The562’s coverage of football in 2024-25 is sponsored by The Terry Donahue Memorial California Showcase.
The562’s coverage of St. Anthony athletics is sponsored by Jane & B.I. Mais, Class of 1949.
A whole new season and a path to a championship start tomorrow for the St. Anthony football team, which is the first seed in the CIF-SS Division 10 bracket. The Saints host their playoff opener at Clark Field against South Hills, with kickoff set for 7pm.
It’s already their second home playoff game at the remodeled Clark Field, the first of which came in their playoff opener last year. The Saints won that matchup by one point against visiting Tahquitz under former head coach Raul Lara, but a lot has changed since then.
First-year coach Jeff Magdaleno has since taken over, going 5-5 with a second-place finish in the Del Ray League in his first season with the Saints. St. Anthony went 4-1 in their league matchups and is coming off of a two-game win streak.
The Saints will need to feed senior Jasiah Lolesio-Pua if they want their best chances at a win, which they have in their last two games. Lolesio-Pua found the endzone against Crespi last week and collected four touchdowns a week earlier while hosting Harvard-Westlake. QB Aidan Jones will also look to spread the ball around to receivers Marco Transfiguracion and Andres Mendoza.
Protecting the ball in the playoffs is always key, and Magdaleno has harped on his team the importance of the turnover battle. They’ll need to keep the ball away from the South Hills defense that has collected 16 turnovers this season.
On defense, the Saints gave up 27 points last week, but just 17 points combined through the two previous games. They came up with two takeaways last week and will lean on junior leader Jeremiah Taufi.
Those Purple People Eaters will be tasked with stopping the powerful run-game of South Hills, which has three players with over 400 rushing yards this season and is averaging 6.2 yards per carry. The Huskies average a whopping 269.3 rushing yards per game, while only throwing for 56.8 through the air.
Their backfield is led by Anthony Gonzales (81.8 yards per game), Tyler Arguinzoni (74.3), Danny Resendiz (83.6), and Sebastian Morinaga (57.8). The Huskies have scored 32 of their 34 offensive touchdowns on the ground this season.
Calpreps predicts a 28-21 ball game in favor of St. Anthony, and they’ve given the Saints a 65% chance of winning the playoff matchup. The team that comes out on top will go on to face the winner of Shadow Hills and El Segundo.
