The Eagles came out firing on their opening drive throwing on five of their first six plays to set the tempo. They converted three third down situations and marched 65 yards on 14 plays before their drive stalled at the Cub 15. Mike Fowle’s 32-yard field goal at the 6:56 mark made it 3-0. Loyola responded with the aid of Casey Frost’s throwing arm as they needed only 3:33 to make it 6-3 after a three-yard touchdown pass from Frost to Matt Appenfelder. (The PAT was missed.) Santa Margarita was forced to punt on their next possession, but Loyola gave it back when linebacker Mike Rusert stripped the ball from Trayson Bragg and J.D. Dawson scooped it up and ran 22 yards to the Loyola 46 with 9:49 left in the half. From there the Eagles went on an eight-play 46-yard drive capped by Daniels 10-yard scoring toss to tight end Matt Steinbach at the 6:36 mark to make it 10-6.

Later in the second quarter Daniels (18 of 35 for 236 yards) found sophomore sensation Ryan Maxwell (five receptions for 66 yards) on a 34-yard completion to move into Cub territory with less than two minutes left. Six plays later Daniels found Kyle Bryant (six for 89 yards) who eluded three tacklers and raced 30 yards to paydirt to increase the lead to 17-6 with 1:18 before intermission. The Cubs used more of a spread attack in the third quarter to methodically move down the field. Using runs by bragg and Frost the Cubs marched as deep as the Eagle nine, but consecutive sacks by defensive ends Bryan Redsun and Ross Cumming (3.5 sacks, fumble recovery) forced the hosts to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Thomas Weber to make it 17-9 with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter. Late in the third quarter Dawson forced another fumble and it was recovered by Cumming at the Eagle 35. From there the Eagles were able to overcome a holding penalty to convert two key third downs and after switching ends they moved as far as the Cub 31 to set up Fowle’s school-record 48 yard field goal with 9:02 left to increase the lead to 20-9.

Dawson forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and the Eagles ate nearly five minutes off the clock while advancing as far as the Cub five, but Fowle’s 22-yard attempt from the left hash was a tough angle to convert from and the kick sailed wide. On Loyola’s next possession two sacks including one by Cumming on a fourth-and-14 situation ended another Cub drive. Unable to run out the clock the Eagles were forced to punt and Loyola’s George Hypolite barreled his way 31-yards for a score at the 1:15 mark to make it 20-15. Frost was stopped on a two-point conversion run and Colin Schmit recovered the onsides kick to preserve the victory.

Besides Cumming’s and Dawson’s heroics, solid defensive efforts were also put in by Rusert (nine tackles, ½ sack and one forced fumble), Sean Aldride and Steinbach (10 tackles apiece) and junior cornerback Connor Plante (two tackles and a fumble recovery).