LOYOLA 21, EAGLES 7 (MISSION VIEJO, Nov. 7, 2003) – Running back Trason Bragg rushed for 117 yards and one touchdown and quarterback Scott Deke passed for 124 yards and rushed for two scores himself as the Loyola Cubs wore down the Santa Margarita Eagles and pulled out a 21-7 victory before a crowd of 4,500 at Saddleback College. With the win the Cubs improved to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in league play to move into first place in the highly competitive Serra League, while Santa Margarita fell to 7-2, 2-2.

The first quarter was full of exciting plays as Mark Johnson intercepted a Deke pass deep in Eagle territory to thwart a promising Cub drive just three minutes into the game. After forcing a punt the Cubs needed only 1:44 to take the lead as Deke ran untouched around left end for an eight-yard score to make it 7-0 at the 4:59 mark of the first quarter. The Eagles quickly responded and three plays later Chris Ramsey outran the Cub defenders on his way to a season-long 67-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:52 remaining. A sack by Mike Lopez on third and seven stopped the Cubs next drive and a 38-yard run by quarterback Michael Angelo set up the hosts deep in Loyola territory. However, the Eagles couldn’t capitalize as they failed to produce any more first downs and Mike Fowle missed wide on a 37-yard field goal attempt at the 0:25 mark.

From that point on the Cubs dominated the time of possession and limited the Eagles to five first downs and a mere 87 total yards over the next three quarters. Bragg’s two-yard touchdown with 3:25 left in the half made it 14-7 going into intermission. On their first possession of the second half the Cubs went on a seven-play 60-yard drive highlighted by a 37 yard run by Braggs setting up Deke’s second touchdown – this one from a yard out - to make it 21-7 with 6:58 to go in the quarter. The Eagles were forced to punt on their first three possessions of the second half and a critical 14-play drive by Loyola did not produce any points but consumed 7:13 of time leaving the Eagle offense with no timeouts and not enough time to score any points.

Overall the Cubs had advantages in time of possession (28:20 to 19:40), yards gained (361-216) and first downs (17 to 7). Ramsey led the Eagles with 75 yards rushing while Angelo picked up 70 of his own to go along with 68 yards passing on 11 completions. Defensively, history was made as senior linebacker Jack Meehan collected 12 tackles giving him 332 in his career and moving him past Mike Farris into first place on the Eagle’s all-time tackle leader chart. Fellow linebacker Thomas Ramirez picked up a career-high 18 tackles and junior linebacker Mike Russert posted nine tackles and also recovered a fumble.