St. Francis High football runs to 5-0 with blowout of Calabasas

LA CAÑADA — While it was by a bit different means than accustomed, the St. Francis High offense certainly didn’t slow down Thursday night in its nonleague finale.

On the strength of five rushing touchdowns and an all-around excellent performance, the Golden Knights kept rolling to the tune of a 45-7 win over visiting Calabasas High at Friedman Field and improved to 5-0 this season.

“Going into [Angelus] League, you can’t do any better than that,” said Golden Knights Coach Jim Bonds of his team’s perfect record as it looks now to its league opener Oct. 10 against host Harvard-Westlake. “We were harping on putting a complete game together and we hadn’t done that. I thought it was pretty close to that tonight.”

Offensively, the Golden Knights scored more than 40 points for the fourth time this season, as junior running back Areg Nazarian and senior quarterback Jeremiah Martin combined for five rushing touchdowns. Senior tight end/linebacker John Carroll blocked a punt and returned it for six and the defense allowed just one score, which came late in the second half when the game had long been decided.

The game also saw St. Francis, the No. 1 team in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division, give Bonds a victory against a Calabasas team (3-3) that was coached by Casey Clausen, who formerly played quarterback for Bonds at Alemany.

On Thursday, though, it was Martin who shined at quarterback, but with his legs more than his arm. He ran for scores of one, nine and two yards, as he totaled 59 yards in nine carries. He also completed six of 11 passes for 127 yards, but the Golden Knights didn’t have a passing touchdown, as they ran for 203 yards. Nazarian led the way with 108 yards in 14 carries with four- and nine-yard touchdowns.

“We just came out strong,” said Nazarian, whose four-yard scoring run in the first quarter gave the Golden Knights a 21-0 lead, which grew to 35-0 at halftime and 42-0 late in the third, eventually leading to a fourth-quarter running clock. “We just did what worked.”

The defense was also working well following a 49-32 win over Canyon Country Canyon the previous week.

“Definitely after last week’s game, the coaches called us out,” St. Francis senior defensive back Mason Williams said. “We knew we had to step it up.”

Judging by the onset of the game, it appeared Calabasas’ offense might well give St. Francis some trouble. The Coyotes drove all the way to the Golden Knights’ two-yard line, but Calabasas got nothing more than a missed 24-yard field goal for its troubles.

“The first drive was a little iffy. But you know, bend don’t break,” said Williams, who was part of a defensive effort that allowed 88 yards of offense on the opening drive, but just 314 total, as the majority of the yardage came on the first drive and long after the game was in question. “After the first possession, we really took it to them.”

And after Calabasas’ first possession, the Golden Knights’ offense was off and running.

Martin scored from a yard out with 3:36 to go in the first quarter to conclude a nine-play, 80-yard opening drive for St. Francis.

On the ensuing Coyotes’ drive, Carroll broke through and blocked a punt, collected it at the two-yard line and ran in standing up. He then caught a two-point conversion from Dylan Sweet for a 14-0 lead with 2:06 left in the first stanza.

Much as that scoring sequence was all Carroll, the Knights’ next drive was all Nazarian. He scored on a four-yard run off right tackle with 19 seconds left in the first after he hauled in a 34-yard reception and tallied a 24-yard run, accounting for every yard on the drive.

“Areg Nazarian, I think, is a very good high school running back that not a lot of people are talking about or know about,” Bonds said. “I’m just happy he’s wearing brown and gold.”

A Sweet interception – the first of three takeaways for the Knights – in the second quarter led to a scoring drive capped by an excellent Nazarian effort in which he broke two arm tackles at the line of scrimmage and then plowed over a defender at the goal line for a nine-yard score.

Martin ended the first-half blitz with a nine-yard scoring run of his own, going in untouched after he juked out two would-be tacklers.

The second half saw just one possession for the St. Francis starting offense.

Martin navigated his team 65 yards downfield, keyed by a 35-yard connected to tight end Brodie Felkel and culminated by a two-yard Martin sneak.

A 45-yard Kareem Zeenni field goal in the final quarter concluded the scoring not long after Calabasas broke the shutout with a touchdown run.

Now, it’s onward to the Angelus League for the Golden Knights, with plenty of expectation and momentum.

“Preseason’s done,” Nazarian said. “Now we’re going into league and we’re gonna take it one game at a time.”