SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The teams came in averaging a combined 84 points a game and were already two of the top seven scoring teams in Orange County.
So was anybody really shocked when St. Margaret’s outlasted Whittier Christian, 70-49, in a nonleague scorefest Friday night at St. Margaret’s?
Senior quarterback George Krantz ran for three touchdowns and passed for three more, and triplet brother Nick Krantz ran for three second-half touchdowns as the Tartans pulled away from the Heralds in a three-hour shootout that was close until the final eight minutes.
The lead changed hands four times and the teams were never more than seven points apart until St. Margaret’s (5-1) outscored the Heralds, 35-6, over a 15-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters.
Whittier Christian (4-2) stayed with the Tartans on the passing arm of junior quarterback Quinn Commans, who threw for 392 yards and six touchdowns on 29-of-43 passing.
George Krantz threw touchdown passes of 31 yards to Koa Todd to start the game and 28 yards to Ryan Cragun to end the first half as the Tartans took a 28-27 lead at intermission. In between, he and Todd scored on 1-yard runs.
Whittier Christian answered with Commans’ 3-yard scoring run and touchdown passes of 34 yards and 7 yards to Justin Osborn and a 19-yard TD throw to Cade McGee.
Nick Krantz started the second half with a 13-yard scoring run, but Whittier tied it 35-35 with Nico Albertini’s 15-yard scoring reception from Commans and Osborn’s 2-point conversion run.
St. Margaret’s then opened some breathing room on Cragun’s 10-yard pass from George Krantz and a 29-yard run by Nick Krantz for a 49-35 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Whittier closed it to 42-35 on the first of two fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Commans to Noah Sanchez. But St. Margaret’s scored the next three TDs on runs of 10 and 23 yards by George Krantz and 8 yards by Nick Krantz for a 70-41 command with 1:44 left.
George Krantz finished with 259 yards passing on 16-of-20 accuracy. Auston Locke had five catches for 126 yards. Nick Krantz rushed for 98 yards on 13 carries.
Osborn led Whittier’s ground game with 86 yards on 18 carries. Albertini had six receptions for 141 yards and Sanchez had 10 catches for 95 yards.
