The Eagles are 5-3 and 0-3 in league play as they enter Week 9 of their 14th varsity season. It is the first year that the Eagles have started league play winless. They had been 11-0 in Week 1 of league play and have never lost four league games in a season.

This is the fourth meeting between the Mater Dei Monarchs and the Santa Margarita Eagles and also the fourth in Serra League play. Last year, Ashton White rushed for 215 yards and Marshall Tharpe threw two touchdown passes while the Eagle defense forced three turnovers and six sacks in defeating the Monarchs 33-19 at the Santa Ana Bowl. In 2000, The Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead behind two touchdowns by Tyler Thompson and made enough big plays on offense, defense and special teams to hold on and defeat the nationally ranked Monarchs 21-14 at Cal State Fullerton. In 1999, Mater Dei piled up 400 yards while limiting the Eagles to 155 total yards in a 34-0 victory before a crowd of 17,000 at Edison International Field. (Complete recaps of all three games are included herein.)

The Monarchs are 7-1 on the season, including a 3-0 league mark after impressive wins over Loyola (28-10), Bishop Amat (27-6) and Servite (24-7). They are ranked 7th in the West Region by USA Today, 4th in OC and 3rd in CIF Division I. Last year, they finished 8-5 and advanced to the Division I semi-finals. Mater Dei is led by 14th-year coach Bruce Rollinson who is 147-30-2 (.827) with the Monarchs including a 1-2 mark against the Eagles.

The Eagles are ranked 7th in Orange County and 10th in CIF-SS Division I. They have been ranked in the Orange County Top 10 for 79 of the last 87 polls, including 24 in a row, and in the CIF Division I Top 10 for 35 of the 39 weekly polls since joining Division I in 1999.

Eagle - Monarch History (SM Leads 2-1)
1999 MD 34, SM 0 @ Edison International Field
2000 SM 21, MD 14 @ Cal State Fullerton
2001 SM 33, MD 19 @ Santa Ana Bowl

Head Coach Jim Hartigan - AFCA
Jim Hartigan, 42, is 121-42-3 (.738) in his 14th season as the Eagles' varsity Head Coach. Overall, Coach Hartigan has a 137-45-4 (.747) record in 16 seasons 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 four League Championships and two CIF Titles in the past six years and has seen his team ranked as high as 12th in the nation (USA Today). 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 12 of their 13 seasons, including seven in a row, and has never posted a losing season. He has coached ten High School All-Americans, 72 players who have gone on to play in the collegiate ranks and five who have gone on to the NFL. His 28-game winning streak from 1996-98 is the second best in Orange County history.