All-Area Football Player of the Year: Davitt wreaks havoc for St. Francis

Numbers alone tell a harrowing tale of the havoc caused by Sean Davitt.

A monster off the edge, the St. Francis High senior defensive end engulfed quarterbacks to the tune of 23 sacks – an area-high for certain that nobody can recall being matched by any past player in area chronicle.

There were other numbers, too, such as 78 tackles, 34 tackles for a loss and 36 quarterback hurries.

Truly, though, it’s impossible for statistics to pen the entire story of Davitt’s impact.

As games and the season wore on, Davitt drew double teams and holding flags, he altered play calls and game plans and ultimately created chaos for opposing offenses as St. Francis advanced all the way to the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division semifinals.

In a season to savor for Davitt and St. Francis, he was a portrait of constant bedlam who guided the Golden Knights to brilliance and left opponents befuddled and battered. And it was a season that concluded with Davitt being voted by the sports writers of the Glendale News-Press, La Cañada Valley Sun and Burbank Leader as the 2015 All-Area Football Player of the Year.

“He was somebody people had to plan for and scheme around,” St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds says. “That changes your game plan. That’s an unseen stat.

“There’s a lot of intangible things that he did that maybe don’t show up on the statbook that helped make us a great team.”

While just about every sack recorded by Davitt seemed to be a momentous play, his consistency was also startling.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound talent recorded a sack in 12 of 13 games. Standing as the only exception was a 27-14 Angelus League win over La Salle on Nov. 6 in which the Lancers passed the ball but 15 times and had multiple blockers on Davitt seemingly every play.

“To get up to 23 sacks is pretty unbelievable,” Bonds says. “Usually when you start getting that many sacks, you start getting double- and triple-teamed. He was still able to find his way to the quarterback and be disruptive.”

Following a transfer from Loyola High, Davitt sat out the first five games of his junior season and, when he was cleared for action, tried to take advantage of any playing time he could get. But the 2014 Golden Knights were a star-studded group seemingly destined for success, racing through the regular season undefeated before they were upset by La Serna in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division quarterfinals.

When the 2015 season drew near, Davitt and St. Francis were much the same in that nobody was quite certain what to expect. It wasn’t as if a free fall was prognosticated, but not many were standing up to lob the same high expectations as were cast upon the 2014 squad. Indeed, if there was a mantra to be had it was not about fulfilling expectations, but rather that something had to be proved.

“I just wanted to show them what I could do, because I didn’t think they really saw what I could do last year,” Davitt says.

As the season approached kickoff, Davitt was one of many unknown commodities set to lead the Golden Knights.

However, the preparation put forth for the season wasn’t in question.

“What was evident was he worked as hard or harder than anyone on the team in the offseason,” Bonds says.

In addition to putting in the extra work, Davitt also changed his mentality in Bonds’ eyes.

“He was able to flip the switch on the field this year and play with a little more of an edge; a little more meanness to him,” Bond says. “I think that was really a big difference for him.”

Davitt wasted no time in announcing his presence.

St. Francis opened the season Sept. 4 with a 36-24 victory over West Covina and Davitt terrorized to the tune of four sacks and a safety. It began a streak of nine consecutive games with a sack for Davitt, who had nine sacks through the first four games of the season.

“We could tell after a few games he was going to have a big season,” St. Francis All-Area defensive tackle Buster Roebuck says.

Davitt, Roebuck, linebacker Maxx Jakeway and others keyed a St. Francis defense that became the strength of the team. The Golden Knights allowed less than 20 points per game on average as the team rebounded from a three-game losing streak that ended nonleague play against Calabasas and carried through the start of Angelus League play with heartbreakers against Salesian and Harvard-Westlake.

The season turned when St. Francis handed league rival Cathedral a 31-14 defeat, the first loss of the season for the Phantoms, who were ranked No. 1 in the division at the time. Davitt more than did his part, recording seven tackles, a sack, seven quarterback hurries and an interception.

“He had a fantastic season,” Jakeway says. “He was such a good pass rusher; everybody would try to key on him.”

His presence was not just felt on the defensive side of the ball, though.

Davitt was a tight end on offense whose presence in the run game was invaluable.

“Anytime we needed to run the ball effectively, we looked to him,” Bonds says.

During the Golden Knights’ losing skid, injuries also plagued the team, which saw Davitt actually see playing time on the offensive line.

“He said, without hesitation, whatever you need coach,” Bonds says. “It shows you just what kind of kid he is.”

For all of the big plays orchestrated by Davitt, though, there was no game that stands as a hallmark more so than the CIF quarterfinals against Burroughs.

Davitt was borderline unstoppable.

“His combination of his pure size, strength and speed,” Roebuck says. “He’s an aggressive guy and he’s big and just all those intangibles he put together.”

The Golden Knights defeated fourth-seeded Burroughs, 21-7.

Davitt, who had a sack and recovered a game-clinching onside kick a week previously in a CIF first-round win over Warren, had an eye-popping six sacks, adding up to negative 49 yards, an additional five hurries, 12 tackles and, for good measure, hauled in a 16-yard touchdown catch that stood as the game-winner and his only score of the season.

“It was a big game. It was obviously a playoff game, so I was excited,” Davitt says. “Even when they switched up things a little, I was still feeling like, ‘I’m in the zone.’”

A week later, Davitt and St. Francis were on the wrong end of a 24-10 score against La Serna in the semifinals that concluded a stellar season.

With the loss came a final tip of the cap to Davitt, though, as it was relayed that La Serna’s offensive plans heavily involved stopping Davitt, who had five tackles, three for a loss and a sack.

“You know you have a special player when the opposing coaches are looking for No. 5 to tell him what a special player he is, what a stud he is,” Bonds says. “That’s about the highest compliment you can get when the opposing coach comes up to you to shake your hand.”

And so ended one season of spectacular for Davitt, one in which statistics screamed off the page but hardly told the entirety of the impact he had.

“The quarterback really never had much time to step back and think, so it really helped us with pass coverage,” Jakeway says. “He’s one of the fastest guys I know. He’s really quick.”

Nobody was quite certain what to expect of the 2015 Golden Knights, but a CIF semifinal berth certainly exceeded expectations. It’s hard to fathom St. Francis’ success had it not been for the unknown commodity of Sean Davitt becoming a nightmare for quarterbacks and offensive coordinators, alike, and the area’s best football player.

“I wanted to show what I could do,” Davitt says. “I think at the end of the season, they definitely saw what I was capable of.”