Last Friday marked the Cathedral Catholic Dons’ and the Saint Augustine Saints’ annual rivalry game, the Holy Bowl, a rivalry dating back to 1966 when the Dons were at Uni.

Last year, Saint Augustine won the Holy Bowl against Cathedral, only encouraging the Dons more to get a taste of revenge. Coach Sean Doyle mentioned that the team watched last year’s film several times to see where they could have taken advantages. Even so, he and the team were not thinking about last year’s game as much, knowing that “every year is a new year,” he said.

Entering the match, the Dons held a seven-win streak after a 48-0 shutout against Lincoln the week before and went into the game with a 7-1 record. Saint Augustine, coming into the match off of their own whopping 39-10 win against Mira Mesa, seemed prepared as their crowd roared.

What the Saints take pride in most is the “The Pit.” “The Pit” is the student section of the stands, organized by class, that cheers the Saints on for all of their sports games. With its infamous history of being quite loud, it stood proudly behind their football team as they took the field last Friday night. For more information about “The Pit” check out a previous story on El Cid entitled “Saints fans cheer in ‘The Pit’ during the Holy Bowl.”

The Dons kicked off the start of the Holy Bowl by stopping the Saints from scoring on the opening drive. Getting the ball at their own 1-yard line, the Dons began their first drive of the game with a run that resulted in a fumble recovered by the jubilant Saints. The ball was placed on the 8-yard line, and the Saints easily scored when #20 Elijah Preston ran down the field and into the end zone for a rushing touchdown. The Saints led the game 0-7 after the third possession of the game.

The Dons were quick to tie the game when #28 Hogan Irwin caught a deep pass from #10 Clayton Dale and ran it in for a touchdown. Into the second quarter, the Dons scored another touchdown, followed by a successful 2-point conversion on a pass completed to #48 Kai Walter. Saint Augustine responded with its own touchdown and a successful PAT.

The Dons continuously scored touchdowns showing their complete recovery from the early game fumble. In regards to the fumble, Coach Doyle said they “were never really stopped” despite the minor errors throughout the game.

The Saints’ final touchdown was in the fourth quarter when #20 Elijah Preston scored another rushing touchdown, putting their score up to 22. The Dons, with about 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, scored a rushing touchdown as well by #40 Anthony Caluza. The final score of the rivalry game was 57-22, marking the Dons’ 33rd victory in the Holy Bowl.

This Friday the now 8-1 Dons will be shooting for the Eastern League title as they go into their final seasonal game against the 3-5 Mira Mesa Marauders. The Marauders, coming off of a 21-13 win against Morse, hope to improve their current record in their second-to-last game.

The final game of the Dons’ season will be at Mira Mesa High School tonight at seven.

Now that the football team’s regular season is coming to an end, Coach Doyle said, “This year’s team took what many believe to be a daunting schedule and, even with some significant injuries to our starting line-up, did an outstanding job.”

But this is not the end of the road for the Dons, who will soon compete for CIF. “The entire coaching staff is proud of what we have accomplished so far, but we are not done yet. We should get one of the top seeds in the playoffs and make a great run at an open division title,” Coach Doyle said.

Be sure to follow @ElCidSports on Twitter for updates on the game and the rest of the Dons’ season.