HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : St. Augustine Tops USDHS, Ends Charity Bowl Winless Streak

St. Augustine and University of San Diego High have never considered their annual Charity Bowl game anything but a must-win affair. The game that matches San Diego’s two Catholic schools is fabled, as crowds in the thousands used to gather to such venues as Balboa Stadium and San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

This has been a football pilgrimage for families, extended families . . . seemingly the entire Catholic community.

But for the latter part of the past decade, St. Augustine players must have been telling their families to stay at home. Go to the movies. Take a drive to the desert. Stay away.

The Saints had lost this must-win game 10 consecutive years--until Saturday. Sparked by a defense that bent but refused to break, St. Augustine (4-0) put an end to the futility and humility with a 20-0 victory in front of an estimated 7,500 fans at Southwestern College.

The game was anything but a blowout. The Saints’ final two touchdowns didn’t come until the final 3 minutes 49 seconds.

St. Augustine might have sensed another impending heartbreak, with the Dons marching to the Saints’ 18-yard line for what might have been a game-tying or go-ahead score. St. Augustine Coach Joe Medina had a different feeling.

“I live with these kids all year,” said Medina, in his third season. “I’m in the weight room with them at 6:30 in the morning. I could feel it. I knew we were going to win this game.”

Medina told his parents, Jose and Lauren Medina, to come. They came, from Tulsa, Okla., to see their son coach in San Diego for the first time.

With under four minutes to play, USDHS quarterback Mike Sexton faced a fourth down and three yards at the Saints’ 18. He fired a pass into the left flats right to St. Augustine cornerback Eric Miranda. Miranda streaked 82 yards for touchdown to make it 14-0.

“The coaches told me to check the flats all game,” said Miranda. “They were telling me all week I was going to get an interception. But (Sexton) threw it right to me.”

Miranda’s interception took the heat off the St. Augustine option offense, which managed only 106 rushing yards on 27 attempts against a banged-up Dons squad. After USDHS ran three plays and punted on its final possession, Saints quarterback Aaron Buckner threw a 34-yard pass to Sal Navarra, then threw a 24-yard strike to Jonathon Santos in the end zone with 43 second left to cap the scoring.

After limiting the Dons (1-3) to two first downs and 71 yards in the first half (57 of them coming on two plays), St. Augustine shut down the heart of USDHS’ Delaware Wing-T offense in the second half, holding the Dons to 29 rushing yards.