It’s been a tough season for the St. Monica football team. Friday night against Santa Fe League foe St. Anthony, the Mariners saw their tough luck season magnified at Santa Monica College.
St. Monica scored 27 first half points and still would up on the short end of the stick, going down in defeat to St. Anthony, 33-27.
The Mariners put seven points in the first quarter and added another 20 in the second period. However, that would be the end of the scoring spree for St. Monica for the evening as the Mariners were held scoreless by the Saints through the last two quarters in suffering their sixth defeat of the season.
St. Monica concludes the regular season against Salesian in a final league matchup at Santa Monica College. But this loss will probably will stay will the Mariners for a while.
Immediately after St. Anthony scored the game’s first touchdown of the game, the Mariners stormed right back with a score of their own when Jack Cain returned the kickoff 80 yards to the house. The scoring flip flop between the two teams had just begun.
St. Anthony got another score to end the first quarter with a 13-7 lead. But the Mariners answered the call this time with another Cain score-an 18-yard touchdown pass reception from Cameron Nuslein. Following another Saints’ score, St. Monica actually took the lead with two straight possessions that resulted in touchdowns.
Nuslein connected with again with Cain for another touchdown through the air-this time from 25 yards out to put the Mariners up for a single point. A 20-yard touchdown run by Jason Thomas and subsequent converted point after attempt gave St. Monica a 27-19 lead.
The celebration would be short-lived. St. Anthony then scored another touchdown with less than a minute left in the first half to pull within 27-25 at intermission. The third quarter was a matter of the two teams’ defense’ locking up one another’s offenses. St. Monica failed to anything on its two offensive series in the quarter.
The score remained that way until late in the fourth quarter when St. Anthony broke through to score a touchdown and two-point conversion to go up 33-27. The Mariners had one more punch left. St. Monica moved all the way down to inside St. Anthony’s redzone but came away empty.
