St. Francis High football stays on track, stymies St. Paul
SANTA FE SPRINGS — The focus all week for the St. Francis football team following an emotional come-from-behind Angelus League victory at Cathedral was to avoid an emotional letdown in Friday’s showdown at St. Paul.
The Golden Knights responded with an efficient performance, scoring four times in less than 10 minutes in the first half and receiving touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams to cruise to a 49-10 win at The Pit.
“We’ve talked all year about putting together a complete effort,” St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds said. “We’ve had games like Monrovia where our offense struggled, but our defense carried us, and then games like Canyon, where our offense really led the way, but tonight everybody pitched in and did their job and that’s a good feeling for us at this stage of the season.
“It was a huge point of emphasis for us to get back to work after Cathedral and focus only on beating St. Paul and not worry about anything else. This was a trap-type situation and this is a difficult place to play, so I’m glad we were able to execute the way we did.”
Jeremiah Martin was 11 of 15 for 200 yards and three touchdown passes, including two to Dylan Crawford, and Miles Bryant threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jasher Foster for the Golden Knights (8-0, 3-0), who are ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division.
After St. Paul (4-4, 1-2) cut the deficit to 28-10 on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Jacob Maier with 36 seconds remaining in the first half, St. Francis needed only three plays — all Martin passes to Crawford —- to shift the momentum back in its favor at the break.
Martin’s last pass of the half was a 30-yarder down the right sideline, which a diving Crawford hauled in for a score on the final play.
“I wanted that one really bad. Right after they scored, they had some momentum going into the half and we didn’t want that to happen,” Crawford said. “I would have been OK with us getting a field goal, but fortunately we had enough time and we started with good field position and the opportunity presented itself and we took advantage.”
Crawford finished with seven catches for 120 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown reception on St. Francis’ first drive of the second half to increase the lead to 42-10.
“I feel good about the kind of game we put together,” Crawford said. “We talk about winning in all three phases, so it was great to score on offense, defense and special teams. That’s how you win championships.”
Mason Williams scored on a 60-yard punt return and Andrew MacKinnon returned an interception 21 yards for a score in the first half for St. Francis, which also received a one-yard touchdown run from Avery Williams and a 27-yard scoring reception from John Carroll.
Carroll had three catches for 59 yards and Areg Nazarian rushed 12 times for 82 yards in limited action for the Golden Knights, who rested most of their starters in the second half.