St. Bonaventure shocks St. Augustine 21-20 in CIF Southern California D1-A championship
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA— Trailing 20-7 midway through the fourth quarter on Saturday night, it appeared as if St. Bonaventure's 2023 season was coming to an end.
The Seraphs had other ideas, scoring two touchdowns in just over four minutes to emerge with an improbable 21-20 victory over St. Augustine in the Southern California D1-A championship game.
"We’re used to tight games," St. Bonaventure head coach Joe Goyeneche said. "We have a great record this year but none of our games were blowouts."
Having not scored since their opening possession of the game, St. Bonaventure manufactured their best second half drive and cut the lead to 20-14 with an eight-yard touchdown run by Koen Glover with 4:17 to play.
St. Augustine opened their next drive at the 12-yard line and quickly backed up with penalties. On third and long, quarterback Brady Palmer delivered a perfect pass down the right sideline, into the hands of Parker Johnson at the 31-yard line.
With a fresh set of downs and one St. Bonaventure timeout remaining, St. Augustine had appeared to seal the game and took a knee on first down. After the Seraphs final timeout, St. Augustine ran twice but were left with 17 seconds on the clock and had now backed up to their own 14-yard line.
The Saints fourth down punt immediately sailed right and went out of bounds at the 24-yard line with eight seconds remaining. Before the Seraphs could snap the ball, St. Augustine was flagged for having 12 men on the field, moving the ball up to the 19-yard line.
St. Bonaventure tossed a pass down the seam to Drew Cofield, who held on despite a strong hit from Parker Johnson. The Seraphs spiked the ball at the St. Augustine four-yard line with two seconds left, giving themselves one last chance.
"We were savvy enough to get on the ball to spike it and then get that play call in that we’ve been working for a few weeks," Goyeneche said.
Quarterback Anthony Wolter motioned receiver Max Peters towards him and then back out. He threw Peters a backwards pass, collapsing the St. Augustine defense, allowing Peters to find a wide open Kayin Booker in the end zone with no time left to tie the game at 20.
“Expecting that they were gonna be in man and the outside guy coming in, it just makes it tough," Goyeneche said. "It puts pressure on them to make a stop.”
Kicker George Mann quickly made his way onto the field and delivered the game-winning extra point with no time left to send St. Bonaventure to next week's CIF D1-A State championship game against Folsom.
"We’re in the game and it’s gonna be tough but we like a challenge," Goyeneche said. "We’re gonna have to play a perfect game but our kids are gonna be hungry.”
(All photos by Justin Fine)
-- Bodie De Silva | bodie@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveca
