It’s been a long two years since St. Anthony High School broke ground on the new athletic facility at Clark Field. Now 2023 will always be the start of a new ear for the private school.
The Saints have been using the old soybean farm acreage on the corner of Clark Ave. and Del Amo St. for the last 78 years, and this year they finally have a $13 million state-of-the-art facility to call home.
The renovation included field turf, all-weather track, stadium bleachers, locker rooms and more.
For the last two years, the St. Anthony football and soccer teams have been without a home and playing all of their games on the road. Dedicated fundraising over that time got the job done before football season this year, and that proved to pay off immediately.
The Saints went 8-2 and won the Del Rey League title before delivering a phenomenal playoff win at Clark Field in front of their own home fans. They trailed Tahquitz late in the first-round matchup, but a 5:33 drive that consisted of 13 straight runs by Jojo Apisala and Elijah Lolesio-Pua delivered the win. Apisala capped it off with a 4-yard touchdown to give his team a one point lead with 46 seconds remaining.
St. Anthony was able to hold on in the final seconds after recording a sack and a pass deflection on back-to-back plays before taking the field to jump around and celebrate their 35-34 win over visiting Tahquitz.
