Rivalry renewed, Cathedral beats Loyola, 21-19

For the first time since 1973, L.A. Cathedral and L.A. Loyola met on the football field on Friday night at Loyola High as the downtown Los Angeles skyline glistened in the east. Who knew that the resumption of an old rivalry would produce a game filled with drama and excitement at the end?

Rallying from an 18-point halftime deficit, Loyola (1-3) found itself down, 21-19, with four seconds left. The Cubs sent out kicker Diego Cacho-Sousa to attempt a 47-yard field goal. Cacho-Sousa had been booming kickoffs into the end zone all night and made field goals of 32 and 33 yards.

“I was praying to God he would miss it,” Cathedral receiver Jamire Calvin said.

After a Cathedral timeout, the snap went a little high and Cacho-Sousa’s line-drive kick wobbled barely over the hands of Cathedral’s rushers, falling well short. That started off a rambunctious victory celebration for the Phantoms (4-0), who ran toward the Loyola student section.

“Beating Loyola was a great accomplishment for us,” Cathedral Coach Kevin Pearson said.

The game provided a clue as to what has been happening behind the scenes with the Phantoms.

Quarterback Andrew Tovar, a four-year starter at Cathedral, has 104 career touchdown passes, one of the best accomplishments among current players in Southern California. But he might not even be the best quarterback on campus, not with 15-year-old freshman Bryce Young pushing him every step of the way.

It’s a dilemma Pearson has been dealing with since early practices in August. Pearson isn’t complaining, even though he’s had his share of parent and player meetings trying to convince everyone that competition is good and sharing playing time is required when there are two quarterbacks as good as the ones he has.

It was all on display on Friday night. Tovar played the entire first quarter and scored on a nine-yard run to start the second quarter. Young played the rest of the second quarter, completing nine consecutive passes and scoring twice on touchdown runs for a 21-3 halftime lead. Young’s strong arm, poise and instincts mark him as one of the best for his age.

Neither, though, was particularly effective in the second half, as Loyola’s defense shut out the Phantoms behind Sinjun Astani, who recorded two sacks. Meanwhile, quarterback Sean O’Malley ignited the Loyola offense.

He connected with Jack Webster for a 55-yard touchdown pass and hit Connor Beadles with a 10-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to 21-19. A two-point conversion pass failed. O’Malley completed 16 of 20 passes for 206 yards with one interception. Webster caught 10 passes for 150 yards.

Junior defensive back Cedric Jones made two critical plays for Cathedral. He had an interception at the end of the second quarter and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.

As for how well playing two quarterbacks is going to work out, Calvin, who caught nine passes for 79 yards, said, “It’s a good thing for us. It’s got us unbeaten so far.”

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Follow Eric Sondheimer on Twitter @latsondheimer