The562’s coverage of St. Anthony athletics is sponsored by Jane & B.I. Mais, Class of 1948.
St. Anthony football coach Jeff Magdaleno is looking to build on a CIF-SS championship appearance in his first year with the program, and the Saints face another tough schedule this season to test their ability to do so.
St. Anthony will open its schedule with three of the same four opponents as last year, visiting Lakewood and Torrance in consecutive weeks before hosting its home opener against Summit. The Saints lost to all three teams a year ago en route to an 0-4 start, but Magdaleno looks forward to the stiff competition to open the season.
“It’s a good test and prepares us for league when we start getting into playing the private schools that are more equal to us,” Magdaleno said. “We just attack each week like it’s our only game and we go out to win every game. It is a tough schedule and we know that we’re going to have some challenges, but we want to compete in every game, be in every game, and adjust to get better each week as we go towards league.”
The Saints won’t have as much familiarity in their opener against Lakewood on Aug. 29 as they did last year, but they will face former St. Anthony and first-year Lakewood coach Mario Morales. Morales spent 10 years with the Saints and led them to their first CIF–SS title in over 60 years in 2016.
Torrance (Sept. 5) and Summit (Sept. 12) should provide another pair of tough matchups for St. Anthony, after both made appearances in the CIF-SS Division 5 bracket last year — five divisions ahead of the Saints, who finished as runners-up in Division 10.
The difference in St. Anthony’s schedule this year begins in Week 4 when the Saints face a pair of private schools starting with Valley Christian in a Thursday night home matchup on Sept. 18. The Saints will then travel north to Arcadia on Sept. 26 to face Rio Hondo Prep, last year’s first-place finisher in the Gold Coast League. The Kares were the Division 3A runner-up in the CIF State Championship a year ago.
St. Anthony will then begin its league schedule where the Saints went 4-1 last year to finish in second place in the Del Ray League — part of a 10-2 run over their final 12 games. The Saints will look to mimic an offensive outpour during their league schedule after scoring an impressive 164 points across their five league games.
This year, St. Anthony will begin its league schedule at Crespi on Oct. 3 before hosting Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary on Oct. 10. The Saints defeated Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary by multiple scores last year and narrowly defeated Crespi in their regular-season finale and advanced into the CIF-SS Division 11 bracket.
The Saints will then host La Salle on Oct. 17 before visiting Salesian on Oct. 24 in a potential first-place matchup. The Mustangs handed St. Anthony its only league loss of the season in a low-scoring 10-7 game last year. The Saints will finish their regular-season schedule at Harvard-Westlake on Oct. 31.
“Every year it can be different,” Magdaleno said of the Del Ray League. “I think we have a chance to be very competitive in the league like last year, but every year the dynamic of the year can shift a bit from one team to the next.”
St. Anthony Football Schedule:
8/29 – at Lakewood
9/5 – at Torrance
9/12 vs. Summit
9/18 – vs. Valley Christian
9/26 – at Rio Hondo Prep
10/3 – at Crespi
10/10 – vs. CSHM*
10/17 – vs. La Salle*
10/24 – at Salesian*
10/31 – at Harvard-Westlake*
*= league game
