The football season will continue for the Santa Margarita Eagles

Santa Margarita, who won the CIF-SS Pac-5 title Saturday night, will face Bellarmine Prep of San Jose in the CIF State Division I bowl game, Friday at 8 p.m. at The Home Depot Center.

The announcement was made Sunday.

Santa Margarita defeated San Clemente, 27-13 in the Pac-5 final Saturday night at Angel Stadium. That was the first title for the Eagles since 1997.

“I’m as happy as a football coach can be,” Santa Margarita coach Harry Welch said. “I said all along that I would accept and respect whatever way the decision went … and I accept this happily.”

Welch has won two state titles. In 2006, he led Canyon of Canyon Country to the Division I title and two years later, he led St. Margaret’s to the Division IV title.

Competition for the bowl bid came down to the Eagles, Vista Murrieta and Bakersfield.

While the Pac-5 generally is regarded as the top division in Southern California and, perhaps, the state, Santa Margarita’s status for a berth was less than a lock because it was 12-2, with one of those losses coming to a down Mater Dei team.

Vista Murrieta was undefeated on the field and captured the Inland Division championship Friday against Centennial of Corona, but its record was 9-5 because of five forfeit losses due to the use of an ineligible player.

Bakersfield was undefeated at 13-0.

“When you consider the criteria the state uses, head-to-head, well, we didn’t play each other, but then you look at strength of schedule and no other CIF champion has the strength of schedule we had,” Welch said. “We’re not 13-0 like Bakersfield, but the level of competition is not the same as ours. Vista Murrieta’s record is 9-5. I felt like our competition level and our win-loss record was in our favor.”

In the end, that appeared to be the deciding factor, making those long battles in the Trinity League worth it.

“The (Vista Murrieta) forfeitures were not part of the equation,” Executive Director Marie Ishida said. “It boiled down to strength of schedule. Santa Margarita had to win out to get where they’re at.”

After defeating Bishop Amat in the first round, the Eagles knocked off Long Beach Poly, Mission Viejo and San Clemente.

Santa Margarita’s final three playoff opponents had a combined 32 victories, but Vista Murrieta had 34.

Bellarmine is 12-1. Its only loss came in the season opener, 26-23 to De La Salle of Concord, Sept. 2. This will be the first bowl appearance for the Bells.

Tickets will go on sale at Santa Margarita Tuesday at 8 a.m. at the Eagle Athletic Center.

In the other bowl games: Westlake, the CIF-SS Northern Division champion will face De La Salle of Concord, Saturday night at 8 p.m. in the Open Division.

De La Salle has won two consecutive state titles and three overall, including last year’s 48-8 victory over Servite in the Open Division.

Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, the CIF-SS East Valley Division champion, will face Le Grand in the Division IV game, Friday at 4 p.m.

Washington of Fresno will face Campolindo of Moraga at noon in the Division III game Saturday and Helix of La Mesa and Del Oro of Loomis will meet in the Division II game at 4 p.m.

Click the links below for coverage from Santa Margarita’s Pac-5 championship victory:

• OCVarsity Hot Shots: Championship action
• OCVarsity Fandemonium from title games
• Eagles hope their season isn’t over
• Eagles get the most out of their best asset: Stanton’s legs
• Lots of highlights for Triton’s Tober, but no victory
• Final CIF-SS football playoff brackets

More football news from the OCVarsity blog:

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