It would be difficult to top Friday’s San Diego Section Division I championship game between the top-seeded Madison Warhawks and second-seeded St. Augustine Saints. The game, played before a near-capacity crowd of 6,040 fans at Southwestern College’s DeVore Stadium, featured two distinct momentum runs and one dramatic ending.
The Saints won the first half 31-7; the Warhawks won the second half 28-0.
Put those two halves together and Madison pulled out a somewhat incredible 35-31 victory in a game that left Warhawk fans cheering deliriously – and many on the Saints sideline speechless and in tears.
“We didn’t give up,” explained Madison senior linebacker Sampson Niu, who made a team-high 12 tackles, after the end to the thrilling contest. “We came back. We kept pushing. We kept pushing.”
It was an amazing finish – as well as an amazing beginning.
The Saints, who dropped a 56-42 City Conference Western League match-up to the Warhwaks on Oct. 7, looked almost invincible in the first half in making a strong case to avenge that setback.
St. Augustine took the opening kick-off down the field and scored on its first possession as Darrell Broussard ran the ball in from the one-yard line with 9:23 to play in the opening quarter.
Broussard did not play in the first game against Madison this season and looked to be the catalyst toward victory in the rematch by scoring three first-half touchdowns.
However, Madison (11-2) was not totally without its weapons brought to bear.
Terrell Carter connected with Erick Buchanan on a 32-yard screen pass for a touchdown to tie the score, 7-7, with 5:26 left in the first quarter.
Saints senior quarterback Rodney Thompson (10-of-13, 186 passing yards) went for the spectacular by throwing an 81-yard touchdown completion to junior J.R. Justice (four catches, 102 yards) to give the designated visitors a 14-7 first quarter lead.
The Saints (10-3) would tack on 17 more points before halftime.
Broussard scored on a 15-yard rushing play to hike the St. Augutine lead to 21-7 with 53 second elapsed in the second quarter.
Senior kicker Liam Griste then booted a 20-yard field goal to put the Saints in front 24-7 with 6:50 left to play in the second quarter.
The St. Augustine lead ballooned to 24 points – 31-7 – when Broussard (23 carries, 132 yards) scored on a 25-yard run with 5:07 left in the first half.
Positive energy flowed from Saints fans and the team’s ardent student section (otherwise known as The Pit) throughout the first half. The second half started out with a lot of energy as well for St. Augustine when an interception in the end zone negated a would-be Madison scoring drive.
But the momentum in the game turned when junior Donte Brown returned an intercepted pass 27 yards for a touchdown to trim the Saints’ lead to 31-14 with 6:24 remaining in the third quarter.
The miscues continued for St. Augustine. The Warhawks recovered a fumble at the Saints’ 39-yard line. It took two plays for the designated hosts to make it a 10-point game when Buchanan romped in from 12 yards out following a pass play and ensuing facemask penalty.
31-21 St. Augustine.
An 83-yard touchdown pass from Carter to senior receiver Brandon Lewis (10 catches, 154 yards) cut the Warhawks’ deficit on the scoreboard to 31-28 with 3:45 to play in the fourth quarter.
The Saints received the kick-off at their own 33-yard line with 3:03 left in the quarter. Facing third-and-seven, Thompson made a huge play with his feet to get a first down.
However, a penalty set the team back and St. Augustine was forced to punt with 1:44 remaining.
Everyone in the stadium held their collective breath.
The Saints punted short but got a break on the roll of the ball. Madison started at its own 24-yard line with 1:30 left on the clock. The Warhawks used a series of short pass plays to move into St. Augustine territory.
Carter passed to the 34-yard line, then to the 42-yard line with 1:09 left. An incompletion stopped the clock at 1:04.
Carter then completed a pass to Buchanan to the Saints’ 44-yard line. Buchanan (83 receiving yards, 87 rushing yards) then caught a pass at the St. Augustine 33-yard line with 48 seconds left.
Madison was inching closer to field goal range and it appeared a last-second boot by junior David Lantz might determine a winner.
An incomplete pass stopped the clock with 40.8 seconds to play and a completion to the 23-yard line brought the clock down to 29.6 seconds.
The Warhawks continued their quick jabs down the field. A Buchanan catch moved the ball to the 21-yard line with 23.6 seconds remaining.
Madison still had plenty of time before opting for a potential game-tying field goal, however.
Why stop when the Saints couldn’t stop them?
The decisive play occurred with 18.4 seconds remained when Carter (21-of-41, 324 passing yards) threw a dart into the end zone. The ball appeared to go through the hands of a St. Augustine defender and landed in the hands of senior receiver Elijah Thomas for a go-ahead touchdown.
Lantz came on the field to kick the extra-point conversion to put his team up by four points.
The death blow finally came on the next play when the Saints were unable to cleanly field the ensuing kickoff and Madison recovered the ball deep inside St. Augustine territory with 14.3 seconds left.
The Warhawks, backed by their frenzied fans, knelt twice in victory formation and one of the most improbable comebacks in CIF finals history was ready for the history books.
“We just knew we had to get stops (on defense) and get points,” Madison head coach Rick Jackson explained of the team’s dramatic second-half turnaround. “That pretty much was the game for us. We got back to where we felt comfortable playing. It worked for us.
“We graduate a lot of seniors and all those guys made big plays for us (down the stretch). That’s what you want to do as a senior.”
It is difficult to put into words just exactly what happened to the Saints in the second half.
Did Madison find something predictable in the St. Augustine offense? Did the Saints get too complacent in their play? Did the Warhawks simply rise above the situation?
Maybe it was all of the above, some of the above or none of the above.
“We worked hard all week,” St. Augustine junior defensive back Isaac Wright said after the loss. “We started off strong. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it. We have a young team. Next year, we’ll be stronger.”
For the Saints collection of seniors, the setback hurt deeply and the tears flowed freely.
Torreys trip up Sultans with monster second half rally
In the first game of Friday’s championship double-header, fifth-seeded La Jolla Country Day (11-3) used a dominating 24-point run to erase an early a 17-14 Santana lead en route to claiming a 38-24 victory in the Division IV championship game.
“We knew they could score, and we knew we could score,” LJCD senior quartrback Braxton Burmeister said after the game. “Our defense decided to show up in the second half.”
Burmeister, the San Diego Section’s all-time passing leader, threw for 274 passing yards against the third-seeded Sultans (8-5) and four touchdowns. He also rushed for one breakaway 38-yard scoring run.
But the real story of the game was the Torrey’s second-half dominance on defense that turned back the Sultans on nemerous occasions.
After Santana took a 17-14 lead on a 37-yard field goal, Burmeister heaved a 43-yard scoring pass to Jaden Dir to put LJCD on top 21-17 at halftime.
The Torreys, with upset playoff wins over fourth-seeded Mar Vista and top-seeded Southwest El Centro, never looked back.
Burmeister’s TD run extneded his team’s lead to 28-17 late in the third quarter.
A 73-yard kick-off return by Anders Tolhurst set up Santana on their opponent’s 24-yard line. However, the drive stalled and a 39-yard field goal attempt fell short for Santana.
The Torreys promptly drove the other way and Drew Schmid booted a 26-yard field goal to up the LJCD lead to 31-17 at the end of the quarter.
Santana would then drive to the LJCD 23-yard line before being stopped on downs. Dir took the ball the other way, scoring on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Burmeister to increase the Torrey’s lead to 38-17 with 5:21 to play in the game.
Sultan fans began cheering for their team not to give up and quarterback Josh Oedewaldt answered their pleas by tossing a touchdown pass to Brock Ellis with 3:14 left in the game.
But the day belonged to LJCD, which steam-rollered Santana for 435 total offensive yards.
“This is what we wanted,” said Burmeister, who will transfer to the Univertsity of Arizona for the spring semester. “We’re so excited.”
Spencer Alligood and Casey Mariucci led the Torrey defense with interceptions. Brennan Goring caught scoring passes of 15 and four yards.
Oedewaldt was impressive to start the game by completing his opening 10 passes. Bobby Wallace, the Santee school’s all-time rushing leader, opened scoring on a six-yard run following a fumble recovery by teammate Cameron Kane.
Aiden Rasmusson caught a first-half touchdown for the Sultans. Oedewaldt passed for 194 yards in the game.
San Diego Section Football Finals
Open Division
(1) Cathedral Catholic 35, (2) Helix 27
Division I
(1) Madison 35, (2) St. Augustine 31
Division II
(2) Mater Dei Catholic 35, (4) Olympian 20
Division III
(2) Bishop’s 49, (1) Christian 20
Division IV
(5) La Jolla Country Day 38, (3) Santana 24
Division V
(4) Horizon Christian 40, (3) Tri-City Christian 18
