Weekly Football Previews: Undefeated St. Francis aims to turn tables on Salesian

Though St. Francis wound up making an appearance in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division semifinals last season, it had to overcome a painful Angelus League loss at the hands of Salesian.

The 27-20 double-overtime defeat put the Golden Knights in the arduous position of having to scramble for a playoff berth. They took third place in league and ultimately qualified for the postseason after winning their final league contest.

St. Francis (6-0) will look for a better result when it meets Salesian (5-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Friedman Field.

“Our guys who are back remember that game, but they don’t need to dwell on it,” St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds said. “We had a tough stretch in that part of the season with losses to Calabasas, Harvard-Westlake and Salesian and they responded after that.”

St. Francis, ranked fourth in Division III, began league Friday with a 38-28 home win against La Salle.

The Golden Knights saw senior quarterback Michael Bonds complete 14 of 21 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Receiver Daniel Scott caught six passes for 93 yards and a touchdown and Greg Dulcich had five receptions for 76 yards and one touchdown for the Golden Knights, who look to improve to 7-0 for the second time in the last three seasons.

Special teams also aided St. Francis, which received a punt return by Scott for a touchdown and a kickoff return for a score from Bobby Gazmarian.

Salesian, ranked third in Division V, started off league Friday with a convincing 51-14 road win against Harvard-Westlake. The Mustangs held a 28-14 lead at halftime before pulling away in the second half.

Salesian quarterback Robbie Blosser completed 22 of 34 passes for 358 yards. He had two touchdowns and two interceptions. Overall, he’s completed 106 of 155 passes for 1,870 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Receiver Ajani Johnson caught eight passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns. He has 20 catches for 311 yards and seven touchdowns.

“We took that first big step in league with the win against La Salle and we know Salesian has so many great players,” Jim Bonds said. “They have speed and run a spread offense, a lot like we saw earlier in the season against Dorsey and Buena Park. So, we are pretty used to that kind of offense, but we’ll have our hands full.”

St. Francis and Salesian have split the first two meetings since the league formed in 2014. St. Francis posted a 46-15 win in 2014.

Glendale at Burroughs, 7 p.m. Thursday: The Nitros are likely to be running into a very upset Burroughs squad.

The reigning Pacific League champion Indians (3-3, 2-1 in league) lost to Arcadia, 37-27. In addition to ending Burroughs’ nine-game league winning streak, Arcadia also put the Indians’ chances of repeating as league champions in big jeopardy.

Still, Burroughs running back Chance Bell had another big game and has already rushed for more than 1,200 yards.

Glendale (1-5, 0-3) is coming off a close 23-18 loss to Pasadena that was its 10th consecutive league loss, which includes a 65-7 defeat against Burroughs last year. The Nitros have never defeated the Indians since the latter entered the Pacific League in 2006.

Pasadena vs. Crescenta Valley at Moyse Field, 7 p.m. Friday: For all intents and purposes, Friday will serves as Crescenta Valley’s last audition before taking center stage in its quest for the Pacific League title.

The Falcons (5-1, 3-0) have thus far defeated Glendale, Hoover and Muir in league play. All three of the aforementioned teams are winless in league.

While Crescenta Valley defeated Muir, 33-0, last week, Pasadena (1-5, 1-2) picked up its first victory of the season with a 23-18 win over Glendale.

Though the Falcons haven’t been playing the best the league has to offer, they’ve certainly taken care of business. With two shutouts mixed in, the Falcons have outscored their first three league opponents by a combined 130-7 score.

Led by the likes of versatile two-way talents Brandon Beardt and Tyler Hill along with sophomore quarter Cole Doyle, the Falcons, with a win, will remain tied for first in league with Burbank (3-0 in league) or Arcadia (3-0), who are also facing off on Friday. Following Friday, Crescenta Valley will face Burroughs, Burbank and Arcadia as it goes from the four bottom teams in the league to top three.

Crescenta Valley has defeated Pasadena the last four times the teams have met, including last year’s 41-14 victory.

Hoover at Muir, 7 p.m. Friday: Despite its current three-game losing streak that’s run parallel to the Pacific League season, Hoover (3-3, 0-3 in league) has still improved.

Muir (2-4, 0-3), however, seems to be on the decline as it failed to make the playoffs for the first time this century last season and is still tied for last in the league standings with the Tornadoes and Glendale.

Still, the Mustangs, who have lost four in a row, have dominated the Tornadoes for a very long time.

Since a 34-12 loss to Muir all the way back in 2004, Hoover has scored just three points against Muir. Thus, over its last 11 losses to Muir, including last season’s 27-0 defeat, Hoover has been shut out 10 times. The only exception was a 35-3 defeat in 2013.

Downey Calvary Chapel at Flintridge Prep, 3 p.m. Saturday: Flintridge Prep endured its first loss of the season at the hands of Cate in a raucous 55-48 nonleague tilt on Saturday. The Rebels had six turnovers in the loss.

“Turnovers happen and it’s frustrating,” first-year Flintridge Prep Coach Russell White said. “We had some opportunities and we had a couple of missed assignments that led to the turnovers happening.

“What deficiencies we’ve had of late, we’ll clean them up. I feel like we have the type of team that will bounce back.”

Whether the loss serves as a wake-up call or a foreshadowing of fortunes to come will become clearer on Saturday when the Rebels (4-1) host Calvary Chapel (4-3).

Much like Cate, Calvary Chapel will enter the game with some tough competition behind it.

The Grizzlies, who are coming off a 22-6 win over Lucerne Valley, lost on Oct. 1 to Faith Baptist, 28-22. Faith Baptist (5-1) is the second-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division I eight-man football and ranked No. 3 in the state by Maxpreps.com.

“I’ve seen a little film on [Calvary Chapel],” White said. “ They run a similar package to what we just saw [against Cate].”

Calvary Chapel is ranked No. 10 in CIF Division I, while Flintridge Prep slipped from No. 2 to No. 4 (still two spots ahead of Cate).

Quarterback John Lytle continued to produce big numbers for Flintridge Prep with three touchdown passes and 312 yards passing against Cate and, for the season, has 991 yards and 22 touchdowns.