference was they don’t make mistakes and we’re a young football team that’s still learning. Those two fumbles gave them two touchdowns.”

Both fumbles were by Dana Hills quarterback Jeremy Walker, who played with a bruised knee. Walker’s first fumble came on the Dolphins’ game-opening drive. As he dropped back to pass, he was hit by Santa Margarita lineman Colin Rooke, who grabbed the ball out of the air and ran 48 yards for a touchdown.

His next fumble came on the 18th play of a drive that started at the Dana Hills 20. The drive was kept alive by two fourth-down conversions, one of them coming on a 16-yard pass play from Walker to Sean Myrill on a fake punt. With Dana Hills facing third and goal at the six, Walker had a bad exchange with Myrill and the ball was recovered by Eagle linebacker Garrett Thompson.

Dana Hills cut Santa Margarita’s lead to 10-3 at the half with a 26-yard field goal by Stephen Jennings with two seconds left. But Santa Margarita took control by taking the second-half kickoff 80 yards in seven plays with quarterback Greg Orlando scoring the first of his two touchdowns on a one-yard run.

The rest of the third quarter was all Dana Hills. The Dolphins marched 80 yards in 16 plays and scored despite another fumble by Walker. As he tried to sneak the ball over from the one, it popped out. Fortunately for the Dolphins fullback Jovan Alarcon fell on it in the end zone.

Santa Margarita put the game away with a Ben Froelich 25-yard field goal and Orlando’s seven-yard scoring run on a bootleg. The Eagles were led by running back Spencer McCroskey, who had 147 yards in 16 carries.

“Spencer did a good job controlling the ball for us a little,” Santa Margarita Coach Jim Hartigan said. “Because when [Dana Hills] got it, they did not give it back.”

Orloff said he was proud of the way his team responded after getting shellacked by top-ranked Los Alamitos last week, 65-28.

“To come back from last week and play the fourth-ranked team this tough shows something about the character of our kids,” he said.

Myrill did most of the damage on the ground for the Dolphins, pounding away for 96 yards in 25 carries. Walker completed seven of 21 passes for 145 yards.