One of the biggest football games in school history is coming Saturday, and a number of San Diego players figure to be totally involved.

Benedictine College, located in Atchison, Kan., boasts 13 players from San Diego.

The Ravens, 11-2 and seeded No. 9, travel to Florida on Saturday for the NAIA semifinal playoffs to tackle 11-0 Keiser, the No. 1 seed.

The winner of Iowa schools No. 2 Grand View (12-0) vs. No. 6 Morningside (12-1) awaits the winner of Benadictine-Keiser in the NAIA championship game.

Isaiah Hasten, one of the few seniors on St. Augustine High School’s CIF San Diego Section 2023 Division 1 champions, helped Benedictine upset Indiana Wesleyan 20-9 last week, recording seven tackles and an interception.

Hasten, a safety, has 34 tackles and two interceptions this season.

Also playing key roles for the Ravens are starting offensive tackle Britton Smith (Westview), kicker Harry Balke (Cathedral Catholic), safety Javhi Bloomquist (Madison), receiver Jacob Gathright (El Camino), defensive back JJ Jackson (Mater Dei Catholic) and special teams player Dawson Washington (Torrey Pines).

Balke has 113 points, making 68 of 69 PATS and 15 of 17 field goals with a long of 53 yards.

Bloomquist has 46 tackles, four interceptions and three sacks. Gathright is the leading receiver with 55 catches for 1,279 yards and 12 TDs.

Also on the Ravens’ roster are senior lineman Isaac Anderson (Mission Hills), sophomore quarterback Carter Schultz (San Marcos) and defensive back James Johnson (Helix) and freshman defensive backs Manny Adeiza (San Pasqual) and Chance LaChappa (El Capitan) and receivers Ceejay Clavier (Olympian) and Joshua Zander (Granite Hills).

The key to Benadictine’s success in San Diego is Aaron Hauser. Hauser played for his father, Chris, at Mission Hills, then followed his father into coaching.

The younger Hauser is the passing game coordinator, receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Benedictine.

Military rivalry

Local quarterbacks Joey Armentrout (El Camino) and Gervy Alota (Francis Parker) hooked up last month when the Coast Guard Academy visited the Merchant Marine Academy.

Armentrout, a senior, completed 22 of 26 passes for 259 yards and three touchdown and ran for a score as the Coast Guard Academy beat the Merchant Marine Academy 42-21. Four of Armentrout’s passes went to Broock Desta (Serra, now Canyon Hills) for 43 yards.

Alota, a junior, completed 10 of 15 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown and ran 23 times for 91 yards and a score.

Armentrout finished the season with 2,723 passing yards and 21 TDs. He’s the all-time passing leader at the Coast Guard Academy with 7,691 yards and 51 TDs. Desta finished the season with 54 catches for 727 yards and nine TDs.

Alota finished the season with 1,283 passing yards and 10 TDs. He rushed 127 times for 539 yards and 12 TDs.

Perseverance pays off

Luke Armstrong (Carlsbad/Palomar College) earned all-conference honors at Kansas Wesleyan as running back and kick returner.

The junior finished the season with 160 carries for 1,297 yards and 14 TDs. He had five games of more than 100 yards with a career-high 264 yards against the University of Saint Mary.

He had 603 yards on 28 kick returns with a pair of TDs on kickoff returns, including a 95-yarder.

Armstrong suffered an ankle injury late in his senior season at Carlsbad in 2019. He practiced but didn’t play at Palomar College in 2019, lost the 2020 season to COVID-19, then injured a knee in the first game of the 2021 season.

He was a backup running back at Palomar in 2022 before heading to Kansas Wesleyan in 2023.

After battling through all his injuries, Armstrong is a pre-physical therapy major with an eye on a doctorate in physical therapy.

From the gridiron to the court

Quarterback Luke Durkin (Scripps Ranch) finished his senior season at Davidson College with 560 passing yards and seven TDs. He didn’t throw an interception in 65 passes. He also ran for 108 yards and a pair of scores.

A member of the Army ROTC, Durkin received an educational delay which allows him to begin work on becoming an Army JAG attorney. The program allows senior-year cadets to apply for a commissioning delay in order to attend law school. Cadets granted an education delay are commissioned after graduation and placed in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) during law school.

A lot of players

The University of Redlands listed 16 players from San Diego on its 2024 football roster.

Linebacker Maximus Susi (Eastlake) led the team with 49 tackles and six tackles-for-loss. Elijah Valles (El Camino) has 18 tackles. Evan Aguon (Mission Bay) had 12 catches for 160 yards while Ethan Knight (Otay Ranch) had five catches for 125 yards. TC Williams (Scripps Ranch) had 16 carries for 94 yards.

Redlands finished the season 3-7.

Brains and brawn

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is one of the top academic colleges in the country. The Stags can play football, too, going 8-2.

Senior left tackle Owen Benjamin (La Jolla Country Day) was named all-conference for the second year.

Kicker Rich Brutto (St. Augustine) was also all-conference after making 10 of 16 field goals and 29 of 31 PATs.

Zeke Vellez (El Camino), a freshman defensive lineman, had five tackles.

Big season

Quarterback Gunnar Hensley (Mission Hills) completed 205 of 307 passes for 2,515 yards and 18 TDs at Augustana University, an NCAA Division II program in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Hensley had seven games of  more than 200 yards with a career high 358 yards and four TDs vs. Northern State. The Vikings finished 8-4, losing 20-19 to Minnesota State in the playoffs.

John Maffei’s Alumni Report appears during the college season. Readers are encouraged to send items to joihn.maffei@sduniontribune.com.

Originally Published: December 11, 2024 at 9:45 AM PST