Downtown L.A. rivals play first football game in 14 years

It had been 14 years since downtown Catholic school rivals L.A. Cathedral and L.A. Salesian last played each other in a football game. The alumni were fired up on Saturday at L.A. Southwest College.

Let’s just say Phantom fans had much more fun.

Cathedral cruised to a 58-20 victory. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Tovar completed 20 of 28 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown. The star of the game was receiver Marshaun Cameron, who returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown and caught four passes for 94 yards.

It got to the point in the second quarter where Coach Kevin Pearson, calling the plays from the press box, told one of his assistants, “Save it for St. Francis.”

La Canada St. Francis (6-0, 1-0) and Cathedral (6-0, 1-0) are set to play on Friday in what should be an Angelus League title decider at Cathedral.

Historic win

L.A. University ended Venice’s 43-game Western League winning streak with a 14-7 victory. Tyrone Nelson rushed for 217 yards and scored both touchdowns.

“I had kids crying,” University Coach Lee Lowe said. “I’m still on Cloud Nine. It means a lot. I took over an 0-for-30 program four years ago. It’s really amazing.”

University’s last win over Venice came in 1996. It means the league title is up for grabs. Next week, University plays Hamilton and Venice plays Palisades.

21-0 as starter

Grant Bunker of Westlake Village Westlake was 10-0 as a starting quarterback for the freshman team and 10-0 for the sophomore team. He made his first start for the varsity team on Friday, passing for five touchdowns in a 52-3 win over Lancaster Paraclete. Coach Jim Benkert said starter Malik Henry was held out because of headaches from a hit last week.

To the rescue

Ryan Mendoza, a top junior catcher for Birmingham’s City Section championship baseball team, decided to join the football team last month. He came in at quarterback in the second half on Friday with his team down, 14-0, and engineered a 19-14 comeback victory over El Camino Real.

He did a lot of pitching — as in pitching the ball to tailback Sterling Salguero, who rushed for 287 yards.

Individual standouts

Kevin Robledo of Westlake Village Westlake made his 37th career field goal in a 52-3 win over Lancaster Paraclete. . . . Tyree Harris of Torrance rushed for 321 yards and scored seven touchdowns in a 62-47 win over South Torrance. . . . Joseph Thomas of Pasadena rushed for 312 yards and scored six touchdowns in a 42-20 win over Arcadia. . . . Andrew Toro of South Gate passed for 304 yards and four touchdowns in a 49-3 win over Huntington Park.