LAKE ARROWHEAD – Of all the holidays that take place around this time of year, St. Margaret’s making the trek to Lake Arrowhead for a postseason tilt against Rim of the World has become quite the November tradition.
Facing the Fighting Scots in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year, the Tartans (10-2) fell, 28-14, on Friday night in an East Valley Division playoff game that was marred by heavy fog in the second half.
“It’s a great group of kids, and it’s a shame that they had no chance to compete in the second half,” St. Margaret’s coach Rod Baltau said. “You couldn’t see anything out there. … For this group of kids to have their chance of winning stolen like that is absolutely ridiculous.”
The fog was so bad that the side judge closest to the press box needed a walkie-talkie to communicate with the clock operator.
“These seniors have been playing with me since their sophomore year – my first year as head coach,” Baltau said. “You hate to see something like this taken from them.”
Scots halfback Jacob Taylor finished with 327 yards on 55 carries and four scores. Touchdown runs of 6 and 10 yards by Taylor in the third quarter wound up being the difference.
“There were a couple plays here and there and a couple key third down conversions that allowed drives to continue,” Baltau said. “When you have a kid who runs the ball as well as he does, you can’t keep giving him chances.”
Despite running 38 fewer plays than Rim of the World (10-2) in the first half, the Tartans scored on a 62-yard touchdown run by quarterback Josh Davis (154 total yards) and a 67-yard TD grab by Andrew Torok.
“We had a great first half,” Baltau said. “They run the ball real well, and we stuck with them with a couple big plays. … For the last half of these seniors’ careers to be taken away like that hurts.”