Santa Margarita coach Harry Welch, left, gives quarterback Johnny Stanton a hand with the award Stanton received for being selected the National High School Coaches Association Player of the Month for September on Thursday. / ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Santa Margarita quarterback Johnny Stanton was awarded the National High School Coaches Association/GTM Sportswear athlete of the month for September on Thursday.

NHSCA communications director Jeff Fisher presented Stanton with the award in the school’s gym in front of the Eagles’ student body.

Stanton, a Nebraska commit, guided the Eagles to a 5-0 start before suffering a season-ending knee injury in a victory against St. Bonaventure of Ventura on Sept. 21.

In the Eagles’ first five games, the senior completed 59 of 88 passes (67 percent) for 949 yards and 11 TDs, and he rushed for 386 yards and eight TDs. He ended his high school career with nine school records.

Stanton had knee surgery on Sept. 28 and has started physical therapy.

“I’m excited to start getting my strength back,” Stanton said before the Eagles’ game against Servite last week. “(The surgery) went well.”

Santa Margarita is ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN and No. 4 by USA Today.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.