LONG BEACH — St. Anthony’s second-half rally fell short as they were defeated by El Monte High 18-13 in a first-round upset in the CIF Southern Section Division 11 playoffs on Friday night.

The Saints (3-8), the No. 1 seed in the division, came into this game without their starting quarterback, Aidan Jones, who suffered an injury at practice earlier in the week. That proved to be a major blow for St. Anthony as both backups, Jai’r Condley and Evan Martinez, struggled to get into rhythm offensively.

Head coach Jeff Magdaleno spoke about the impact Jones’ injury had on this team.

“Not having your captain, your leader of the team out there, that’s a factor just in the presence of being out there, the field general and all the reps that he’s had in two years,” Magdaleno said of Jones. “That

See Full Page