Dos Pueblos had a tough time containing St. Anthony’s explosive offense in the CIF-Southern Section Division 10 football quarterfinals on Friday night in Long Beach.
The speedy Saints scored touchdowns on their first three possessions in the first quarter and never looked back in beating the Chargers 60-28 at Clark Field.
Dos Pueblos ends the season with a 9-3 record. St. Anthony (10-2) advances to the semifinals.
St. Anthony scored on its first play from scrimmage, a 44-yard keeper by quarterback Johnny Buksa V.
The Saints quickly went ahead by two touchdowns After forcing the Chargers to punt, they struck on a 59-yard pass from Buksa to wide receiver BJ Busbee for a 14-0 lead at the 5:04 mark of the quarter.
Dos Pueblos put together a good drive after a St. Anthony’s penalty on the kickoff return put the ball at the Saints’ 46. Quarterback Kellen Roberts completed a pass to Marcellous Gossett for a first down and Blake Erwin broke off a nice run to the St. Anthony 22. Roberts threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Cyrus Wallace to get the Chargers on the scoreboard.
But the DP defense couldn’t stop the Saints.
St. Anthony responded with a long drive that ended with a 17-yard Buksa touchdown pass to Busbee for a 21-7 lead with 1:09 left in the first quarter.
Buksa threw six touchdown passes on the night at Busbee caught three of them.
The Saints’ defense also came up big as Elijah Bankston intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown for a 28-7 advantage at the start of the second quarter.
Roberts and Gossett combined on a 65-yard touchdown pass to keep DP in the game at 28-14.
But Buksa continued to do his thing and keep St. Anthony’s fast-paced attack moving. He drove the Saints 76 yards and passed to Anthony Mohr for another touchdown and a 35-14 lead.
Dos Pueblos moved the ball to the St. Anthony 30 but the drive stalled and it turned the ball over on downs.
The Chargers suffered a bad break near the end of the first half. A bouncing St. Anthony’s punt hit a DP player and the Saints recovered the ball at the 11. Buksa passed to Nico Ragas for a touchdown and a 41-14 lead with 30 seconds left in the first half.
St. Anthony continued its offensive domination in the second half. On its second play from scrimmage, Buksa combined with Busbee for a 90-yard touchdown play, giving the Saints a 47-14 lead.
Busbee had 7 catches for 252 yards.
Dos Pueblos put a long drive together and finished it with a 20-yard Roberts pass to Gossett for a touchdown, making it 47-21.
Buksa struck again with his sixth touchdown pass, a 55-yarder to Busbee (his third TD catch), giving the Saints a 53-21 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter.
St. Anthony’s offense continued its onslaught, scoring its 10th touchdown of the night for a 60-21 lead. Talaun Patton broke several tackles on a 33-yard run with 11:41 to play in the game.
Roberts scored on a keeper for Dos Pueblos to make it a 60-28 game.
Despite the loss, Dos Pueblos completed its most successful season in several years