St. Francis High football rolls to 10-0, outright title
LA CAÑADA — Technically speaking, St. Francis High’s football team clinched the Angelus League title a week prior — at least a share anyway.
And, in the minds of many, the final obstacle in the way of an outright championship and a perfect regular season was more of a formality than a problem.
But in the “one-game-at-a-time” manner that might get old to some, but has navigated the Golden Knights through the hype and expectation of the season so far, St. Francis waited to celebrate its league championship until Thursday, shortly after a 46-15 win over Salesian at Friedman Field.
PHOTOS: St. Francis earns championship win
“That’s what we were hoping for,” said St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds of his team’s focus, not long after he was doused with a water bucket by his team. “We didn’t want to be co-champs or share with anybody. We wanted to keep our focus and make this game important.”
Senior quarterback Jeremiah Martin, as has become almost expected, turned in a stellar day with five total touchdowns, completing 10 of 14 passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns – two to John Carroll and one to Jasher Foster. He also ran for one- and four-yard scores.
“It feels great. This is something we’ve been thinking about since summertime,” said Martin of winning the league title, while balancing it with a week-by-week approach. “You’ve got to go 1-0 before you go 10-0. You gotta take it one game at a time and we’re gonna keep doing that.”
St. Francis (10-0, 5-0) ran the course of the season ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division in a year following a turbulent offseason in which it avoided being moved up to the Pac-5 Division (Division I) with former league foes Chaminade and Gardena Serra.
It was also moved from the Western Division (VII) to the Southeast (V), while making up the new Angelus League with Mission League holdovers Cathedral, Harvard-Westlake and St. Paul and welcoming La Salle and Salesian.
The move in divisions very much shifted the view in many people’s minds that the Southeast Division is now higher on the food chain than the Western. Either way, the Golden Knights will host a first-round playoff game and will almost assuredly be the No. 1 seed when the playoff brackets are released by the CIF-SS offices on Sunday.
Salesian (4-6, 2-3) was the last team holding the Golden Knights back from celebrating the outright title, the program’s first 10-0 start since 1966 and Bonds’ first league crown in his coaching tenure.
“We were waiting [to celebrate],” said Carroll, a three-year starter for the Knights, who also had one of the team’s seven sacks on the night. “We didn’t want to share it with anyone.
“It’s awesome. Words can’t describe it. … To get the first league championship in a while, coach Bonds’ first, too, it’s special.”
St. Francis rolled out to an early 15-0 first quarter lead before its offense sputtered a bit, but scored two touchdowns late in the first half for a 29-0 intermission advantage and was playing with a running clock in the fourth quarter.
The Golden Knights’ defense, led by three Avery Williams’ sacks, held Salesian to just 114 total yards and one offensive score, with the touchdown and the majority of the yards coming with St. Francis’ reserves in during the final quarter.
“We just come out every week and do our best and hold them,” said Carroll of the defense.
Running back Areg Nazarian had 66 yards rushing in 13 carries to put him at 1,000 yards for the year. Receiver Dylan Crawford had just three touches, but one was a 43-yard run, another was a 42-yard catch and he had 98 total yards. Back-up quarter Miles Bryant was actually his team’s leading rusher with 73 yards in seven carries.
St. Francis got off to a torrid start, scoring on its first two possessions.
Following a 41-yard kickoff return to start the game by Nazarian, the junior running back hauled in a 22-yard catch from Martin and then turned in a 12-yard carry. On the third play from scrimmage, Martin hit a wide-open Carroll for a 14-yard score. A Ross Niederhaus two-point conversion later and the Knights were up, 8-0.
St. Francis’ Jasher Foster got the ball right back with an interception. Crawford then had a 43-yard reception, Martin scrambled 23 yards up the middle and then scored on a one-yard sneak. Just like that it was 15-0 St. Francis with 6:06 to go in the first.
“That’s one of the things we try to do is start out fast and slow the other team down,” Martin said.
Salesian’s defense began to buckle down thereafter, while the Golden Knights’ ‘D’ never wavered, holding its opponents to a mere 23 yards of offense in the first half.
With 7:39 left in the half, the Golden Knights embarked on a 98-yard, 14-play scoring drive. It culminated with Martin barreling through two defenders on a four-yard option run for a score on third and goal with 1:19 left in the second quarter.
St. Francis then held Salesian to a three-and-out before the Mustangs punter mishandled the snap, had it bounce off his stomach and then tried to kick it on the ground to no avail. St. Francis took over on the Salesian five and Martin hit Carroll, once again wide open, for a score and a 29-0 lead with 50 seconds to go in the half.
In the second half, Martin hit Foster for a 19-yard touchdown on a screen plan and Niederhaus recovered his blocked punt on the ensuing drive with 6:20 to go in the third. The Golden Knights starters weren’t heard from again and the home team’s scoring concluded with a 40-yard Kareem Zeenni field goal.
Next up, as aforementioned, is the playoffs, with the Golden Knights going in as the favorites and certain to apply the same mantra that’s run the course of the season thus far.
“That’s the thing you try to guard against the most,” Bonds said of looking ahead and not being overconfident. “This team, I think they’ve done a good job of staying focused.”