Los Alamitos Fails to Survive Santa Margarita’s Second Half Come Back (2021)

Santa Ana – Santa Ana Stadium

Santa Margarita deserved to win this game, and the somewhat one-sided scoreline shows that, but Los Alamitos shot themselves in the foot in this one.

With a 14-0 lead heading into halftime; thanks to deep passes to Gavin Porch and Makai Lemon everything was going their way early. The defense looked impenetrable, allowing Santa Margarita into their territory only once in the first half. They had two interceptions from Isaiah Dorsey, and Porch had a third, but it was overturned due to a penalty.

Towards the end of the first half the offense was beginning to stall after a string of about three-four dropped passes near the endzone forced Los Al to send out the kicking team who missed the field goal. That drive also would have likely seen them go for it on fourth down but a false start pushed them back. After that drive Nelson opened up the Griffins second to last drive of the half with an incompletion before throwing his first interception.

At halftime Nelson was 16/29 with 195 yards and the two TDS and one INT. He didn’t throw another TD and added on two more interceptions during a dismal half where he went 6/15 for 76 yards.

The 21-point run that Santa Margarita went on to open the second half really decided the game. In just over three minutes they had gone from leading 14-0 to trailing 21-14. Their first touchdown came on a fourth and goal attempt that would never have happened had Los Al not jumped offsides and improved the Eagles field position.

The second touchdown came almost instantly after on the Griffins second play when a high snap was recovered and housed by the Eagles.

And then it was a three and out on three incomplete passes in a row that allowed Santa Margarita to take the lead.

Los Al was able to make it seem like a game answering pretty quickly with the Jurado 1-yard rushing touchdown. But that drive was led heavily by Nygel Osborn who had 26 yards on 5 attempts and a diving catch by Makai Lemon for 38 yards on second and 18.

After that the offense never really got anything going; they punted on their next drive and were intercepted on the following drive. Before building up a solid drive on the back of Osborn who had 40 yards on 4 attempts before they eventually turned the ball over on downs.

Malachi Nelson was shaken up on their 11th drive of the game and after that went 2/7 for 25 yards and two interceptions on their final three drives. Nelson was sacked three times and took a hard hit after getting a pass off earlier in the game. Deandre Moore also picked up some sort of injury during the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter.

Santa Margarita connected for three touchdown passes of 25 yards or more. In the first half they couldn’t run the ball to save their lives but came out picking up multiple rushes of over 10 yards in the second half these rushes opened up the deep passing game as multiple coverages were blown due to runs committed by the defense. It was also this run game that allowed them to begin running down the clock with over 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Los Al was inconsistent on offense and defense in the second half penalties at critical points hurt them but didn’t cost them the game. It was mistakes in terms of ball security that decided the game, and the empty drive they had late. They scored on only 1 of their seven drives in the second half and turned the ball over three times, and a fourth if you count a turnover on downs.

Next game is Friday, October 1st when they open up Sunset League competition against Corona del Mar.