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Football St. Anthony

High School Football Preview: St. Anthony at Marina

There is no historic football rivalry between St. Anthony and Marina High School. The teams haven’t played since 2016–a 48-21 Saints win that year–and have only met twice since 2004. But when the teams square off tonight at 7 p.m. in Huntington Beach, there will be plenty of history on the opposing sidelines.

St. Anthony head coach Raul Lara will be going head-to-head with Marina head coach Jeff Turley, who was Lara’s longtime defensive coordinator back at Long Beach Poly. With both coaches being defensive-minded, one might expect to see a low-scoring affair, but the St. Anthony offense has been hitting its stride in recent weeks.

The Saints (2-3) are on a modest two-game winning streak over Wilson and St. Pius X – St. Matthias Academy, scoring 43 points in their most recent win. The young Saints got off to a slow start against some tough competition, but Lara seems to have things headed in the right direction behind running back Sone Aupiu, who had a monster game against Pius.

Meanwhile, Marina (1-4) is coming off a 45-13 loss to crosstown rivals Huntington Beach on the road last week. The Vikings have been tougher at home this season, picking up their lone win (40-17) over Fountain Valley a week after a close 30-28 home loss against Elsinore. Now in his eighth season in charge, Turley has built a solid program at Marina, going 17-4 combined the previous two seasons. Now members of the Big 4 League, the Vikings haven’t lost a league game since 2018.

This is the final non-league game for St. Anthony before Del Rey League play starts, so Lara and company will look to keep that winning streak going, and get a win over an old friend.

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Tyler Hendrickson
Tyler Hendrickson was born and raised in Long Beach, and started covering sports in his hometown in 2010. After five years as a sportswriter, Tyler joined the athletic department at Long Beach State University in 2015. He spent more than four years in the athletic communications department, working primarily with the Dirtbags baseball program. Tyler also co-authored of The History of Long Beach Poly: Scholars & Champions.
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