By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor With just two weeks to go in the 2018 high school football regular season, the games get even more intense and important. St. Francis has a tall task ahead of them, as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the reigning Angelus League champions at Cathedral. Muir has one […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
With just two weeks to go in the 2018 high school football regular season, the games get even more intense and important.
St. Francis has a tall task ahead of them, as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the reigning Angelus League champions at Cathedral.
Muir has one last shot for a top-three position in the Pacific League standings when it travels to first-place (and undefeated in league) Arcadia.
Poly will bounce back against a struggling Vasquez team.
Maranatha will pad their stats in a Olympic League game against winless Whittier Christian.
And Pasadena hopes to earn its third Pacific League victory of the season when they host Burroughs.
St. Francis (5-3 overall, 1-0 in league) is not only facing the Angelus League’s reigning multi-year champs, they are doing so on the road.
The Phantoms haven’t lost a league game since St. Francis knocked them off, 31-14, back in October of 2015.
Cathedral (6-2, 1-0) has outscored its opponents by a margin of 269-104 in 2018, which includes last week’s 42-0 victory over Crespi.
The Phantoms have 16 TD’s through the air, and 19 more on the ground.
Terence Simon and Brandyn Jordan have combined to rush for just under 1,200 yards and 16 touchdowns for Cathedral.
Alex Franco has been the Phantoms’ go-to receiver.
Franco has team highs in receptions (38), yards (595) and TD’s (8).
St. Francis is coming off its Angelus League beatdown of Salesian.
In just one half of football last Friday, the Golden Knights outscored the Mustangs 41-0.
SF coach Jim Bonds acknowledged that his program goes into Friday’s game more of an underdog than in previous years because of the graduation of so many skilled players in 2017.
But they’ll make no excuses in victory or defeat.
Darius Perrantes will have to keep the SF offense running all game and the Golden Knights need very much to win the battle on turnovers.
Perrantes has been incredibly accurate and effective lately as quarterback.
Through week seven, the senior QB has thrown for 1,883 yards, 20 TD’s and has been picked 7 times.
Take into account that Perrantes missed the Damien game and they only played two quarters last week, so his stats would obviously be higher.
His 310 yards on the ground are second best to Kevin Armstead’s 585.
Armstead missed a pair of games, but he’s still scored 8 rushing TD’s and two more through the air.
Tanner Tomko and Bryson Reeves have 7 TD’s apiece and combine for 56 receptions and 1,200 yards.
As is the case almost always, defense wins out, and the Phantoms have allowed just 104 points all season, while the Golden Knights have surrendered 220.
Maranatha (5-3 overall, 2-0 in league) will earn its third Olympic League victory when they compete against last-place and winless Whittier Christian.
The game is being played at Whittier College.
So far, in 2018, Maranatha has outscored its opponents 217-111, while Whittier Christian has been outscored 351-51.
The Minutemen have league victories over both Valley Christian and Village Christian, and they’ve done so by a margin of 57-14.
Zack McClendon has scored two TD’s in both week seven and eight in wins over Valley and Village Christian, respectively.
With a victory Friday, Maranatha would set up its regular season finale at home against undefeated Heritage Christian on October 26, and do so in a winner-take-all scenario.
Muir (6-2 overall, 3-2 in league) needs to bounce back after a disappointing one-point loss to Burbank last week.
As many of you know, the weather postponed the Muir-Burbank game until Saturday morning, and the Mustangs went into the second half with a 14-9 lead.
But, to their credit, Burbank shut out Muir the rest of the way and edged the Mustangs in a battle between two programs that were tied for second place.
The challenge this week is even steeper.
Muir will head to Arcadia High School to take on the first place and undefeated (in league) Apaches.
Arcadia opened the season 1-2, but they find themselves on a five-game win streak.
Dylan Guerra leads the Apaches offense and has thrown for 1,805 yards and 23 TD’s.
Guerra has only been picked off four times all year and he averages nearly 230 yards through the air.
Arcadia has four different receivers with at least 350 yards and they combine for 19 TD’s.
Muir will need to excel in every phase of the game Friday if they want to leave Arcadia with a victory.
Brian Love know he’s got to keep the offense as close to turnover free as possible.
Muir hopes to use their speed at the receiver position to their advantage and need big games from receivers Caleb Snowden, Aryonis Harrison and Nick Moore.
Jahlique Stephens could have a huge impact on the game, provided that he’s able to anchor the Mustangs’ rushing attack and keeping the Arcadia offense on their sidelines for as long as possible.
After dropping from a three-way tie for second last week with Crescenta Valley and Burbank, the Mustangs now find themselves in fourth place.
With a win tonight and next week over Pasadena, Muir is looking to enter the postseason clicking on all cylinders.
Pasadena (4-4 overall, 2-3 in league) could actually catch crosstown rival Muir if the Mustangs lose at Arcadia and if the Bulldogs knock off a Burroughs team that has won just two games all year.
It would give the Bulldogs the opportunity to finish above Muir in the Pacific League standings if they win out in their final two games of the regular season.
PHS will host Burroughs tonight at 7.
Pasadena has been outscored in 2018 by a margin of 226-157, and 144-106 in league games.
It’s the same story every week for PHS.
Will they give quarterback Andreas Solling enough time to find his big play guys (Jeremiah Hutchings & Mekhi Fox) and can the Bulldogs establish a running game?
Burroughs has been outscored 115-81 in league and 258-117 overall.
Poly (5-2 overall, 0-1 in league) finds itself in an unusual position Friday afternoon.
The Panthers lost their first Prep League game in three years and sit in third place.
But Poly will certainly bounce back in a big way when they host lowly Vasquez at 3.
After a win to begin their 2018 season, the Mustangs have lost seven consecutive games.
Vasquez has surrendered 370 points, while scoring just 105 through eight games, and that includes last week’s Prep League opening defeat to Rio Hondo Prep, 48-0.
Jackson Treister and Franco Alonso have paced Poly’s offense all season, and they’ll continue to do so on Friday.
La Salle (0-8 overall, 0-2 in league) will face off with St. Genevieve in their second to last game of the season.
The Valiants (4-4, 0-2) are on a two-game losing streak, both of which were Del Rey League contests.
And they’ve scored just 27 points in two league games.
La Salle has gotten better each week, and much of that is due to the maturity at quarterback of CJ Rettig.
Rettig is coming off a four-TD game, and over 300 yards through the air in a high-scoring loss to St. Anthony two weeks ago.
The Lancers are as rested as they can be, with thanks to a week eight bye.
