Weekly Football Previews: St. Francis striving to stay perfect

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, 1-0 in league) will look for a better result when it meets Salesian (5-1, 1-0) 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.

South Pasadena at La Cañada, 7 p.m. Friday: In the unknown frontier that is the Rio Hondo League, the Spartans were dealt a crushing blow in their league opener Friday in the form of a 13-8 loss to Monrovia.

The defeat came in large part to a pair of special teams gaffes (allowing a kickoff return for a touchdown and a bad snap on a field goal attempt) and turnovers.

Next up for the Spartans (3-3, 0-1 in league), who have alternated wins and losses all season, is a date with South Pasadena (5-1, 1-0). The Tigers have the best overall record in the Rio Hondo League, which was seen as being as wide open as it’s been in recent seasons with longtime heavyweight Monrovia and defending champion San Marino having graduated plenty of talent.

South Pasadena defeated Temple City, 37-14, in its league opener and won its third in a row in the process. As for the South Pas-La Cañada rivalry, it’s been owned by the Tigers in recent years.

South Pasadena has won the last two and four of the last five, though a 21-3 win by the Tigers in 2014 turned into a forfeit win for the Spartans. Last year, the Tigers won the matchup, 36-0.

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. “Then 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.