By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor As much as St. Francis wants to forget about the nightmare that was last week’s Angelus League title game loss at Cathedral, the Golden Knights will use the pain as motivation and look to clean up a multitude of mistakes that led to the 24-17 setback. St. Francis (8-1 overall, […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
As much as St. Francis wants to forget about the nightmare that was last week’s Angelus League title game loss at Cathedral, the Golden Knights will use the pain as motivation and look to clean up a multitude of mistakes that led to the 24-17 setback.
St. Francis (8-1 overall, 3-1 in league) not only seeks redemption on Friday at St. Paul, it also looks to head into the playoffs on a high note.
After nearly a month of turnover-free football, the four give-away’s last Friday won’t happen again this week.
St. Paul is coming off an impressive 42-35 victory at Salesian in overtime.
It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out the path to victory at St. Paul.
Stopping or containing the Swordsmen rushing attack is paramount.
St. Paul (4-5, 2-2) has only three passing touchdowns all year, and the running game is averaging 152 yards per game.
“St. Paul does a great job mixing run and pass, so we will have to be on our toes on defense,” said St. Francis coach Jim Bonds. “They use multiple formations so we must be lined up properly and have the correct coverage.”
Despite the loss Friday, the Golden Knights defense held Cathedral (9-0, 4-0) to 12 points under their weekly average.
It should also be mentioned that turnovers led to much of what the defense was “technically” responsible for on paper.
Before linebacker Maxx Jakeway got injured in the La Salle game, Jakeway led the Golden Knights defense in tackles.
“I am feeling great and love nothing more than being back on the field,” Jakeway said. “The defensive focus this week is to really stop the run and be strong up the middle. St. Paul has a strong running offense, so we want to focus on stopping that. And It was a tough loss to deal with, because we felt that as a team we made too many mistakes, and did not play together like we should have.”
The prolific and dangerous duo of Elijah Washington and Jace Harrick was held to just 48 total yards on 19 carries, and neither scored on Friday.
St. Francis will need to get back on track on the ground, and it will also help take pressure off senior quarterback Michael Bonds.
Washington and Harrick have a combined 1,060 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
“The running game for us is key, and I feel like our offense has been very balanced all season,” Elijah Washington said. “We need to get back on track and hold the ball like we are capable of doing. As for the win, I feel like it would be a great confidence booster and set us up for a good post season (run).”
Harrick gained 29 yards on 9 carries, and Washington had 19 on 10 carries.
” I look forward to our team playing our best, and to get last weeks taste out of our mouth,” Harrick said. “To get back on our running game, Elijah and I just need to get back to how we run, and hit the holes harder. Our team learned last game that we are the only ones stopping ourselves from winning games. What’s upsetting is we played one of our worst game and only lost by a touchdown. That’s a team I would love to see again in the playoffs. But what’s history is history and were focused on St. Paul and being 9-1.”
Bonds’ interception last week, his first in over a month, helped set up Cathedral’s game-winning score.
But as much as Bonds would like that pass back, his numbers are incredible, and he also had two touchdown passes last week.
Bonds has thrown from 1,685 yards, and has 20 touchdowns to just four interceptions.
His consistent play at quarterback has a lot to do with the Golden Knights two consecutive months without a loss.
“We need to protect the football and run our offense without mistakes,” Michael Bonds said.
“This is the most important game of the season for us. We are anxious to get back on the field.”
Gabriel Mathews caught both of Bonds’ TD passes, on scores of 5 and 42 yards.
“We are very anxious to get back onto the field. A win on Friday could get us back into the rhythm that’s we need for the playoffs,” Mathews said. “St. Paul plays a hard nose style of football so we need to match their physicality and if we can do that we should get the win.”
The Cathedral defense, for the most part, kept St. Francis’ best athlete in check.
Daniel Scott was held to just 2 catches for 41 yards. Through nine games, Scott leads the Golden Knights with 511 receiving yards and 9 touchdown catches.
“We just need to bounce back from it (the loss). We all learned from our mistakes, and now it’s correcting them and apply it to the next game,” Scott said. “I think St. Paul plays great team football. They’re a hard noise team that likes to run the ball, and containing that is one of our priorities this week. For us to be successful, we just have to go back to playing our game of football.”
Jim Bonds knows exactly what he’d like to see on Friday.
“I’d love to see us play well in all phases of the game. Hopefully we can go out and execute our game plan, and the rest will take care of itself.”
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)
CIF-Southern Section Division 3 Polls:
1) La Mirada
2) Edison
3) Cathedral
4) Oak Hills
5) St. Francis
6) Villa Park
7) Rancho Verde
8) Buena Park
9) La Serna
10) San Juan Hills
