Santa Margarita 21, Corona Centennial 20: Recap, Biggest Moments, Social Package

Game: No. 6 Santa Margarita (2-0) at No. 8 Corona Centennial (1-1) When: Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, Corona, CA. Week 1, CIF Southern Section non-league. Final: Santa Margarita 21, Centennial 20

---

THE ARTICLE

Santa Margarita Beats Corona Centennial 21-20 on a Blocked Extra Point in Week 1's Biggest SoCal Game

Somebody get Caron Williams a Centennial parking pass. At this point he practically lives there.

The Santa Margarita junior cornerback picked off his fifth career pass against Corona Centennial on Friday night, took it 30 yards the other way on the last snap of the third quarter, and gave the Eagles a lead they never gave back. Final: Santa Margarita 21, Centennial 20.

Five of Williams' six career interceptions have come against this one program. Six career picks. Five of them Centennial. Somebody should probably look into that.

But the play everyone drove home talking about wasn't the pick. It was a kick that never made it past the line of scrimmage.

The Block

Braylin Drake ran it in from 11 yards out with 7:33 left to pull Centennial within 21-20. Kick it, tie it, play the last seven minutes with house money. That's the script.

Instead Jake Martin came flying off the edge and got a hand on it. The ball clanged off the upright. Scoreboard stayed 21-20 and stayed that way for good.

Centennial got one more possession. Fourth down, 2:42 on the clock, and a Santa Margarita front full of teenagers who were in middle school two years ago blew it up. Ballgame.

"Defense suffocating," Eagles coach Carson Palmer told his players afterward, per Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times. He also told them, "There was greatness on that field." Both things were true.

Wait, This Defense Was Supposed to Be the Weakness

Santa Margarita graduated nine of 11 defensive starters off last year's CIF-SS Division 1 and CIF State Open Division championship team. The offseason take was that the Eagles would score plenty and give up plenty while the young guys figured it out.

Yeah, about that.

Kingston Jimmerson, a 6-foot-2, 270-pound sophomore wearing No. 99, had two sacks in the first half alone. Freshman linebacker Aydan Steen forced a fumble and then made two of the biggest tackles of the fourth quarter. Kaleb Herndon, a 6-5, 225-pound freshman, was in the rotation. Cruz Nunez, a transfer in from JSerra, was everywhere.

A sophomore and two freshmen were the best players on the field in a top-10 national matchup. In August. On the road.

Centennial's first possession ended in a fumble. Adrian Petero punched in a short touchdown four plays later and it was 7-0 before the concession stand line had moved.

Centennial Would Not Go Away

Here's the part that should make Husky fans feel a lot better than the scoreboard does.

Centennial played this game without two projected starting offensive linemen, then lost a third one in the third quarter. Quarterback Jaden Jefferson spent most of the night with somebody's hand in his facemask and still threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

The first one was ridiculous. Jefferson rolled left, threw off his back foot with a defender draped on him, and dropped it into Quentin Hale in the back of the end zone from seven yards out with 1:29 left in the half. That made it 14-7 instead of 14-0 going into the locker room, which changed the entire complexion of the night.

He came back in the third and hit Kennie Leggett for a 26-yard touchdown to tie it 14-14.

Hale, one of the best receivers in the country, finished with seven catches for 105 yards while getting hand-fought on basically every snap. Cal commit Miles Schirmer was a problem on the Centennial defensive line, and the Huskies sacked Fletch Palmer three times.

"The defense played phenomenal," Centennial coach Matt Logan said. "We were not on the same page on offense. The kids didn't waver and kept fighting."

Compare that to last November, when Logan stood at the Rose Bowl after a 42-7 loss to these same Eagles and said his team wasn't prepared to play football that night. This was a different group. They just came up one blocked kick short.

The Fletch Palmer Note

Junior Fletch Palmer, son of the head coach, got the starting nod a week before the opener. He didn't have a monster stat line here and didn't need one. He ripped a 15-yard scramble to set up a score, took his three sacks, and didn't turn it over in a one-score game on the road.

That's the job. He did the job.

The Mighty Mouse Closer

Once Santa Margarita got the ball back with the lead, the offense turned into one guy: Adrian Petero, who is generously listed at 5-foot-4 and finished with 108 yards on 23 carries, most of them the ugly kind.

"Even if I can't find a hole, I'll make one," Petero told the LA Times.

Respect.

Where This Leaves Everybody

Santa Margarita is 2-0 and has now beaten Corona Centennial four straight times, including a section title game. The Eagles host Highland of Palmdale next Friday.

Centennial fell to 1-1 after entering the week ranked No. 1 in the Southland by the LA Times. The Huskies have a bye, which they will use to get an offensive line back together, and then it's at No. 9 Mater Dei on Sept. 11. Good luck with that.

If both teams hold up, there's a real chance we see this again in December. Sign me up.

So who takes the rematch? Drop your pick in the comments and tag somebody who was in that stadium Friday night.