The Eagles are 7-1-1 and 2-0 in league play as they enter Week 10 of their 13th varsity season. Their start is the best since they began the 1997 campaign 9-0.

This is the seventh meeting between the Servite Friars and the Santa Margarita Eagles and the third in Serra League play. Last year, the Eagles defeated the Friars 41-26 to capture their first Serra League Championship and a return visit to the Division I Playoffs. Tyler Thompson capped a sensational regular season by rushing for a career-high 258 yards on a school-record 35 carries and three touchdowns to cement his claim as the Serra League MVP, while backfield mate Ashton White added 160 yards of his own to help the Eagles finish with season-highs of 419 rushing yards and 519 total yards overall. (A full recap of this game plus highlights of the five earlier Eagle-Friar match-ups are included herein.)

The Friars are 5-4 on the season, including a 0-2 league mark after 19-0 and 23-20 losses to Mater Dei and St. John Bosco respectively. Last year, they finished 7-4 and advanced to the Division I playoffs where they fell to Edison in the first round. Servite is led by 13th-year coach Bruce Larry Toner who is 86-61-1 (.584) overall with the Friars.

Santa Margarita is ranked 3rd in CIF-SS Division I, and have been ranked in the Top 10 by the CIF office in 27 of the 30 weekly polls since joining Division I in 1999 including 24 in a row. They are currently ranked 3rd in Orange County and have been ranked in the Orange County Top 10 in 69 of the last 77 polls including 14 in a row. The Eagles are ranked 6th in the LA Times' Top 25 Regional Poll. Please see the complete poll list herein.

Their .748 winning percentage is the best in Orange County. View Here.

The CIF-SS Division I Playoffs begin next week.

Eagle - Friar History (SM leads 4-2)
1991 SM 13, Servite 12 @ Orange Coast College
1996 Servite 38, SM 27 @ Saddleback College
1997 SM 55, Servite 14 @ Cal State Fullerton
1997 SM 59, Servite 18 @ Cal State Fullerton
1999 Servite 31, SM 27 @ Saddleback College
2000 SM 41, Servite 26 @ Cal State Fullerton

Head Coach Jim Hartigan
Jim Hartigan, 41, is 114-38-2 (.747) in his 13th season as varsity Head Coach. Overall, Coach Hartigan has a 130-41-3 (.756) record if you include 10-0 and 6-3-1 lower level teams that he led in 1987 and 1988 respectively before the Eagles fielded varsity teams. He has won three League Championships and two CIF Titles - all coming in the past five years. Jim was honored as the both the 1996 and 1997 Daily Pilot Sea View League Coach of the Year, CIF-SS Division V Coach of the Year and the National Football Foundation Orange County Coach of the Year. Coach Hartigan has directed his squads into the playoffs in 11 of their 12 seasons and has never posted a losing season. Jim has coached six High School All-Americans, 68 players who have gone onto play in the collegiate ranks and three who have played in the NFL. His 28-game winning streak from 1996-98 is the second best in Orange County history.