By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor Elijah Washington is a pretty quiet kid, and he allows his play to do his talking. It must have seemed like he was screaming if you were on the other side of the ball, because the Golden Knights’ senior rushed for 205 yards on 21 carries, and he scored five […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
Elijah Washington is a pretty quiet kid, and he allows his play to do his talking.
It must have seemed like he was screaming if you were on the other side of the ball, because the Golden Knights’ senior rushed for 205 yards on 21 carries, and he scored five touchdowns.
St. Francis cruised past La Salle, 49-16, Friday night in the final Angelus League match up between the two area rivals.
The Golden Knights took advantage of a short field on their first two drives and never trailed.
Washington scored on runs of 1, 29, 6, 19, and 2 yards.
His 205 yards rushing and five TD’s were both career bests.
La Salle (3-3, 1-1) showed heart, despite being out-manned.
The Lancers, trailing 28-7 at the break, scored 9 consecutive points to start the third quarter.
CJ Montes hit Justin Lockhart on an 8-yard scoring pass and La Salle got as close as 28-16 when they forced a St. Francis ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
But the Golden Knights went on to score the game’s final 21 points.
Montes finished the nearly three-hour contest 15 of 37 for 136 yards and two scores.
Montes and Chris Wilson connected on a 6-yard TD in the second quarter.
Darius Perrantes wasn’t overly sharp with 176 yards passing and he was picked twice.
But the junior scored on a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter.
St. Francis offensive lineman and captain Matt Barriga recovered a first-quarter fumble and brought it forward 1 yard for a score to give the Golden Knights a 14-0 lead.
Justin Lockhart led the La Salle receiving core with six catches for 54 yards.
Kevin Armstead continues to excel, as the sophomore gained 75 yards on just five carries while they gave Washington a couple plays off.
Blake Howard caught 3 passes for 68 yards, and Greg Dulcich had 2 catches for 38 yards.
Howard also knocked the ball out of a La Salle player’s hand after the Lancer had run the kickoff approximately 50 yards, and it allowed St. Francis to recover the ball.
Kole Hamane looked really good and he ran hard.
The Lancers’ senior rushed for over 50 yards on 9 carries.
St. Francis will travel next week to Salesian and take on the Angelus League’s cellar dwellers, and La Salle travels to take on defending champion Cathedral.
Quotable:
SF running back-captain Elijah Washington: “For the team, it was amazing. We decided to run the ball and got the job done. We couldn’t let them get the momentum and impose our will on them.”
SF head coach Jim Bonds: “I thought the line did an excellent job in the run game, and Elijah used his vision and toughness to get a lot of hard yards after hits. I am really proud of the five guys up front.”
SF linebacker-receiver Blake Howard: “I thought our defense played solid for the majority of the game, but we shouldn’t have given up 2 touchdowns. Elijah played outstanding tonight. If everyone could see how hard he works day in and day out, they would know how much he deserved this.”
SF defensive end Gabriel Grbavac: “I thought Elijah played an outstanding game. I knew he was going to have a good game in practice earlier in the week.”
La Salle linebacker Joey Rivera: “Momentum was our best friend. We missed a few opportunities in the first half to keep the score close. After the safety, I thought we still had a chance if we completed that drive. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way, but that’s the game. They were a very athletic and well-coached team. And I gotta give props to 25, he ran hard. We have to prepare hard for next week and correct our mistakes.”
La Salle head coach Russell Gordon: “They won the field position in the first half and we made some young mistakes. In the second half, we came out with a spark. We played a heck of a football game with five freshman on the field. Our future is bright.”
Box Score:
SF: 14-14-7-14-(49)
LS: 0 -7-9-0-(16)
Scoring:
SF: Elijah Washington 1 run (Nico Boschetti kick)
SF: Matt Barriga 1 yard fumble recovery (Nico Boschetti kick)
LS: Chris Wilson 6 pass from CJ Montes (Cristian Reyes kick)
SF: Elijah Washington 29 run (Nico Boschetti kick)
SF: Elijah Washington 6 run (Nico Boschetti kick)
LS: Justin Lockhart 8 pass from CJ Montes (Cristian Reyes kick)
LS: Safety
SF: Elijah Washington 19 run (Nico Boschetti kick)
SF: Darius Perrantes 9 run (Nico Boschetti kick)
SF: Elijah Washington 2 run (Nico Boschetti kick)
Friday’s Angelus League Scores:
St. Francis 49, La Salle 16
Cathedral 24, St. Paul 7
Harvard-Westlake 47, Salesian 7
Angelus League Standings:
St. Francis (7-0 overall, 2-0 in league)
Cathedral (6-1, 2-0)
Harvard-Westlake (6-1, 1-1)
La Salle (3-4, 1-1)
St. Paul (2-5, 0-2)
Salesian (1-6, 0-2)
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