Santa Margarita likes this ending better

MISSION VIEJO - Sequels are rarely as good as the original.

Santa Margarita made sure the sequel to “The Rumble at the Ranch” wasn’t the next “Godfather II,” dominating Tesoro on both sides of the ball en route to a 39-7 nonleague victory Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Saddleback College.

The Eagles, ranked No. 3 in the county and No. 9 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, avenged last season’s 32-21 loss to the Titans, ranked No. 5 in the county.

“I grew up playing with all of these kids,” said Eagles wide receiver River Cracraft, who has been out the past two weeks because of an injured right shoulder. “It was really important for us to come out win this tonight. We wanted to take it to them.”

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Cracraft showed no signs of having had any injury against Tesoro. Cracraft was Johnny Stanton’s favorite target. He made a couple of spectacular catches and finished with five receptions for 114 yards, including touchdown catches of 34 and 15 yards.

Stanton was 12 of 17 for 226 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception.

“I felt great out there,” Cracraft said. “One hundred percent.”

Junior running back Ryan Wolpin also had a big game for Santa Margarita, finishing with 115 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries. Sophomore wide receiver Sean Modster had three catches for 30 yards, and he scored on a 45-yard punt return.

As good as the Eagles looked on offense, their defense was just as impressive. Defensive lineman Sean Donegan had three sacks and defensive lineman Chris Frost recorded two sacks. Connor O'Brien had an interception that led to a score.

The Eagles were harassing Tesoro quarterback Matt Adam all night. Adam was 4 of 12 for 30 yards.

Santa Margarita limited Tesoro to 22 yards on the ground.

Tesoro’s star receiver, Kyle Woolbright, was limited to zero catches.

“We came out all week and prepared ourselves for Tesoro,” Frost said. “We wanted to redeem ourselves from last year.”

Santa Margarita coach Harry Welch said his team has room for improvement.

“For one night, for the Rumble at the Ranch, we wanted to play well,” Welch said. “I think we did that tonight. Tesoro is a very good team. They will get better and we could see them again in the (Pac-5) playoffs.”

The Eagles dominated from the beginning, putting together a seven-play, 66-yard scoring drive on their first possession. Wolpin scored on an 18-yard run to stake the Eagles to a 7-0 lead.

Stanton connected on a 34-yard scoring pass to Cracraft to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter.

Stanton hit Wolpin with a 50-yard pass that eventually set up Stanton’s 7-yard touchdown run that gave the Eagles a 21-0 lead with 3:47 left in the first half.

Tesoro never threatened in the second half even though it had great field position for many of its drives.

The Eagles play at Trabuco Hills on Thursday, while Tesoro plays host to Chino Hills next Friday.