St. Francis football shuts down Burroughs on way to semifinals

A season ago, St. Francis High’s football team was loaded with as much returning talent as it was expectation.

Riding a season-long 11-game winning streak into the second round of the playoffs, St. Francis, slowed by the loss of two key players due to injury, was upset.

Looking to overcome the hurdle of the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division playoffs this time around, the Golden Knights came through at the expense of fourth-seeded Burroughs, which was dealing with injury troubles of its own.

Keyed by a monster six-sack performance from senior defensive end Sean Davitt, St. Francis defeated Burroughs, 21-7, in a defensive showdown of a CIF quarterfinal on Friday night at Friedman Field.

PHOTOS: St. Francis advances after defeating Burroughs, 21-7

“It feels amazing, because I think there were greater expectations last year and this year, we didn’t know how far we could go,” said Davitt, who also caught the game-winning 16-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter and racked up negative 36 yards on his half-dozen sacks. “It’s a great feeling.”

Next up for the Golden Knights is their second trip to the semifinals in the three seasons, as they’ll face No. 1 seed La Serna, which defeated Harvard-Westlake, 68-42, in a quarterfinal Friday night and eliminated St. Francis last season. St. Francis will host the game.

Clinging to a 7-0 lead provided by a 10-yard Areg Nazarian first-quarter touchdown run, St. Francis (9-3) finally got breathing room with Davitt’s play-action catch from Miles Bryant. But Burroughs (10-2) answered with its best drive of the game, as quarterback Steven Hubbell marched the Pacific League champions 82 yards on a touchdown drive culminated with an Ash Hawkins one-yard touchdown run. The Golden Knights scored on their ensuing drive to put the game essentially out of reach, though, as Jasher Foster hauled in a 66-yard touchdown catch from Bryant.

Overall, though, it was a game dictated by defense, as St. Francis had seven sacks, while Burroughs had four, with Anthony Garcia notching three. The Indians also had three takeaways, while the Golden Knights had three. All told, St. Francis held Burroughs to just 154 total yards and its lowest offensive output of the season. Burroughs’ defense held St. Francis to a modest 249 total yards.

“I thought both defenses played well and it was basically who would make the [least] mistakes, they would win,” Burroughs Coach Keith Knoop said.

No doubt hindering Burroughs was the loss of four starters, including standout 1,000-yard rusher Chance Bell and defensive end Evan Gurley.

“We’re definitely a more dynamic team with those guys,” Knoop said.

St. Francis can relate to the scenario, as it lost to La Serna in last season’s quarterfinals when it played without its starting quarterback and middle linebacker. This time around, the Golden Knights were without starting linebacker Tre Polomalu and safety Jace Harrick, but buoyed by the recent returns of Nazarian (15 carries for 44 yards, four catches for 18 yards) and starting offensive tackle Cade Mockary.

“Not what I expected,” Bonds said of the defensive struggle. “It’s late in the season, both teams have some guys down. I think it affected their offense more not having their running back back there. But I was impressed by their quarterback on film so I thought there’d be more scoring. But, we could sit on the pass a little more.

“He didn’t have time to get his eyes downfield and get his feet set.”

Indeed, Hubbell was harassed all the time. He finished with 21 completions in 34 attempts for 124 yards. He hit six receivers and four players carried the ball as the Indians did their best to be versatile. On defense, Hunter Guerin and Robert Awunganyi had interceptions for the Indians. The Indians mustered just 25 yards as a team on the ground.

Jacob De La Hoya and Daniel Scott had picks for St. Francis, which got 93 yards receiving on three catches and 28 yards rushing on five carries from Foster. Bryant finished 11 of 17 for 174 yards and two touchdowns a season after making his starting debut in the quarterfinal loss to La Serna.

At halftime, the teams had combined for just 184 yards of offense (100 for St. Francis, 84 for Burroughs).

“I think we held our ground pretty well,” Davitt said of the defense. “We were put in some tough spots, but we just had to trust what we were doing and we could get some stops and it would lead to the win.”

Nazarian’s touchdown, which came after he helicoptered over Burroughs defenders, came with 2:21 to go in the first quarter. It also came on a drive in which he hauled in a pass on third and 14 with one hand from Bryant, who threw while being hit, and turned in a 16-yard gain.

In the second half, St. Francis fumbled on its opening possession, but then forced a three-and-out. The defensive stands kept coming with the teams trading interceptions on back-to-back possessions just as they’d done in the first half.

Finally, St. Francis broke through when Davitt finished a drive with his touchdown catch that was set up by a 26-yard Foster run.

“Any time you can go up by two scores, it’s a confidence builder,” Davitt said.

But Burroughs marched on its ensuing drive with Hubbell going five for five on the march before Hawkins cut it to 14-7 with 6:54 left to play.

The Indians gambled and went for an onside kick that was recovered by Nick Flores.

Following a negative-yardage run and a personal foul for the Golden Knights, Foster hauled in a bomb along the right sideline and then jogged and hot-dogged his way into the end zone.

For Burroughs, it was the culmination of a stellar season, as the Indians recorded their first playoff win since 2009 after winning the Pacific League championship a year removed from failing to advance to the playoffs.

“It was a special group. It was a fun year,” Knoop said. “It’s one of the teams that’s gonna be at the top of my memory bank.”

For the Golden Knights, who finished third in the Angelus League, they will face La Serna once again, this time in the semifinals with the Lancers coming in as the division’s top seed after St. Francis was in 2014.

“Everyone was picking us last year, but there’s a lot more luck that goes into it than I think people know. We couldn’t win a coin flip [to get a home game], we had some guys injured last year,” Bonds said. “You never know what’s gonna happen in high school sports.”

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Grant Gordon, grant.gordon@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon