St. Augustine blocks field goal, gets past Newport Harbor 32-30: 5 takeaways

St. Augustine sophomore Parker Johnson scored three touchdowns on Friday

SAN DIEGO – It took a blocked field goal on the game's second to last snap, but the St. Augustine Saints are back in the win column.

The Saints led 13-7 at halftime, briefly trailed in the third quarter and went back and forth with visiting Newport Harbor throughout the second half before emerging with a 32-30 win on Friday night at Mesa College.

• Postgame interview with Parker Johnson

Below are five takeaways from Friday's game.

St. Augustine gets back on track

St. Augustine opened the season by taking down Patrick Henry and Poway by a combined score of 81-7.

Then came games against Granite Hills and Notre Dame Prep (AZ). The Saints, despite losing quarterback Brady Palmer to a first quarter injury, pushed the Eagles to the brink before falling 24-21. Last week, Palmer returned to action but wasn’t close to 100 percent. The Saints struggled on both sides of the ball, losing to Notre Dame Prep, 35-14.

“At the end of the day the regular season is about learning and growing and I think we did that,” St. Augustine head coach Ron Gladnick said.

The Saints were able to impose their will on the ground Friday night, scoring four of their five touchdowns via the rush.

St. Augustine’s defense stood strong in the first half before sputtering in the second half. The Saints, however, made the big play when needed to seal Friday’s win.

“Watching them continue to grow has been a ton of fun,’ Gladnick said. “If we can keep building and stay healthy it’ll be fun later in the season.”

Second half shootout

After a first half that included six punts and an interception, the second half went much different on Friday night.

The Saints punted on their first drive of the second half before the two teams combined to score on seven possessions in a row. The Saints and Sailors flew up and down the field late in the game, combining for four touchdowns over a period of less than five minutes in the fourth quarter.

Newport Harbor appeared likely to continue the scoring rampage until their game-winning field goal attempt was blocked in the closing seconds.

Blocked field goal is the difference

Following their successful onside kick recovery attempt with less than 90 seconds to play, Newport Harbor had appeared to seize back the momentum. The Sailors moved the ball towards the end zone but quickly found themselves low on time.

Instead of trying one more deep shot to standout receivers Jordan Anderson and Josiah Lamarque, Newport Harbor was to content to setup up for the game-winning field goal attempt on third down with 14 seconds remaining.

After watching Newport Harbor setup, St. Augustine called their final timeout to talk strategy.

The Saints plan worked perfectly as sophomore Bronx Letuligasenoa flew past his outside blocker and got his hand on the kick.

“We had two big guys for push, and we had an edge guy and wanted to reinforce where the aiming points were and what we wanted them to do,” Gladnick said. “And it worked!”

The ball fell short and was picked up by the Saints who proceeded to take a knee on offense, ending their two-game skid.

Parker Johnson shines for the Saints

Over the first four games of the 2023 season, St. Augustine standout two-way sophomore Parker Johnson had made his way to the end zone one time.

On Friday night, he made up for lost time.

Johnson ran around the edge in the second quarter from four yards out to give the Saints their first lead of the game. He snagged his second touchdown of the night on a 27-yard pass completion from Brady Palmer that gave the Saints a nine-point lead after finishing off a seven-minute drive.

“There’s talent and then there’s players who play big in the biggest games and that’s what he does," Gladnick said of Johnson. "He rises to whatever is in front of us and he does it over and over on both sides of the ball. Kid is special.”

Johnson’s third and favorite touchdown on the night came on fourth down when the Saints brought on their jumbo package and directly snapped the ball directly to Johnson. He followed his blockers on the left side and quickly jumped through a hole, sprinting 49 yards for a touchdown.

Offense arrives late for Newport Harbor

Newport Harbor opened Friday’s game by driving 63 yards in just under four minutes for the game’s first score. The Sailors struggled to keep that momentum however, going three and out on each of their next four offensive series.

After St. Augustine kicked a field goal to take a 13-7 lead with 29 seconds left in the first half, Newport Harbor was able to quickly move the ball past midfield. Sophomore quarterback Jaden O’Neal threw deep, looking for Oregon-bound wideout Jordan Anderson but was picked off by St. Augustine senior Isaiah Hasten inside the five-yard line.

The adjustments that the Sailors made at halftime paid off, leading to three touchdowns and a field goal over their first four drives in the second half but it wasn’t enough. Newport Harbor’s final drive of the game ended in a game-winning field goal attempt that was blocked, sealing the win for the Saints.

(All photos by Steven Silva)