St. Francis High football continues impressive start

GLENDALE — The Glendale YMCA Quarterback Club, in its 71st year, meets Tuesdays at the Elk’s Lodge. The following are odds and ends from the third meeting of the year.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS ROLL TO ANOTHER WIN

Putting up points hasn’t been an issue through the first three games of the season for the St. Francis High football team. The Golden Knights, ranked sixth in the latest CIF Southern Section Western Division poll, are 3-0 while averaging 45.3 points per contest.

Under the direction of coach Jim Bonds, the Golden Knights have scored at least 35 points in each game. One of the players responsible for the offensive surge is senior running back Joe Mudie, who enjoyed a big effort in St. Francis’ 49-20 nonleague home win against La Mirada at Friedman Field.

Mudie, who also plays cornerback, rushed for a pair of touchdowns and 129 yards in 15 carries. He also caught five passes for 73 yards and a touchdown and had a 99-yard kickoff return for a score to begin the second half.

“He’s humble and selfless,” Bonds said. “He’s just a pleasure to coach and it’s exciting to see him do a lot of different things well each game.

“The La Mirada game didn’t go the way we expected. We expected a much tougher game and we thought we’d have our hands full. I thought we played lights out from start to finish.”

St. Francis will next meet visiting Damien (2-1) in a nonleague game at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

VAQUEROS EQUAL WIN TOTAL FROM 2012

For the second straight season, the Glendale Community College football team has begun going 2-1, but last season didn’t win another game after claiming its second victory. The Vaqueros cruised to a 41-6 nonconference home win against San Diego Mesa at Sartoris Field.

Glendale Coach John Rome said the Vaqueros have more offensive options available, leading to smoother drives.

“We’ve been able to move the ball pretty consistently,” Rome said. “We are growing and doing things more correctly.”

Glendale will look to continue that trend while shifting its attention to the Pacific Conference’s American Division. The Vaqueros will meet visiting Antelope Valley (0-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday. Antelope Valley split the division championship last season. Glendale went 0-7 in the division in 2012.

FORMER KNIGHTS COACH RETURNS TO PODIUM

In coaching high school football for 24 seasons, including seven at St. Francis, Bill Redell piloted multiple teams to CIF Southern Section Championships. Redell won a CIF title at Crespi in 1986 before winning seven more at Oaks Christian between 2003-10..

Redell was the guest speaker at Tuesday’s meeting, marking the fourth time he’s addressed the club since 2007. He retired from coaching after last season, when he coached at alma mater Occidental College.

“I’ve been around coaching a long time and any success I had was because I was able to choose and hire some outstanding assistants along the way,” said Redell, who played six seasons in the Canadian Football League and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001 with John Elway and Marcus Allen. “I’ve had some outstanding coaches wherever I’ve been, including Jim Bonds.

“I learned along the way how to delegate responsibility. I was able to bring in some high quality people and let them do their jobs.”

Redell went 233-65-3 at the high school level.

Among some of his other assistants were Jay Schroeder, a former UCLA and NFL quarterback who is now the head coach at Village Christian in Sun Valley, and Clay Matthews Jr. Mathews was a three-time NFL All-Pro selection.

“I look for character when looking for assistants,” said Redell, a former All-American at Occidental who helped the Hamilton Tiger-Cats win a Canadian Football League Grey Cup crown in 1967. “Character wins out in the long run. You want to be able to teach the players that.”

Bonds said he learned from Redell about the coaching profession.

“If it wasn’t for Bill, I wouldn’t even know where St. Francis was [located],” said Bonds, who served as offensive coordinator at St. Francis under Redell for several seasons. “He taught me a lot about how to coach.

“He’s like a second father to me.”