It’s been about 18 hours since St. Francis (5-0) knocked off visiting Buena Park, 28-19 in front of a standing-room-only crowd, and it’s now possible to play, in this case, ‘Saturday evening quarterback,’ in what the Golden Knights did to flip the script on the Coyotes. To begin, what makes this victory of their five […]
It’s been about 18 hours since St. Francis (5-0) knocked off visiting Buena Park, 28-19 in front of a standing-room-only crowd, and it’s now possible to play, in this case, ‘Saturday evening quarterback,’ in what the Golden Knights did to flip the script on the Coyotes.
To begin, what makes this victory of their five so impressive can be read in the numbers, and yet there are some things that stats couldn’t begin to measure.
Buena Park (4-1) allowed 6 total points in its first four wins, but St. Francis more than quadrupled that number in four quarters on Friday.
The Coyotes offense averaged 49 points per game, and yet they were held to 37 under that number, considering a long kickoff return was charged to the St. Francis special teams unit.
Its star quarterback, Deshaun Harvey, did get his 300 yards (317) for Buena Park, but he was held to two TD passes under his average, and he doubled his interception total from the first four games combined when Gabriel Mathews picked off the junior.
Mathews would be the first to tell you that he should have had another later on in the fourth quarter that slipped through his fingers.
So, what did St. Francis do so right to change a four-game Coyotes history overnight?
Several things.
First, Jace Harrick carried the ball 30 times (more than twice his touches in last week’s win over Dorsey) for over 100 yards, and ate up a lot of clock.
While Harrick is the run right at you and drop his shoulder type of back, enter Elijah Washington, the Golden Knights other back, who uses his quick feet to allude defenders all year.
Washington had two more TD runs (25, 28 yards) and a huge reception to extend a drive.
And it wasn’t just the two touchdowns that speak so loudly for Washington, it’s when he gets them. On Friday, St. Francis trailed 6-0, but two big plays from the junior and the Golden Knights didn’t relinquish a lead No. 25 got them.
Michael Bonds was a great game manager and yet wasn’t overly conservative. Bonds threw a 52-yard score to Daniel Scott and had a 10-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that all but put the Coyotes away.
Most importantly, Bonds and the offense did not turn the ball over.
Daniel Scott may be the silent assassin for coach Jim Bonds.
Scott caught his sixth TD pass, led the team in receiving with 85 yards and his defense was arguably more important than what he did on offense, which included breaking up a potential TD pass in the end zone.
Greg Dulcich, Will Mudie, Gabriel Mathews, Scott, Harrick and Washington all caught passes.
Just when it looked like Jim Bonds was going conservative and punting the ball away on a fourth-and-short, the veteran called for a fake punt and extended another drive.
More importantly, though, the decision and execution kept Harvey on the Buena Park sidelines.
Gabriel Grbavac continues to be an opposing quarterback’s worst enemy and led the defense again Friday with three more sacks and countless hurries of Harvey.
Bobby Gazmarian, Gavin Campbell, Scott, Washington, Mathews and the whole Golden Knights “D” played their best game of the year.
Were there moments they wish they had back? Of course.
Michael Bonds would be the first to tell you he should have dumped the ball with 10 seconds to play in the first half and no time outs on the board.
Instead, the veteran QB was sacked and time ran out before Dulles Hanula could even think about getting out on the field to try and attempt a short, 27-yard field goal.
The other glaring setback came when the Golden Knights sent a kickoff directly to Elijah Gates, the ‘one player’ a UCLA scout was there to see instead of kicking it away from him, and the senior brought it back 85 yards for a TD that got the Coyotes to within 9 points.
But the St. Francis offense continued to run the ball and devoured the clock to move to 5-0.
Jim Bonds’ recipe for success Friday night: Zero turnovers. Owned the time of possession battle. Limitied penalties. Pressure all night on Harvey. Staying unpredictable and creative on offense. Running the ball effectively and using Michael Bonds’ arm and legs to extend drives. And using Daniel Scott’s versatility, among many others (Grbavac, etc) to outlast and out-skill the Coyotes.
As sweet at this victory should be for the Golden Knights faithful, they’ll take very little time to enjoy it, because they’ll be back at practice Monday morning to get ready for La Salle.and the Angelus League opener.
The Lancers (4-1) are coming off a bye week and bring to La Canada a running back who’s numbers are mind boggling, in Amon Milliner, and his over 1,000 yards rushing and 10 TD’s in just five games.
