Saint Augustine defeated San Clemente 29-14 Saturday to win the SCIRF title, and finish the season undefeated.

This is the final of teams trying to follow California Interscholastic Federation rules on high school athletics. While it's not an official CIF league, organizers hope its the precursor to one.

As they have all season, Saints relied heavily on territory and defense to win the match. Saints were led on defense by captain Aidan Konja, who made numerous tackles and was a nuisance at the breakdown all day. Travis Hall continued to put in a tremendous work rate and make big tackles when the Saints needed it most. 

Saint Augustine were camped out in San Clemente’s 22 for the majority of the first half. But San Clemente hung in there. Flyhalf Trey Torticill put flanker Kyle Kerr through a gap and Kerry rambled on for 40 meters for a try and a 7-7 scoreline midway through the first period. Saint Augustine responded by pushing San Clemente back into their half, and a try from Konja and a penalty from Michael Colucci made it 17-7.

The second half started with Saints immediately playing phases inside the San Clemente 22. However, San Clemente was tough on defense and kept Saints out for a long period. Finally, through, the Saint Augustine pressure told and Jack Page was over. Another try from Konja extended the lead to 29-7 before San Clemente got one more try in.

"San Clemente are a physical side with a lot of experienced seniors," said Saints Head Coach Ethan Willis. "They had a great season and it was an honor to play them in the final. I am proud of our group. Our boys have worked extremely hard and earned this win. Going undefeated in SCIRF is no easy task; the top four teams in our league all could beat each other on any given day. Collectively our top 30 players set a high standard for training every time we stepped on the field. It paid off."

Saints will now travel to San Francisco to play Jesuit on March 7 at Cal Maritime.