St. Francis football rolls over Salesian again, 56-0.
Eight offense drives equaled eight touchdowns for the St. Francis High football team Friday night in Angelus League play.
That’s the kind of evening the Golden Knights enjoyed as they rolled, even with back-ups playing and a running clock, in a 56-0 victory over host Salesian in Boyle Heights for the program’s second shutout over its last four contests.
St. Francis (7-2, 1-1 in league) hadn’t blanked a road opponent since it bested Salesian, 69-0, in 2017.
Aince St. Francis lost a 27-20 double-overtime thriller in 2015 to the Mustangs, the Golden Knights have won the last four meetings by a combined score of 186-13, with three straight shutouts.
Friday’s victory also keeps St. Francis in the hunt for a share of the league title as the Golden Knights will host league-leading rival Cathedral (5-4, 2-0) next Friday in the season finale.
“We needed a game like this after last week’s game where we really squandered an opportunity to win,” said St. Francis coach Jim Bonds, in reference to his team’s 42-35 loss to Crespi the previous week.
“I told the guys they needed to remember what it felt like to lose a game like that and to not let it happen again. We saw some Golden Knight football tonight.”
St. Francis’ roster was used extensively against Salesian (1-8, 0-2), as several starters sat after a first quarter in which the visitors led, 28-0, and the teams agreed upon a running clock for the following three quarters.
St. Francis quarterback Jack Clougherty was sharp in limited action, connecting on all four of his passes for 89 yards with touchdown strikes of 20 yards to Max Garrison and 12 yards to Bryson Reeves. Clougherty also punched in a 28-yard rushing touchdown.
After the first quarter, Clougherty played head cheerleader as he rooted on several back-ups, including counterpart Marty Rogers.
The junior filled in admirably as the Golden Knights ran for most of the rest of the contest.
Rogers’ lone pass was a 37-yard touchdown strike to Adam Barakat midway through the second quarter that put St. Francis up, 35-0.
Rogers also rushed twice for 21 yards, including a six-yard score at the six-minute mark in the third quarter as St. Francis raced ahead, 49-0.
“Since I first came to St. Francis all I wanted to do was play quarterback,” Rogers said. “When they said Jack was the starter, I was a little hurt, but I accepted my role on the team and was looking forward to a chance like this.”
St. Francis also received a 50-yard rushing touchdown from running back Kevin Armstead, who finished with five carries for 99 yards and one score and sat after one quarter.
St. Francis sophomore running back Myles Shannon also scored touchdowns of 11 and 44 yards to cap his team’s scoring. Shannon finished with 85 yards on five carries.
Perhaps St. Francis’ defensive effort was overshadowed by its offense’s fireworks.
St. Francis starters held Salesian to one first down in the first half, while the entire defense allowed seven total first downs and 130 yards of offense.
The defense stood tall on two possessions.
Senior defensive back Daniel Medina produced a strip-tackle of Salesian quarterback Marcus Martin recovered by St. Francis’ Chris Rivas on the Golden Knights’ 30 on the final play of the third quarter.
The Mustangs also drove to the St. Francis’ 6-yard line with 30 seconds left, but were denied when senior linebacker Malik Al-Jazayrly preserved the shutout with a game-ending sack.
St. Francis finished with three sacks.
