Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club: St. Francis football looks back on crucial upset of Cathedral

The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 73rd year, meets Tuesdays at the Elk’s Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the eighth meeting of the year.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS BACK ON TRACK

After losing a pair of heartbreaking games to Salesian and Harvard-Westlake to begin Angelus League play, St. Francis responded with a 31-14 home win against top-ranked Cathedral on Friday at Friedman Field.

St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds said the Golden Knights (5-3, 1-2 in league) entered the game with a positive attitude.

“We knew coming in that we’d have our work cut out,” Bonds said. “We were thrilled with our effort after a couple of tough losses and we practiced hard leading up to the game.

“We went out and put a good game together. We gave up a 91-yard punt return to fall behind at 7-0, but we got a 90-yard punt return from Jasher Foster to even that up in that area. Hopefully, the win will put us back into the playoff picture and we can put together a winning streak.”

Filling in for starting running back Areg Nazarian, who missed his second straight game with a knee injury, Jace Harrick rushed for 95 yards in 19 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns for the Golden Knights. Sean Davitt added six tackles and a sack for St. Francis, which will take on visiting St. Paul (2-1 in league) in another league home contest.

CRESCENTA VALLEY STAYS HUNGRY

The Falcons remain in the hunt for a second straight Pacific League championship. Crescenta Valley will have arguably its biggest test Friday on the road against first-place Burroughs. The Falcons are 6-2, 4-1 in league while Burroughs is 7-1, 6-0.

Crescenta Valley defensive coordinator Dennis Gossard, who spoke at the club in place of coach Paul Schilling on Tuesday, said the Indians have plenty of skilled players on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

“They have by far the best offense in our league,” said Gossard, who helped Crescenta Valley win the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division championship last season. “They have no weaknesses and we’ll have our hands full.”

Crescenta Valley secured a 41-14 league road win against Pasadena on Friday and is tied for second with Burbank. Quarterback Evan Nelson finished with four touchdowns.

The Falcons have won four straight league games since beginning with a 7-3 defeat against Burbank.

“We’ve changed some things around on offense,” Gossard said. “We came in with Tyler Hill as the starting quarterback and now we have Evan. We’re averaging around 45 points a game since we made the change a few games ago.”

GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE TASTES VICTORY

It took five games, but the Vaqueros finally secured a win after they registered a 63-6 Pacific Conference American Division home victory against L.A. Southwest on Saturday at Sartoris Field.

Glendale scored its most points in a game this season to improve to 2-5, 1-3 in the division under coach John Rome.

“Last Monday, I challenged them to fight or quit and they decided to fight,” Rome said. “It lasted through the week and they fought and got the win Saturday.

“We did some good things, which included blocking three punts and performing well on both sides of the ball. We hope we are getting better and we want to continue that trend.”

Glendale will compete in a division road contest at 1 p.m. Saturday against West L.A.