Santa Margarita football fends off Mater Dei with late interception

• October 3, 2026

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MISSION VIEJO — Santa Margarita football coach Carson Palmer described to his players in the offseason how the Eagles’ profile had shifted following their CIF-SS and CIF State championships in 2025.

“We’re no longer the underdog,” the Heisman Trophy winner explained. “We got a target on our back.”

Santa Margarita remained unblemished Friday by recording seven sacks and a late interception in a 14-7 victory against Mater Dei in the teams’ Trinity League opener at Saddleback College.

Freshman safety Jayden Jack intercepted a pass near the Eagles’ end zone with 12 seconds left to seal Santa Margarita’s section-leading 12 consecutive victory.

The Eagles (6-0, 1-0) defeated Mater Dei (4-2, 0-1) for the second consecutive year under Palmer. The last time the Eagles beat the Monarchs two straight was 2001-02.

“We’re very blessed and fortunate to have the coaching staff that we have and God has blessed us with this amazing opportunity,” said Santa Margarita defensive lineman Isaia Vandermade, who had two sacks.

“(But) we ain’t achieved nothing yet,” the USC committed senior added. “We have a high standard at Santa Margarita. We’re coming for it all this year again.”

Santa Margarita, ranked No. 1 in Orange County and No. 4 in the nation by MaxPreps, took a 14-7 lead in the middle of the third quarter. Palmer’s son Fletch tossed a 4-yard touchdown to wide receiver Grant Van Raaphorst.

Van Raaphorst set up his score with 20-yard run on a reverse to the Mater Dei 8.

Mater Dei, ranked No. 2 in Orange County and No. 18 in the nation, tried to response but Santa Margarita’s defense closed the game with three consecutive stops.

After the Monarchs held the ball for the final 7:45 of the third quarter, Santa Margarita forced a missed 32-yard field goal early in the fourth.

The Eagles’ defense forced Mater Dei to turn the ball over on down at the Santa Margarita 37 with 5:50 left in regulation.

Jack ended Mater Dei’s final drive with his team-leading third interception.

“Really proud of our guys,” Carson Palmer said of the Eagles, who didn’t commit a turnover. “That’s a great (Mater Dei) football team. Very well-coached, great program obviously. And what a fun game. Just a physical, violent game. Went down to the very end. I’m just proud of our defense the way they stepped up.”

Santa Margarita’s unit also received two sacks from lineman Kingston Jimmerson and blitzing cornerback Ca’ron Williams.

Freshman defensive lineman Kaleb Herndon and freshman linebacker Aydan Steen also played well for the Eagles’ defense.

Mater Dei still had its scoring chances.

With about a minute left, freshman QB Paytyn Guess scrambled and completed a 39-yard pass to Gavin Honore at the Santa Margarita 15.

“For whatever reason, we can’t get the ball in the end zone,” Mater Dei coach Raul Lara said. “I might be doing something wrong but I got to figure that out.”

Guess passed for 165 yards while Palmer threw for 155.

Mater Dei’s defense recorded two sacks, including one by DJ Clanton.

Last season, Santa Margarita beat Mater Dei for the first time since 2013 by collecting a 7-6 triumph in the Trinity League.

The Eagles went on to claim CIF-SS Division 1 and CIF State Open Division titles in their first season under Palmer.

The teams tied 7-7 at intermission courtesy of Jake Martin.

The Santa Margarita junior safety blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt with four seconds left in the second quarter.

Earlier in the season, Martin blocked a late extra-point that helped Santa Margarita edge Centennial 21-20.

Martin’s latest blocked wiped out a promising drive sparked by the running of Guess.

Mater Dei surpassed its point total against Santa Margarita in ’25 by scoring on its first possession.

Asir Nembhard scored on a 5-yard run to cap a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Jerry Shifman kicked the extra-point to make it 7-0.

Santa Margarita knotted the score 7-7 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Adrian Petero with 3:38 left in the first half.

Fletch Palmer highlighted the 58-yard scoring drive with a 34-yard completion to Van Raaphorst, who made a leaping grab at the Mater Dei 11.

Santa Margarita wide receiver Grant Mosley had three catches for 38 yards in his season debut. The Eagles played without tight end Luke Gazzaniga (pneumonia), Carson Palmer said.

Next week on Friday, Oct. 9, Santa Margarita plays host to Servite (3-2) at Saddleback College. Mater Dei play at JSerra (4-1) on the same day.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani feels swing is ‘in a better place’ as he prepares for NLDS

• October 3, 2026

LOS ANGELES — During his time on the injured list, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani had to make adjustments to protect his injured right arm.

“If I’d been by myself this time, I probably would have had a lot more time to think about everything, and I imagine it would have been much harder mentally,” the married father of two said in Japanese. “But I had a house full of people around me, so that made a big difference in terms of how I felt.

“As for my arm, I did my best to use my left hand with my (18-month-old) daughter. I can manage with just my left hand when it comes to her. My son (born in June) is a little too much for that, though. So I mainly focused on taking care of my daughter with my left hand.”

Parenting obligations aside, Ohtani said he “feels really good overall” after spending two weeks on the IL and returning to play the final five games of the regular season.

“I do feel like my swing is in a better place, feels smooth, and just a little tweaks here and there, and I’ll be ready for tomorrow,” he said before Friday’s workout ahead of their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.

Ohtani acknowledged that “playing through pain isn’t ideal for me – but that’s probably true for everyone” and said he isn’t sure what will have to be addressed with his left knee or right arm – the areas that pained him enough to land him on the IL – this offseason.

“I haven’t been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this,” he said through his interpreter. “I think that process is going to happen during the offseason when I’m going to have a little bit more time to be able to address it. But as of now, it’s something I’m just going to have to manage.”

Ohtani returned for the final five games of the regular season and went 5 for 21 (.238) with eight strikeouts and just one extra-base hit (a double). During the bye-week workouts this week, he took batting practice on the field on Tuesday, Wednesday and again Friday. He faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto in an intrasquad game on Wednesday then took live at-bats against Emmet Sheehan during Friday night’s workout.

“During the (time on the) IL, I pretty much knew I wasn’t going to pitch the rest of the season. So I did focus on just the hitting aspect of the game and coming to understanding and wanting to execute and try new things when I came back,” he said.

“So those were the things that I really took the IL time to think through – what I wanted to try when I was back in action.”

Ohtani said he will know “pretty quickly” if he has recovered his proper swing mechanics once the best-of-five NLDS begins with Game 1 on Saturday afternoon.

“I can figure out how I feel, especially in my setup,” he said.

“But I do want to get into the postseason, feel the atmosphere, and again kind of recalibrate what I have to.”

ROSTER TALK

The Dodgers will set their NLDS roster on Saturday morning. Roberts said it will include 14 position players and 12 pitchers. He said it is “possible” there will be room for both a left-handed bat off the bench and a devoted pinch-runner – roles that would be filled by Josue De Paula and Hyeseong Kim. That would likely leave reserve outfielder Alex Call as the odd man out.

AWARD WINNERS

De Paula and right-hander Christian Zazueta were named the 2026 winners of the Branch Rickey awards as the Dodgers’ Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year.

The 21-year-old De Paula was named the Double-A Player of the Year after hitting .303 with a .948 OPS, 27 home runs and 104 RBIs in 124 games for the Tulsa Drillers then making his major-league debut in September.

Zazueta, also 21, was named the Dodgers’ top minor-league pitcher for the second year in a row. He was 6-4 with a 3.65 ERA in 23 games at Class-A and Double-A.

The two will receive their awards during a ceremony before Game 2 on Sunday.

​ Orange County Register 

Photos: Top shots from Friday’s high school football games in Week 6

• October 3, 2026

The high school football season delivered another memorable Friday night that was filled with exciting games across the Southern California region.

Check out the Southern California News Group’s large collection of photos from the best games Friday, Oct. 2.

High school football: Scores from all of Thursday’s games, Oct. 1

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, Oct. 2

• October 3, 2026

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Oct. 2

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

BOYS WATER POLO

ELITE 8 TOURNAMENT

Newport Harbor 15, Santa Margarita 5

JSerra 10, Newport Harbor 9

Corona del Mar 16, Santa Margarita 11

La Habra 16, Classical Academy 5

Orange Lutheran 13, Long Beach Poly 3

Buena Park 11, San Dimas 5

JSerra 16, Corona del Mar 11

NONLEAGUE

Mater Dei 12, Sage Hill 10

El Toro 9, Laguna Hills 8

Laguna Beach 17, Los Alamitos 13

Northwood 15, San Marino 14

GIRLS TENNIS

NONLEAGUE

King, M.L. 18, Marina 0

​ Orange County Register 

Golden Ticket in ruins after Gates blasts Hilton for ‘sexualization of young people’

• October 3, 2026

Michael Gates, the Republican candidate for California attorney general, has condemned a provocative ad from the Steve Hilton campaign depicting two young women in a dark bedroom suggestively…voting for Steve Hilton.

The ad has received potentially millions of views on X and thousands have reposted it, either praising, condemning or being weirded out by it.

Republican Sonja Shaw, who is running for the (technically nonpartisan) state superintendent, condemned the ad directly on X: “Shame on you, @SteveHiltonx, @CAGOP and @CorrinRankin , for reposting and cheering this creepy, weird, disturbing garbage on. This is a clear example of exactly why good people are walking away from the Republican Party. As a mother and someone who has fought to protect the innocence of children, this crosses a line. We have lost our way. Embarrassing.”

As harsh as that is, the most significant criticism so far has come from the aforementioned Gates, who has been a part of the “Golden Ticket” that links Hilton, Gates, lieutenant governor candidate Gloria Romero and controller candidate Herb Morgan.

Gates issued a lengthy press release condemning his fellow Golden Ticket’er. “Californians deserve a serious alternative to decades of failed leadership in Sacramento—including the inappropriate sexualization of young people. Steve Hilton’s ‘Just Try It’ video is an example of precisely that,” the statement reads. He goes on to note that he wasn’t consulted about the ad, had nothing to do with it and argued Hilton’s ad “is deeply out of touch with the values and expectations of California families.”

“Emphatically, I denounce the use of young women’s sexuality as a political tool, and I denounce the undermining of the sanctity of the relationship between parents and their children,” he declared.

It’s all quite the development considering Hilton’s increasingly desperate play to say and do anything to close the gap with Democrat Xavier Becerra, even going so far as to bizarrely claim that Becerra “legalized sex with minors.” It’s also quite the timing for a political rupture on the right considering ballots are going out, and in some places are already out.

Now, to be sure there are people defending the ad as a way of reaching people who won’t ordinarily check out a Republican political ad. Depending on your sensibilities, the ad can be described as creative and amusing, more so than a standard political ad. Sure, sure.

But it all serves as a reminder that social conservatives remain a core force in the Republican coalition. Hilton took a chance despite that and now he got some GOP infighting out of it. Time will tell whether they blow this up further or if it becomes just another internal fight Republicans obsess over after they lose in November.

I say again: no wonder California is a one-party state.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers name Tarik Skubal to start NLDS opener against Braves

• October 3, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Tarik Skubal needed just 75 pitches to get through seven scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants in his final start of the regular season last Friday.

He was surprised when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came over and shook his hand, telling him his day was done.

“I was at kind of a low pitch count,” Skubal said. “I thought, in the moment, I was going to be able to finish the game, and he’s like ‘Get ready for Game 1.’

“That’s how I was told, and I’m obviously excited and fired up and ready to go.”

Acquired from the Detroit Tigers as the big prize at the midseason trade deadline, Skubal will start Game 1 of the Dodgers’ National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

Roberts was unwilling to announce his Game 2 or 3 starters. But Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched in the team’s intrasquad game on Wednesday and seems unlikely to pitch until Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday, leaving Game 2 on Sunday night for Blake Snell.

That order would make Skubal available to pitch twice in the best-of-five series without going on short rest – but would limit Yamamoto to one start.

“I think that we have such talented starters. I think you can roll out any of us in any situation and you’re going to be in a really good spot,” said Skubal, calling it “an honor and a privilege” to get the Game 1 assignment.

“I don’t make any of those decisions. I don’t really think about that. They tell me when I’m going, and I’m ready to go that day. That’s kind of how I approach it.”

The decision to go with Skubal is as much about the potential future rounds as it is about the NLDS, Roberts said.

“That’s part of the math because, as the series goes on, if you’re fortunate enough to keep moving on, things start to get more unpredictable,” Roberts said. “So I think that at the outset, if you can kind of line it up in such a way to give guys ample rest, it just, I guess, puts you in a better position for more options down the road. That’s kind of some of the math we had.”

Skubal made six postseason starts for the Detroit Tigers the past two years, going 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA but losing an elimination game to the Cleveland Guardians in 2024 and getting a no-decision when the Tigers were eliminated in 15 innings against the Seattle Mariners in Game 5 of an American League Division Series last year.

Oddly, all six of Skubal’s postseason starts have been as the road team. Saturday will be his first chance to take the mound for the home team in a playoff game.

“Yeah, I’m excited for the opportunity to throw in front of the fans,” he said. “Usually when I walk out onto the field in a playoff game, it’s usually received with a lot of boos. So I’m excited to get some cheers in there for us and to pitch at home. I think it’s going to be a ton of fun in front of this atmosphere.

“Hopefully everyone is drinking a lot of water and staying hydrated. It’s going to be a hot one. I’m excited, though.”

The pressure on Skubal to deliver will be decidedly different with the defending World Series champions and their deep starting rotation compared to the expectations of him as the clear ace of the upstart Tigers. But Skubal said he will feel none of that.

“I think the game of baseball doesn’t change. It doesn’t change in terms of how I’m going to approach it,” he said. “Obviously the stage is a little bit different and the environments are a little bit different, but how I go out and execute and how I prepare and how I game plan and all that stuff is going to be kind of the exact same. That’s kind of what I trust in any moment. As games get more meaningful and impactful on kind of what the season does, I just revert back to kind of what got me in that position.

“It’s a playoff game. I’m going out there to try and win a baseball game. That’s kind of where I’m at mentally.”

​ Orange County Register 

Woman told Cornell investigators she ‘felt like bait’ during alleged gang rape

• October 3, 2026

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI, MICHAEL R. SISAK and LEAH WILLINGHAM

A woman who says she was gang-raped at a Cornell University fraternity told the school’s investigators last year that she “felt like bait” as the attackers were “like lions around me,” according to records from the school’s disciplinary investigation.

The documents, reviewed Friday by The Associated Press, include excerpts of interviews Cornell’s investigators did with the woman and the men she accused and shed more light on the university’s handling of the case.

While heavily redacted, the records offer a fuller but sometimes conflicting timeline of events and a glimpse at how the men responded to the allegations. Some disputed the woman’s account and said they weren’t involved in any assault.

The woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, sued Cornell and seven former students last month, alleging she was given ketamine and repeatedly assaulted at a fraternity house in October 2024.

She went to campus police three weeks after the encounter and gave a detailed account of what happened, but the local district attorney decided not to file criminal charges or push for more investigation after reviewing a police summary of her interview.

Only the school’s investigation, under the federal Title IX law, persisted, with a goal of deciding discipline for the students involved.

Lawsuit by one of the accused men reveals details on investigation

This week, a lawyer for one of the accused men filed documents from the school’s investigation in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the university’s punishment and remove it from his academic record. They include a 99-page report on a campus hearing panel’s disciplinary findings and a summary of events submitted by the university’s lawyers.

Though only a fraction of the thousands of pages amassed in the investigation, the records show the breadth of the university’s inquiry — including 50 interviews with 32 witnesses and 12 days of hearings.

Late Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to lead a renewed criminal investigation, saying she had lost faith in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.

According to the Title IX documents filed in court, which are only a portion of the entire investigation, the woman and several of the men gave investigators similar accounts of drug use and sexual activity that took place at the Chi Phi fraternity house — but differed sharply in how much of it was consensual.

Snapchat messages drew other men

The woman had been invited there by a fraternity member for whom she had long held strong romantic feelings and sexual interest, according to the disciplinary panel’s findings. The panel found that she initially consented to sex with that man and one of his friends, though she later alleged in her lawsuit that she had been pressured into taking ketamine, marijuana and alcohol and was too intoxicated to consent.

Then other men began showing up in the room, some drawn by a message one of the fraternity brothers sent to a Snapchat group at 1:42 a.m. using a vulgar term to advertise that a woman’s body was freely available. Later, another person in the chat asked if the “shop” was still open.

The woman told investigators that her intoxication had rendered her partly defenseless. She said she remembered smoking marijuana and said she knew she took ketamine, her first time doing so, but didn’t have an independent memory of it. The drug, she said, left her in a state of “vague consciousness.”

“You look like an operating human being,” she told school investigators at a hearing in May of 2025. “You don’t look dead or asleep necessarily. So, lights are on, but nobody’s home. Your brain is not functioning at its proper level.”

She said some of the men inhaled drugs off her unclothed body.

“I felt like bait. I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in,” she told investigators.

Accused student says he only entered room for a wellness check

One of the men the woman accused of snorting drugs off her body — but not participating in other elements of the assault — denied her account.

He told investigators he was in the room for no more than five minutes, and didn’t go there for sex.

“That was not our intentions at all. We were just checking out to see if everything” was OK, he said.

He insisted that he did not see the woman naked at any time — she was under bed coverings, he said — and did not partake in drug use. He said he sat on a couch and chatted for a few minutes, then left after the woman and another man there both indicated they were all right.

A Cornell disciplinary panel later cleared him of sexual assault or exploitation allegations, but found him responsible for attempted sexual exploitation because it didn’t believe his claim to have gone to the room for altruistic reasons.

The fraternity member, who is challenging Cornell’s disciplinary process in court, also posted in the Snapchat conversation, saying what was happening in the room was not a joke, adding: “Firsthand pov not a bit.” The student later told investigators he did not remember sending the message, according to Cornell’s account.

Woman’s lawsuit seeks tougher penalties

In her lawsuit, Jane Doe accused two of the other men who entered the room of performing sex acts on her without her consent, while she was partially incapacitated. She accused another man of kissing her without her consent. According to the Title IX documents, Jane Doe told investigators two other men stood at the foot of the bed acting “more like voyeurs than anything.”

The lawsuit seeks to hold all seven men liable for rape. She is asking for unspecified damages.

Cornell hasn’t detailed the results of its investigation, but said it resulted in some students being expelled.

The man who filed the lawsuit challenging his punishment was allowed to stay at Cornell, but he was ordered to stay away from the woman, take a class on sexual harassment and bystander intervention, and write a paper reflecting on the circumstances for which he was found responsible and include a proposal to train other students on preventing sexual harassment.

​ Orange County Register 

Pacific Airshow takes flight for 10th anniversary in Huntington Beach

• October 3, 2026

The clear blue sky was a welcome background on Friday for the first day of the 10th annual Pacific Airshow as civilian and military pilots performed overhead in Huntington Beach.

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds crisscrossed the skies above in tight formations; the Royal Air Force Falcons parachute team whirled in a choreographed performance as members floated to the ground; and civilian planes looped and dove, doing aerial acrobatics as audience members on the ground craned their necks to watch.

The US Air Force Thunderbirds and Canadian Forces Snowbirds are headlining this year’s air show, which repeats its lineup Saturday and Sunday, but the Air Force F-22 Raptor demo team, the NASA F-5 Formation Team, US Marines MV-22 Osprey and several more military craft are on the schedule, along with civilians flying crafts such as a MIG-17, a Subsonex Microjet, historical planes and more.

​ Orange County Register