Many in the San Diego Section cognoscenti declared an upset when winless St. Augustine defeated La Jolla Country Day, 16-0, in the first round of the Division III playoffs last week.
That the Saints (0-10) were seeded seventh in the division and the 5-5 Torreys 10th, according to CIF power ratings, didn’t seem to register.
The Saints were reeling, having canned coach Ron Gladnick after a 10-5, Southern California regional playoff season in 2023, and the subsequent exodus of players to other schools.
Ron Caragher was named coach and kept things together in a brutal season that included losses of 42-0 and 63-0 to Western League rivals Cathedral and Lincoln.
The 0-10 was the Saints’ first without a victory since an 0-9 in 1975 and only the seventh washout in their 101 seasons, dating to 1924.
Now the Saints face a 125-mile bus jaunt over the cold and windy Laguna Mountains passes to the Imperial
Valley and No. 2-ranked Holtville, 10-0, and outscoring opponents 491-60, including romps against San Diego County teams Mission Bay, 46-7; Mountain Empire, 54-0; El Cajon Valley, 57-0, and Coronado, 54-14.
FIRST SINCE 1938
St. Augustine and Holtville will need a re-introduction.
The Vikings hold a 2-1 lead in previous games, but the schools haven’t opposed each other for 86 years, dating to 1938, the Great Depression, gas at 19 cents a gallon, and when you could get three pounds of ground beef for 59 cents and a loaf of bread for a dime.
Holtville won that 1938 game, 12-0, and 15-12, in 1936. Sandwiched around was a 13-0 Saints victory in ’37.
RATINGS 92.3 PER CENT CORRECT
Seedings favorites won 24 first-round games against two losses: No. 12 Monte Vista, 34-33 over No. 5 Fallbrook, and No. 9 Del Norte, 42-35 over No. 8 Oceanside.
