The magic came a tiny bit too late for St. Augustine, as the Southern California Varsity Red regular season finished up with a packed top of the standings, but two teams out of contention for the title game.

“If anything makes the argument that we should do semifinals and final, this is it,” said St. Augustine Coach Sean Lindersmith after his team beat Cathedral Catholic 66-45 Saturday to finish 4-2. The result dropped Cathedral to 4-2, as well, putting their chance to be in the final game in serious jeopardy.

That worry was confirmed as reality later in the day after Fallbrook hammered Poway 77-0 (recorded as 40-0 under league rules), and Torrey Pines defeated LCC 45-10. Those two teams ended up 5-1, and will play for the title.

The St. Augustine v Cathedral game was got the Charity Cup, a challenge trophy between the two teams. The St. Augustine players were, said Lindersmith, ecstatic that they won. In a back-and-forth game, St. Augustine was led by Michael and Andrew Alves, and Elijah Ortiz in a game where they started to really click offensively.

“What was tough for us was playing Torrey Pines when we didn’t have our football players yet,” said Lindersmith. “The guys were 2-4 last year and came in with a lot of self-belief and worked really hard. We had some good results, including beating some strong non-league opponents.”

And it all worked out, with a 4-2 record in league play. But it wasn’t enough to get to the top two. Torrey Pines won comfortably against LCC and Fallbrook continued its excellent run of results after opening the season in December with a loss to Cathedral. They have won five in a row since then, with all but one garnering the maximum allowed winning margin of 40 points.