Notre Dame’s Kasdorf is the new king of sling

The last two Sherman Oaks Notre Dame quarterbacks, Garrett Green and Dayne Crist, accepted college scholarships to USC and Notre Dame, respectively.

So who could have imagined that the Knights’ next quarterback, Ryan Kasdorf, would turn out to be the best one of all?

That’s a distinct possibility based on how well the 6-foot-2 Kasdorf has been performing this season.

On Friday night, Kasdorf took apart No. 4-ranked Encino Crespi, completing 22 of 28 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns in a 37-17 Serra League victory for No. 5-ranked Notre Dame (8-0, 1-0).

“He’s pretty amazing,” Notre Dame Coach Kevin Rooney said. “He’s just getting better and better.”

I saw John Elway twist, turn and fire frozen ropes at Granada Hills High. I saw Kyle Boller throw 65-yard bombs at Newhall Hart. I saw Jimmy Clausen shred a secondary or two at Westlake Village Oaks Christian.

But I have rarely seen a junior quarterback in his first year of varsity football perform with such precision and style as Kasdorf did before a sold-out crowd at Crespi.

Kasdorf completed his first 11 passes. By halftime, he was 16 for 20 for 234 yards and three touchdowns. He made one mistake -- an errant pass that was intercepted in the end zone.

Working out of Notre Dame’s no-huddle spread attack, Kasdorf is benefiting from having a terrific group of receivers who don’t drop passes and have the speed to make big plays.

James Flynn caught six passes for 107 yards and three touchdowns.

Kasdorf distributed his passes to seven different receivers and also rushed for 64 yards in seven carries.

“I thought we’d be able to perform well as a team, but each game we’re getting better,” Kasdorf said.

What’s impressive is how smoothly Kasdorf has assumed command of an offense that isn’t easy to run.

“He’s very bright and understands concepts quickly and makes great decisions,” Rooney said.

Kasdorf increased his season totals to 26 touchdown passes and 2,406 yards while completing 67% of his passes.

Notre Dame hardly has time to celebrate. The Knights are part of the highly competitive four-team Serra League in which one league loss can put a team in jeopardy of not making the Pac-5 Division playoffs.

“Now every game is must-win,” Rooney said.

Still to come for Notre Dame and Crespi are league games against Los Angeles Loyola and La Puente Bishop Amat.

One Notre Dame player in particular was overjoyed about beating the Celts.

Ben Gottschalk, a starting junior offensive tackle for Notre Dame, needed no pep talk from coaches or teammates to get fired up for Crespi.

It’s a game that divides his family because two older brothers, Adam and William, played for the Celts.

His mother spent one half on the Crespi side and the other half on the Notre Dame side last season when Adam was a linebacker for the Celts.

Gottschalk went home after Notre Dame’s 23-3 loss, fell asleep and was awakened in the middle of the night by his brother’s friends.

“I got made fun of by the entire Crespi defense,” he said. “They woke me up at 2 a.m.”

His brother didn’t attend Friday’s game because he’s a walk-on at Arizona, but Gottschalk believes Adam was rooting for him.

“I think he’s supporting me,” he said. “I hope he’s supporting me.”

He couldn’t wait to make a phone call to Adam to tell him the final score.

--

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com