Bulldogs fall to St. Augustine in non-league game

Only four of the starters on Ramona High School’s 2015 football team are playing for the Bulldogs this year. The inexperienced 2016 Bulldogs opened their season — and for many players their varsity careers — Aug. 26 against St. Augustine, which reached the CIF Open Division championship game last year.

“They had guys who had played 25 varsity football games,” said Ramona head coach Damon Baldwin.

The non-league game at Mesa College will affect the Bulldogs’ chances for a Palomar League championship only in terms of readying the Ramona squad for a high level of competition, so Baldwin sees the Saints’ 62-13 victory as the beginning of Ramona’s adjustment.

“It was an eye-opening experience for our team, but there were some positives,” Baldwin said. “We were in the game in the first half.”

The score was 21-7 with five minutes remaining in the first half, and a dropped pass may have deprived the Bulldogs of a touchdown.

“That game could have been a 21-14 half,” Baldwin said.

Two additional St. Augustine touchdowns in the final five minutes of the second quarter created a 35-7 halftime score, and the Saints held a 55-7 lead after three periods.

“Things sort of got away at the end there,” Baldwin said. “We just made a lot of first-game mistakes. We didn’t tackle very well.”

A 34-yard run by Caleb Berman accounted for Ramona’s second-quarter touchdown. Casey Buggeln was ill when the Bulldogs participated in an Aug. 18 scrimmage, so the game against St. Augustine was the first varsity experience for the Bulldogs’ new quarterback. Buggeln completed 13 of his 23 passes, including a 33-yard touchdown strike to Bryce Roe in the fourth quarter.

Buggeln also hit Hunter Gurrola for a 60-yard completion.

“We’re playing a lot of young kids, and in football it takes time,” Baldwin said. “We just need to keep growing as a football team. It’s just a process that’s got to happen.”

The Bulldogs play Point Loma High School Friday at the Clairemont High School stadium.

“We have a little better shot,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin doesn’t expect any of Ramona’s other regular-season opponents to be as powerful as St. Augustine.

“There won’t be another team like that that we’ll play,” he said.

The loss to St. Augustine showed the Bulldogs players the top level of varsity competition.

“I’d rather have a young team play a team like that and learn from it,” Baldwin said.

The junior varsity and freshman games between Ramona and St. Augustine were played Aug. 27 at Ramona High School. The freshman game ended as a 42-0 Saints victory, but Ramona captured the junior varsity contest with a touchdown in the final two minutes for an 18-17 victory.

“The junior varsity team had a great win over a great Saints team,” Baldwin said. “I think they have a chance to be pretty good this year.”