In its first four wins this season, the St. Francis offense has rightfully gotten a lot of the credit. But in Friday night’s 28-19 victory over visiting Buena Park, Gabriel Grbavac, Daniel Scott, Gavin Campbell, Bobby Gazmarian, Gabriel Mathews and the rest of the Golden Knights defense deserves top billing. The offense, led by quarterback […]
In its first four wins this season, the St. Francis offense has rightfully gotten a lot of the credit.
But in Friday night’s 28-19 victory over visiting Buena Park, Gabriel Grbavac, Daniel Scott, Gavin Campbell, Bobby Gazmarian, Gabriel Mathews and the rest of the Golden Knights defense deserves top billing.
The offense, led by quarterback Michael Bonds, the running of Jace Harrick and Elijah Washington, and the receiving core headed by Daniel Scott, all did their parts as well.
Holding Buena Park quarterback Deshaun Harvey and the Coyotes offense to 37 points under their per-game average, though, took a sensational effort.
While Buena Park (4-1) scored 19, the St. Francis (5-0) defense allowed just 12. Elijah Gates had an 85-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter against the Golden Knights’ special teams.
Grbavac had at least 3 sacks if not more, and hurried Harvey throughout.
Campbell had a big sack on a fourth-down play, Scott knocked a ball down in the end zone headed for a Coyotes touchdown, and Mathews picked off Harvey and almost had another.
“Our defense has been amazing all year, but tonight they really stepped it up against a really good offense,” quarterback Michael Bonds said.
It looked good early for Buena Park, when Harvey hit Devon Cooley on a 40-yard score with 1:44 to play in the first quarter. The Coyotes missed the extra-point attempt, though, and held a 6-0 lead.
Elijah Washington continues his big-game play, scoring on consecutive touchdown runs of 25 and 28 yards, respectively, allowing St. Francis to take a 14-6 lead.
Washington also had a huge fourth-down reception to continue a drive that ended in 7 points, and has 4 TD runs in the last two weeks alone.
Daniel Scott, who is arguably and quietly the best all-around athlete each time St. Francis plays, did what he does best.
Scott scored his sixth TD of the year on a 52-yard strike from Michael Bonds to extend the Golden Knights advantage to 21-6, and he finished with 85 yards on 5 catches.
But it was his batting the ball down in the end zone, while leading by 9 points that thwarted what could have been a huge momentum swing in the fourth quarter.
“I think the whole team in general worked hard,” Scott said. “We put together long drives. The defensive line put a lot of pressure on their quarterback. Michael Bonds did a great job, the running backs and offensive line all played well. I think 11 hats to the ball and every player doing their sole job,” (was the reason we won).
Bonds was outstanding with no turnovers and leading the Golden Knights offense.
He finished 15 of 22 for 190 yards, he threw a 52-yard score to Daniel Scott and dove in from 10 yards out for a huge late score to keep Buena Park at bay. Bonds also had nearly 60 yards rushing on the night.
“This was a great win,” he said. “Any time you can look at the guy next to you and can say you were able to do your job, it’s a good night. I was proud of everyone, and especially our defense. I thought I played the best game at quarterback tonight.”
Jace Harrick was solid as usual, gaining 105 yards on nearly 30 carries.
“Jace and Elijah are a great duo,” coach Jim Bonds said. “Jace earns every yard he gets and isn’t afraid of anyone, and Elijah’s got the moves and just gets us going with his scoring plays. Michael was outstanding at quarterback, and our defense is what kept us in this game all night long.”
Harvey finished 19 of 34 for 317 yards, two touchdown passes of 40 and 26 yards to Devon Cooley, and was picked once by Mathews.
Cooley caught 5 passes for 106 yards.
If this game and this crowd seemed like a playoff atmosphere, wait until next Friday when La Salle (4-1) comes in with 1,000-yard runner Amon Milliner to start Angelus League play with St. Francis.
Box Score:
Buena Park: 6-0-7-6-(19)
St. Francis: 0-21-0-7-(28)
Scoring:
BP: Devon Cooley 40 pass from Deshaun Harvey (kick failed)
SF: Elijah Washington 25 run (Dulles Hanula kick)
SF: Elijah Washington 28 run (Hanula kick)
SF: Daniel Scott 52 pass from Michael Bonds (Hanula kick)
BP: Cooley 26 pass from Harvey (Mauricio Moncayo kick)
SF: Michael Bonds 10 run (Hanula kick)
BP: Elijah Gates 85 kickoff return (pass failed)
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