St. Rita School Varsity Football Team Prevail Over Our Lady of Lourdes 20-18



St Rita struggled mightily in their Elite Eight football game, but in the end they emerged with a 20-18 victory over Our Lady of Lourdes. The Lions were a formidable foe with good size and great speed. Lourdes scored first on a punt return as neither team could get anything going on offense, but a CJ Rettig to Christian Locatelli scoring toss and a conversion by Luca Farroni gave the Raiders a lead. Before the half, Farroni hit Brandon Clarizio with a reverse pass for a score.

The Lions scored their lone offensive touchdown as they took the second half kickoff and marched to the end zone. The conversion was no good, leaving the Raiders with a 14-12 edge. The Raiders suffered through an uncharacteristic series of mistakes that culminated in a pick six to see them fall behind 18-14. Until this game, St Rita had not trailed in a game since early September. To the kids credit, they responded to the challenge with a successful drive that ended with a Sam Poon reception of a Rettig touchdown pass. The Lions had one more chance to win, but that was thwarted by a Farroni interception.

The win wasn’t pretty, but it earned St Rita their 12th appearance in the CYO Football Final Four in the last 24 years. The semifinals are at St Francis High School at 1;00 against perennial power Holy Trinity of San Pedro. The winner of that game will play at St Francis against the winner of Corpus Christi School of Pacific Palisades and American Martyrs of Manhattan Beach for the CYO Championship. The losing teams on Saturday, play for third on Sunday. Third place game is 1:30 pm while the Championship is at 3:00 pm.

Saint Rita School, 322 North Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre, (626) 355-6114 or visit st-ritaschool.org.

 

 

 

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