EAGLES 28, FOUNTAIN VALLEY 20 (MISSION VIEJO, Oct. 3, 2003)

The Eagles rebounded from an early 14-0 deficit to post a 28-20 win over Fountain Valley before a sellout crowd of 5,000 at Saddleback College. The win improved the Eagles’ record to 4-0 for the second year in a row while the Barons fell to 2-2. Fountain Valley showed no ill effects from a bye week, came out red hot as they marched 58 yards on only seven plays to take a quick 7-0 lead as QB Chris Debowski found Scott Davis for a 14-yard score at the 8:42 mark. The Eagles drove to the Baron 16 on the strength of two key third down completions from Michael Angelo to Ryan Nienhuis, but on third down Angelo’s pass was picked off in the flat and returned 90 yards by Kevin Gerard for a score making the lead 14-0 only 7;21 into the game. Angelo responded by racing untouched 50 yards for a score on the Eagles next possession to close the gap to 14-7 just 2 ½ minutes later. On fourth down from the 45 the Eagles’ Russell Hoeflich blocked a punt that was recovered by Thomas Ramirez and returned to the goalline before being fumbled again where Hoeflich fell on the loose ball in the endzone to close the gap to 14-13. The PAT, however, was blocked.

On the Eagles first possession of the second quarter Angelo (14 carries for 135 yards) once again outraced the Baropn defense on his way to a 64-yard scoring run. Angelo then found Jason Graban for the 2-point conversion to make it 21-14. Mark Restelli’s interception near the end of the half stopped a Baron drive that had reached the Eagles’ 13. The score stayed the same until the fourth quarter when Debowski scored from a yard out at the 9:22 mark to close the Eagles’ lead to 21-20. However, Hoeflich came to the rescue again as he blocked the PAT to preserve the Eagles’ lead. Ryan Nienhuis intercepted a pass on the next Baron’s next possession and ran it back 44 yards to set up Chris Ramsey’s one-yard touchdown run with 2:19 remaining to close out the scoring. Jack Meehan once again led a stellar defensive effort as he tallied 14 tackles. Ramirez added 12 of his own and Restelli had 10. DT Matt Rupp recovered a fumble for the fourth game in a row and registered ½ sacks.