The seniors on the Santa Margarita High football team have been through more turmoil and uncertainty than most players deal with in their high school careers.
They have played for a different coach each season of their varsity careers. Rich Fisher coached them as sophomores. Brett Vieselmeyer coached them as juniors and then left to take a job with the NFL’s Washington Football Team.
Santa Margarita (1-1, 0-1) hired former Cal Poly SLO coach Tim Walsh, but he resigned during the COVID-19 shutdown. The school named Anthony Rouzier as interim head coach before lifting the interim tag shortly after.
Rouzier joined the Santa Margarita staff two years ago when this senior class was sophomores.
“I caught myself when I got the interim job saying to them, ‘come on guys, we are seniors,’ because we came in together,” Rouzier said. “Derek Wilkins, Anthony Comestro, Drew Sulick and all the seniors have been particularly helpful.
“They don’t care how much they know until they know how much you care, and our kids know how much the coaching staff cares and how passionate we are and they match that passion.”
The family environment at Santa Margarita is paying dividends on the field. The Eagles competed with defending national champion St. John Bosco last week for the better part of three quarters in a 65-28 loss. But for the team, competing with the elite teams in the Trinity League is not enough.
“There are no moral victories in the Trinity League, but what made me happy as a coach was seeing that our players came in expecting to win that game and not just compete,” Rouzier said. “We really wanted to win that game, but I think our performance gave us some confidence going forward.”
A major reason the Eagles are ranked No. 4 in the OCVarsity Top 25 is because of the play of senior quarterback Colt Fulton. The senior lefty has 581 yards through two games and nine touchdowns compared to just one interception.
“A lot of that confidence I mentioned comes from him,” Rouzier said of Fulton. “He is on our leadership council. While he is still looking for a home as far as college goes, he does a great job focusing on what’s important which is leading this team.”
Santa Margarita has not won a Trinity League game since November of 2017 but is considered the favorite by many in Thursday night’s game against JSerra (0-1, 0-1) at Santa Ana Stadium.
“We don’t really focus on who the favorite is or writing the score before we play the game,” Rouzier said. “I know things are different for them (JSerra) than they were last year, but they are still a Trinity League team and if you don’t show up against a team in this league, you are going to get beat.”
JSerra had a rough start to its season with a 52-3 loss to Mater Dei. The Lions are led by USC signee Mason Murphy and seniors Carson Lesage and Dom Corado.
The Lions feature quarterback Jaxon Potter, one of the top sophomore quarterbacks in the county.
“Jaxon has tremendous arm talent,” JSerra coach Pat Harlow said. “Like all young quarterbacks, he needs live game reps and to let the game slow down as he matures.”
JSerra also has tight end Gary Morrison, a Sacramento State signee. Morrison had four touchdown receptions as a sophomore for Santa Margarita in 2018 before transferring to JSerra last season.
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