Led by Nazarian, No. 1 St. Francis football steams past Mayfair
LA CAÑADA — On the opening play of the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division playoffs, top-seeded St. Francis High and Areg Nazarian, in particular, made their intentions of a long run ahead quite clear.
Nazarian sprinted 89 yards on the opening kickoff en route to a scintillating first half for the junior and, more importantly, a 49-14 rout for the Golden Knights over visiting Mayfair Friday night at Friedman Field.
“It feels good contributing to a playoff win, but it’s just another game now, we gotta concentrate on next week,” said Nazarian, whose monster numbers saw him collect five total touchdowns and 365 all-purpose yards.
PHOTOS: Top-seeded St. Francis routs Mayfair, 49-14, to advance to CIF-SS quarterfinals
Nazarian added another kickoff return for a score in the first half, this one from 94 yards, rushed 15 times for 97 yards and two scores and caught three passes for 68 yards and a score.
“Areg, I thought had one of his better performances of the season,” said St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds of his 1,000-yard rusher. “Just a total performance for him.”
Nazarian’s big night was complimented by senior quarterback Jeremiah Martin, who was 11 for 11 for 184 yards and a trio of touchdowns to John Carroll (three catches for 45 yards), Nazarian and Dylan Crawford (four catches for 75 yards).
All that equated to the Golden Knights improving to 11-0 with their fourth straight running-clock victory to defeat Mayfair (5-6) and advance to the quarterfinals to play La Serna, which defeated Dominguez, 24-21.
However, the victory came with a somber feel, as Martin’s last play was his third-quarter touchdown to Crawford.
He left the game and was in the trainer’s room for the remainder of the night. Bonds said he was questionable for the quarterfinals, which will see the Golden Knights for a second straight season after advancing to the Western Division semifinals a year ago.
Nazarian had four touchdowns and 295 all-purpose yards in the opening half, in which the Golden Knights put the game away with a 35-8 intermission lead.
To say Nazarian’s touchdown to open the game set the tone would be a bit of an understatement, as St. Francis never looked back
“It was huge, just a huge momentum shift,” Crawford said. “We just took it and ran from there.”
Following the opening kickoff, which saw St. Francis take an 8-0 lead after an Avery Williams conversion run, the Golden Knights scored the next four times they touched the ball.
Martin hit Carroll across the middle for a six-yard touchdown pass for a 15-0 lead with 3:45 to go in the first.
Then Nazarian took in a score from eight yards out on a pass in the right flat.
A Nazarian two-yard sweep left with 6:43 to go in the half led to a 29-0 lead.
Mayfair finally got on the board following a 12-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a two-yard run, but Nazarian quickly halted any Monsoons’ celebration when he took the ensuing kickoff 94 yards up the middle to the left in an almost carbon copy of his first return.
Mayfair cut the score to 35-14 on the first drive of the second half, but Martin then connected with Crawford en route to a 42-14 lead.
“Jeremiah just had an all-around solid game again,” said Bonds, who also got an interception and a blocked PAT from Dylan Sweet and three sacks from a defense that allowed 230 yards.
Nazarian added a three-yard touchdown run with 11 minutes to go in the game to bring about the running clock, as the Golden Knights ran their way to a showdown with La Serna.