Special thanks to Santa Margarita Football SID Adrian J. Peters for this write up.

The Santa Margarita Eagles defeated the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits 43-15 to win the SMCHS Passing Tournament on Saturday at Santa Margarita. The Eagles finished the tournament 6-0 and never allowed opponents to come within 28 points. Poly finished 5-1 after rolling through their bracket and posting a spirited 22-21 win over St. Paul in one Championship Bracket semi-final. Yucaipa defeated Bishop Amat 23-21 to win the consolation bracket. Yucaipa finished 3-3 while the Lancers were 1-5.

Paloma Valley, Saddleback Valley Christian and La Serna also participated in the event and the Eagles defeated Paloma Valley twice including a 42-12 win in the other semi-final.

Senior All-State QB Johnny Stanton completed 68% of his passes on the day including 25 touchdowns against only one interception. Backup QB Josh Canty added 9 TDs and only one pick to the cause and third stringer Kyle Sweet tossed another as the Eagles posted wins of 58-0, 34-6, 56-6, 49-2, 42-12 and 43-15.

Defensively the Eagles surrendered only six touchdown passes and a 48% completion rate.

Aram’s take: Santa Margarita is looking downright scary! Sure, it’s only passing games, but my goodness, what a level domination. Disappointing to see Amat went just 1-5. Passing games aren’t their thing, but I would love to see the Lancers get some positive momentum in the skill spots where they are replacing their leading passer, rusher and receiver from last season. And what can you say about upstart St. Paul? The Swordsmen suffered a tough loss to LB Poly in the semis. That’s pretty impressive. I like how it said “spirited” … musta been a little crazy out there.