High School Football: Marina can’t keep up with St. Anthony

LONG BEACH — Marina High’s football team ended the nonleague portion of its schedule against St. Anthony of Long Beach on Friday in a game that the Vikings would just as soon forget.

The Vikings fell behind by three touchdowns early and then got dealt the knockout blow with a four-touchdown third quarter by the Saints, who came away with a 48-21 victory.

It was fewest points scored and the most points allowed in a game for the Vikings, who have lost two in a row after starting out 3-0.

The Vikings have a week off before opening play in the Sunset League against Los Alamitos on Oct.7.

Injuries and illness have taken their toll on the Vikings over the past few weeks, Marina Coach Jeff Turley said

“We started out the season healthy and we were going good,” Turley said. “We started getting guys banged up and it started showing.”

The athleticism of St. Anthony quarterback Johnny Buksa was too much of a handful for Marina.

Buksa completed seven of 13 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns and rushed six times for 164 yards and two touchdowns.

“He definitely proved that he is a high caliber quarterback,” Turley said. “We didn’t have the guy to stop him.”

Already trailing 7-0, the Vikings fell victim to a pair of big plays on consecutive possessions – a 55-yard scoring pass from Johnny Buksa to Nico Ragas and then a 65-yard punt return by B.J. Busbee – and trailed 20-0 heading into the second.

But just when it seemed the Saints might put the game out of reach before halftime, a bizarre second quarter played out in the Vikings’ favor.

Marina’s first score of the game came on a 25-yard pass from Ian Green to Noah Holmes in the corner of the end zone.

Holmes was close to catching the ball out of bounds, but the officials ruled the play a touchdown after discussing the play for several minutes.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Vikings recovered their own onside kick and were set up on the Saints’ 46-yard line.

The Vikings then capped that drive with another scoring pass from Green to Holmes, this one for 16 yards, to get Marina to within a touchdown before the half.

Marina received the second-half kickoff with a chance to get closer or even take the lead with a touchdown.

But a 21-yard loss on a bad snap pinned the Vikings back at their own 1-yard line.

A 23-yard punt three plays later set the Saints up at the Marina 27 and Buksa rushed for a 27-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive to make the score 27-14.

The Saints turned the contest into a rout with touchdowns on their next three drives.

Marina’s final score of the game came on a 17-yard pass from backup quarterback Vishan Few to Holmes.

Nonleague

St. Anthony 48, Marina 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Marina 0 14 0 7 – 21

St. Anthony 20 0 28 0 – 48

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

SA – Busbee 14 run (Ashford run), 6:13

SA – Ragas 55 pass from Buksa (Kick failed), 2:31

SA – Busbee 65 punt return (Ashford kick), 00:29

SECOND QUARTER

Mar – Holmes 25 pass from Green (Riederich kick), 7:27

Mar – Holmes 16 pass from Green (Riederich kick), 4:23

THRID QUARTER

SA – Buksa 27 run (Ashford kick), 9:57

SA – Busbee 26 run (Ashford kick), 7:14

SA- Mohr 13 pass from Buksa (Ashford kick), 3:16

SA – Buksa 54 run (Ashford kick), 00:50

FOURTH QUARTER

Mar – Holmes 17 pass from Few (Riederick kick), 6:49

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Mar – Riederich 16-63

SA – Buksa 6-164, 2 TDs

INDIVIDUAL PASSSING

Mar – Green 11-21-0-117, 2 TDs

SA – Buksa 7-14-1-112, 2 TDs

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Mar – Holmes 6-87, 2 TDs

SA – Ragas 3-70, 1 TD