CHULA VISTA\u2014 As Paisios Polamalu goes, the St. Augustine offense goes. It\u2019s been that wayall year. It\u2019d be no different in the opening round of the CIF DI Playoffs.<\/p>\n
Behind a six-touchdown evening from the junior running back, St. Augustine cruised to a 45-20opening-round victory over No.9 seed Grossmont High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cPai played an amazing game. But, to help him get the ball or get the first five yards of a run, wedid a great job winning in the trenches all night,\u201d said St. Augustine coach Ron Caragher.<\/p>\n
The visiting Foothillers took control of the game in its early stages of Friday nights match-up.With running back Corbin Dow finding pay dirt twice in the first quarter and helping Grossmont jump outto an early 12-3 lead.<\/p>\n
After going three and out with their first possession and stalling in the red zone on their seconddrive, the St. Augustine\u2019s offense found its rhythm in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Polamalu kicked started the comeback with a 22-yard rushing touchdown. Drawing things to aone-score game at 12-9 with 9:44 left in the half.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur offensive line kept giving me opportunities all night,\u201d said St. Augustine running backPaisios Polamalu, \u201cWe\u2019ve learned not to quit. Our game against La Jolla a few weeks ago was a biglearning lesson for us, because we saw that even if we were down, the game is never over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the score, the St. Augustine defense came up with a critical stop. Forcing a turnoverown downs on their own 42-yard line.<\/p>\n
On the third play of the ensuing St. Augustine drive, Saints dialed up a trick play. Calling ahalfback pass, with Polamalu hitting Cooper Hamric connecting on a 45-yard pitch and catch. Setting upan instant red zone opportunity.<\/p>\n
A few plays later, Polamalu punched it in from three yards out. Putting St. Augustine ahead, forthe first time on the night, 17-12. For good measure, the running added one more score before the half.Capping the half with a one-yard rushing TD, and handing Saints a 24-12 halftime lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach time this season, when we have dug a hole for ourselves, we have come roaring back.That\u2019s why tonight is such a great team win.\u201d Said Caragher.<\/p>\n
Returning from the break, Grossmont drew things back to a one-score game. With quarterbackTyler Homes hitting wideout Randy Ballard for a 54-yard touchdown on the half\u2019s opening drive andmaking it a 24-20 game.<\/p>\n
It\u2019d be the closest Grossmont would get over the remaining 22 minutes of action.<\/p>\n
St. Augustine scored on three of its final four possessions of the game. That included a 67-yardtouchdown pass, on a critical third and eight, from Vince Smith to Polamalu. An eventual game-icing 80-yard touchdown run from Polamalu to make it 45-20 game.<\/p>\n
Along with his six total touchdowns on the night, Polamalu would also log two second-halfinterceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an offensive line, we always take pride in the running game. If we don\u2019t rush for over 100yards a game, we think it\u2019s an off night,\u201d said St. Augustine offensive linemen Marcel Sandoval. \u201cWecommunicated well all night. We always hold one another to a high standard.<\/p>\n
St. Augustine, 45 Grossmont, 20<\/p>\n
St. Augustine \u2014 3 21 7 14 45Grossmont \u2014 12 0 8 0 20<\/p>\n
GHS\u2014 C. Dow 4 rush (2pt failed)CHS\u2014 C. Dow 3 rush (2pt failed)ST\u2014 C. Moore 35 KickST\u2014 P. Polamalu 22 rush ( C. Moore Kick)ST\u2014 P. Polamalu 3 rush (C. Moore Kick)ST\u2014 P. Polamalu 5 rush (C. Moore Kick)GHS\u2014 R. Ballard 54 pass from T. Holmes (Holmes rush)ST\u2014 P. Polamalu 5 rush (C. Moore Kick)ST\u2014 P. Polamalu 67 pass from V. Smith (C. Moore Kick)ST\u2014 P. Polamalu 80 rush (C. Moore)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHULA VISTA\u2014 As Paisios Polamalu goes, the St. Augustine offense goes. It\u2019s been that wayall year. It\u2019d be…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":364066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3102,1370,3549,7264,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-364065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-high-school-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115513039458337420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}