Quick Facts
This is the Eagles’ 105th Varsity game, and 51st road game. Santa Margarita’s all-time road record is 35-15 (.700). The Eagles are currently 78-25-1 (.750) as they enter Week 9 of their ninth season.

Santa Margarita is 8-0, and ranked No. 7 in the Western United States by USA Today, No. 5 in California (961 teams overall), No. 1 in both California Division II and CIF-SS Division V, and 2nd in Orange County (69 schools) behind Mater Dei.

The 8-0 start is the best start since the 1990 team started 12-0.

The Eagles have won a school record 19 games in a row. They have also won 21 of 22, and 30 of their last 35. Their last loss was to Servite in Week 3 of the 1996 season. The 19 wins is the best in Saddleback Valley history ahead of El Toro’s streak of 17 set in 1986-87.

The County record for consecutive wins is 32 set by Edison from 1979-81. The State record is 72 and counting by Concord De La Salle.

During the streak, the Eagles have outscored the opposition 775-158, an average margin of victory of 32.5 points.

The Eagles have also won 10 straight at home and 12 straight on the road dating back to 1995.

Over the past 13 games the Eagles have led 48-14, 27-6, 17-0, 21-0, 38-0, 31-6, 31-0, 48-7, 35-0, 17-7, 42-0, 17-6 and 35-3 at halftime. An average score of 31-3.

The Eagles are averaging 47.63 points per game. The County records for points per game and points were set last year by Tustin at 47.15 and 613 points (13 games) respectively. The Eagles are on pace to score 667 points over 14 games.

Game Notes
Santa Margarita is playing Woodbridge at Irvine High Stadium for the third time. The Eagles are 2-0 at Irvine Stadium vs. the Warriors. They are also 2-1 vs. Irvine and 1-1 vs. University High at this facility.

The Warriors have had some of the more interesting sets of runs in recent memory. After going 7-3 in 1993, they started 1994 5-0, and were ranked #1 in Division V. They then went 26 games without a win (0-24-2). The 1997 Warriors are a surprising 6-0-2 and ranked #4 in CIF Division V.

This is the sixth game between the Warriors and Eagles. The Eagles hold a 5-0 series lead. In 1996, Carson Palmer hit on 10 of 14 passes and threw one Td to John Minardi, while LB Damien Minna (nine tackles) spearheaded a defense that limited the Warriors to minus nine yards rushing and 119 yards overall as the Eagles won 23-6 at Saddleback College.

Coaches
Jim Hartigan is 78-25-1 (.750) in his ninth varsity season as Head Coach. Overall Coach Hartigan has a 94-28-2 (.758) if you include 10-0 and 6-3-1 lower level teams that he led in 1987 and 1988 respectively. He was honored as the 1996 CIF-SS Division V Coach of the Year.

The Warriors are led by 9th year coach Rick Gibson who is 42-46-6 (.447) overall.