St. Francis football shuts down No. 1 Cathedral

LA CAÑADA — There were clutch performances and monumental plays every which way for the St. Francis High football team.

Jasher Foster had electrifying game-winning and game-clinching touchdowns.

Jace Harrick turned in a gutsy two-score performance as well.

PHOTOS: Golden Knights defeat No. 1 Cathedral

But perhaps lost in the big plays was a phenomenal overall defensive effort, as the Golden Knights held Cathedral scoreless over the final three quarters to upset the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division top-ranked Phantoms, 31-14, on Friday night at Friedman Field in Angelus League play.

“That’s what I just told the guys after the game. I told those [defensive] guys, ‘You played your tails off,’” said St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds, whose Golden Knights, ranked 10th in the division, snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 5-3 overall, 1-2 in league. “Our defense has been solid I think all year. They’ve really carried us.”

St. Francis defense held the Cathedral offense to just 231 yards, while Foster had a 91-yard punt return for a score and a rushing touchdown and Harrick turned in a pair of rushing touchdowns to lead the Golden Knights.

“It was a huge win and a huge momentum shift for us as a team,” Foster said. “It was a huge team victory.”

Trailing, 14-6, after the first quarter, the St. Francis defense, which only gave up one offensive touchdown as Cathedral (7-1, 2-1) scored on a punt return, held the Phantoms scoreless the rest of the way. Cathedral, which had a slew of suspended players, was held to a season-low in points en route to its first loss of the season and fifth in sixth meetings against St. Francis since the Phantoms joined the Mission League and the two carried over into the Angelus League.

“After all the losses, we came back to work this week,” said Harrick, who doubled as a defensive back and running back, filling in for the injured Areg Nazarian. “We knew we could beat Cathedral. We just rallied up and came together.”

Battling cramps late in the game, Harrick turned in a terrific effort with a game-high 92 yards rushing in 19 carries and two touchdowns. Harrick’s rushing scores of four and five yards had the Golden Knights tied at 14 during halftime.

But the fleet feet of Foster, who had 61 yards rushing in five carries and 25 yards receiving on two catches, pushed St. Francis ahead for good.

After St. Francis’ defense forced a punt on the second drive of the third quarter, Foster fielded the ball at the 9-yard-line on the fly. He hurdled, raced to the right sideline and then cut to the middle of the field with a jampacked faithful on its feet en route to a 21-14 lead with 5:40 to go in the quarter.

“I don’t think I’ve every jumped any higher in my life,” Harrick said as he leaped in celebration after Foster’s run. “It was a beautiful thing. And definitely a huge momentum change.”

On the Golden Knights’ ensuing possession, Dulles Hanula booted a 31-yard field goal with 8:43 to play that gave St. Francis a 24-14 lead.

On the next Cathedral drive, St. Francis got two sacks from Gabriel Grbavac and held the Phantoms to a turnover on downs.

The Golden Knights’ offense promptly drove downfield and on third and 15 from the Phantoms’ 19, Foster took a direct snap, rolled right looking to throw and then cut all the way back before juking a defender at the goalline for a 19-yard game-sealing touchdown.

“I was just trying to stay alive,” Foster said.

After a Sean Davitt interception of a shovel pass in the first quarter, things looked bright for the Golden Knights when they took over on the Cathedral 29. But the next three plays amassed a negative-nine yards and things went from bad to terrible when Jamire Calvin returned the ensuing punt 90 yards for a 6-0 lead with the two-point conversion missed.

St. Francis promptly answered in the ensuing drive. Keyed by a 61-yard reception by Daniel Scott from Miles Bryant (eight of 13 for 121 yards), the Knights drove down to tie it by way of a Harrick four-yard score, but the ensuing point-after attempt was missed.

Cathedral then scored its only offensive touchdown when Andrew Tovar hit Renard Bell for a 29-yard touchdown. The ensuing two-point conversion put Cathedral up, 14-6, with 25 seconds to go in the first quarter.

St. Francis answered again, this time with a methodical 14-play, 71-yard drive that saw Harrick score from five yards and Bryant hit Scott for two points to tie it.

Cathedral was playing with a reported 10 players suspended in the wake of an alleged hazing incident on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m sure it was a distraction for them,” Bonds said. “Nobody wants to go through something like that. But, we’ll never know how much of a distraction it was.

“I know their skill guys were at full strength. We had our game plan and we stuck to it.”

After winning league a season ago, St. Francis was in do-or-die mode for the playoffs after a double-overtime loss to Salesian to start league and a six-point loss on a Hail Mary against Harvard-Westlake the prior week. But Friday might well have changed some things.

“You just see how close we’ve been and just to see us put it all together in probable the biggest game of the season so far is incredible,” Bonds said. “I showed a lot of character for our guys to come back out.”