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Cathedral Takes Holy Bowl Over St. Augustine

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Cathedral Takes Holy Bowl Over St. Augustine

Since the late 1950s the Cathedral Catholic (then known as Uni) and the St. Augustine Saints having been battling it out across the athletic spectrum.

Monday night under the lights at Cathedral was no different as the Dons and Saints battled for 70 minutes in an intense and sometimes ferocious game as part of the 12th Annual Rugby Holy Bowl. The game was also for status  and supremacy in the Southern California Interscholastic Rugby Federation. After 70 intense minutes of play the Dons prevailed, 22-11, winning the Holy Bowl for the first time in four years.

The Saints jumped to an early 3-0 lead when flyhalf Luca Rohrer slotted the first of two penalty goals. Cathedral responded with two quick tries by Tommy Bayles (converted by Marcus Terzoli) and freshman fullback Rocco Balisteri. Both sides continued to attack each other, ultimately Cathedral flanker Harmon was able to steal a Saints lineout and score in the corner at halftime loomed. The conversion was no good. 

St. Augustine came right back and were driving toward the Dons' goal line, but a knock-on ended the half and Cathedral went into the break up 17-6.

The first twenty minutes of the second half saw the Dons pressuring the Saints defense multiple times. But any attempts to open up the attack were undercut by Cathedral penalties. Ultimately the Saints were able to break through and score an unconverted try with eight minutes to go closing the score to within a converted try at 17-11.

On the ensuing restart the Dons were able to pressure the Saints and force a turnover and that set up wing Nick Layon to race over for a try that sealed it with four minutes to go. Final score Cathedral 22, Saints 11. Cathedral leads the SCIRF now with a 3-0 record, with St. Augustine at 2-1.