By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor It’s not the losing of Friday night’s Angelus League showdown at Cathedral that will sting the most. It was the way St. Francis lost that will stick with the players, coaches and the Golden Knights fans for a little while. All season, St. Francis has shown an intellect, a discipline […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
It’s not the losing of Friday night’s Angelus League showdown at Cathedral that will sting the most.
It was the way St. Francis lost that will stick with the players, coaches and the Golden Knights fans for a little while.
All season, St. Francis has shown an intellect, a discipline and a focus on protecting the ball that eight teams were not able to match.
Friday night, though, St. Francis turned the ball over four times, and fell, 24-17, which almost certainly gives the Phantoms (9-0, 4-0) the Angelus League championship.
“We just played the brand of football we’ve played all year,” Cathedral coach Kevin Pearson said when asked what they did to take the St. Francis offense out of their game. “We real aggressive and try to put pressure on the quarterback and force turnovers. (Daniel Scott) is one of those guys we had to game-plan for. But they have a lot of other athletes too.”
St. Francis (8-1, 3-1), despite all that, was in the game till the end and came back from a 14-point second-half deficit.
A Jamire Calvin 5-yard catch from Bryce Young midway through the fourth quarter turned out to be the game winner.
“We can’t turn the ball over four times in a battle for the league championship,” St. Francis coach Jim Bonds said. “We played poorly and only lost by seven points. We will pick up the pieces and learn from this experience, starting with our film session tomorrow (Saturday) morning.”
Dulles Hanula’s 26-yard field goal gave St. Francis a 3-0 lead with 26 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Jose Nunez tied the game with a 34-yard field goal with 4:27 to play in the first half for Cathedral.
Colin Payne’s 2-yard scoring run, and Andrew Tovar’s 1-yard sneak gave the Phantoms a 17-3 lead with 5:45 to play in the third quarter.
Trailing by two touchdowns and at the Cathedral 5-yard line, coach Jim Bonds decided to go for it on 4th-and-5 instead of taking a sure 22-yard field goal.
His gamble, or (guts) paid off, when his nephew, quarterback Michael Bonds, threw the ball into the end zone.
Bonds’ pass, which went through the hands of Blake Howard, ended up with Gabriel Mathews, and the Golden Knights were down just 17-10.
Bonds and Mathews weren’t done yet, though.
Mathews hauled in a 32-yard score and St. Francis had come all the way back to tie the game at 17-17.
The momentum got even stronger when Bobby Gazmarian blocked a short Cathedral field-goal attempt.
That momentum, however, dissipated when Bonds threw his first interception since Sept. 23.
Jeffrey Manning’s interception set up the eventual game-winner to Calvin.
“We had done a good job all season of protecting the ball and we did not do that tonight,” Michael Bonds said. “I thought our defense played well and my line gave me time to pass. I wish I had not thrown the interception, but we all learn from our mistakes.”
Leading 3-0, a fumble at the Cathedral 2-yard line which would have been a first-and-goal, a fumble on a kickoff, the interception and a muffed punt all proved to be too much to overcome.
But St. Francis has shown a character all season that will surely be on display next week at St. Paul in the Angelus League finale, and the Golden Knights will take a second-place seeding into the playoffs.
The core of seniors and quality players in general will give St. Francis a chance to compete with anyone in the CIF-SS Division 3 bracket.
Notes:
** Elijah Washington, Gabriel Grbavac and Gavin Campbell had sacks for St. Francis.
** Bobby Gazmarian, Daniel Scott and Greg Dulcich all lost fumbles.
** Cathedral held St. Francis to less than 80 yards rushing.
Box Score:
St. Francis: 3-0-7-7-(17)
Cathedral: 0-3-14-7-(24)
Scoring:
SF: Dulles Hanula 26 FG
C: Jose Nunez 34 FG
C: Colin Payne 2 run (Nunez kick)
C: Andrew Tovar 1 run (Nunez)
SF: Gabriel Mathews 5 pass from Michael Bonds (Hanula kick)
SF: Gabriel Mathews 32 pass from Michael Bonds (Hanula kick)
C: Jamire Calvin 5 pass from Bryce Young (Nunez kick)
Friday’s Angelus League Scores:
Cathedral 24, St. Francis 17
La Salle 58, Harvard-Westlake 28
St. Paul 42, Salesian 35
Angelus League Standings:
Cathedral (9-0 overall, 4-0 in league)
St. Francis (8-1, 3-1)
La Salle (6-3, 2-2)
St. Paul (4-5, 2-2)
Salesian (5-4, 1-3)
Harvard-Westlake (3-6, 0-4)
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