Can Centurions avenge their semifinal loss to St. Bonaventure?
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Same round, same teams, same result?
For the second straight year, Saugus and St. Bonaventure meet in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Northern Division football playoffs tonight at Ventura High and host St. Bonaventure is again heavily favored.
The #1-seeded Seraphs (11-1) eliminated Saugus, 36-25, last December on their way to both the Northern Division and Division III state bowl championships. That time, they were led by Darrell Scott (1,697 yards, 21 touchdowns). This time they’ll be paced by running back/safety Patrick Hall (11.2 yards per carry) and quarterback Logan Meyer (108 of 181 for 1,512 yards and 13 touchdowns).
Channel League champion St. Bonaventure has won seven straight games since its only defeat--a 12-7 road loss to top-ranked Long Beach Poly. The Seraphs are averaging 36.8 points per game and allowing just 11.5. They outscored their first two playoff opponents 70-21.
The Foothill League winner Centurions (9-3) are also riding a seven-game winning streak but they needed a superhuman effort from quarterback Desi Rodriguez to top Thousand Oaks, 35-28, last Friday at College of the Canyons.
For Saugus to have any chance of reversing last year’s result it must have another big game from Rodriguez ((1,530 yards passing/1,728 yards rushing), especially with top running back Ryan Zirbel (8.16 yards per carry) nursing an ankle injury.
The teams share one common opponent: Crespi of Encino. St. Bonaventure beat Crespi, 31-14, on Sept. 26 and Saugus lost to the Celts, 37-14, two weeks later. The teams are warming up and the kickoff is less than 30 minutes away.
-- Steve Galluzzo