A depleted St. Monica High School football squad was no match for Salesian on Oct. 22 as the Mariners fell 34-7 and look to rebound against Bellarmine-Jefferson on Saturday.
St. Monica’s senior leader at quarterback Matt Partyka ran for a touchdown in the first quarter but was seriously hurt on a play in the second and didn’t return, said head coach Larry Muno. Wide receiver Sam Holguin filled in for Partyka for the rest of the game. For St. Monica, linebacker Chris Corbally (concussion) and running back Kevin Holubowski (back) also went down with injuries, decimating the 27-man roster. Running back Solomon Niumataevalu sat out the game with an injury as well.
“The kids that we have are warriors,” Muno said. Although “we went in well-prepared and defended well, we lost four guys and that makes it difficult to compete.”
Partyka will sit out this Saturday’s game against Bellarmine-Jefferson at Corsair Field at Santa Monica College (kickoff at 7 p.m.). Against Bell-Jeff, Muno plans to start Ron Gibson at wide receiver as Holguin will be the passer. Muno didn’t specify the nature of Partyka’s injury other than to say he was “knocked out cold.”
“He’s doing okay, just going to be held out,” Muno said.
The Mariners are 4-3 (0-1 Santa Fe League). Bellarmine-Jefferson is 2-6 (0-2).