The Santana High School football team was making its first appearance in the San Diego Section football championships since 2011 and expectations were high, especially after the third-seeded Sultans roared to leads of 7-0 and 14-7 in the first quarter.
But the fourth-seeded La Jolla County Day Torreys and their record-setting quarterback Braxton Burmeister had other ideas as they rallied with 24 unanswered points to defeat the Sultans, 35-24, last Friday at Southwestern College’s DeVore Stadium.
The Santana High School football team was making its first appearance in the San Diego Section football championships since 2011 and expectations were high, especially after the third-seeded Sultans roared to leads of 7-0 and 14-7 in the first quarter.
But the fourth-seeded La Jolla County Day Torreys and their record-setting quarterback Braxton Burmeister had other ideas as they rallied with 24 unanswered points to defeat the Sultans, 35-24, last Friday at Southwestern College’s DeVore Stadium.
“We knew they could score, and we knew we could score,” said Burmeister, who passed for 274 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 102 yards and another score. “Our defense showed up in the second half.”
Indeed, it did.
Santana received standout performances from senior running back Bobby Wallace (32 carries, 141 yards, one touchdown) and junior quarterback Josh Oedewaldt (194 passing yards, one touchdown). But once Burmeister and the Torrey’s got going, they proved difficult to stop.
The Sultans (8-5) did close the game on a positive note after their rabid fans began chanting, “We’re not done yet!” in the final minutes of the game.
Oedewaldt electrified the crowd by throwing a 13-yard scoring pass to teammate Brock Ellis with 3:14 left in the contest.
Oedewaldt was impressive to start the game by completing his opening 10 passes. Wallace, the Santee school’s all-time rushing leader, opened scoring on a six-yard run following a fumble recovery by teammate Cameron Kane.
Aiden Rasmusson caught a 27-yard touchdown pass for the Sultans (8-5) while Timmy Tischer kicked a 38-yard field goal as Santana took a 17-14 lead.
But the day belonged to LJCD (11-3), which rocked Santana for 435 total offensive yards.
