St. Francis football in search of win No. 7, 101 against sixth-ranked Cathedral
The following are previews of the area’s upcoming high school football games this week.
After earning St. Francis High football earned its coach, Jim Bonds, his 100th victory last week, the Golden Knights can stay perfect this year with win No. 7 in a Mission League game at Friedman Field Friday evening.
Cathedral had its perfect start to the season end last week in a home loss to Chaminade, 48-7. Meanwhile, there wasn’t a need for much offense at all with the way St. Francis’ defense played in a 63-18 road win at St. Paul.
“This is going to be a really big test for us,” St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds said of Cathedral, which is ranked sixth in the CIF Southern Section Western Division. “If somebody would have said we’d be 6-0 at this point of the season back in July or August I would have taken it in a heartbeat. … We felt like we had a pretty difficult preseason schedule, but we’re definitely in the home stretch.”
The Knights, who are No. 4 in the Western Division, forced six turnovers, with three interceptions and fumbles each, and received 104 yards rushing and a score from Areg Nazarian. Ty Gangi completed five of 12 passes for 150 yards and two scores, with Dylan Crawford (103 yards) and John Carroll both hauling in touchdown passes.
Like many St. Francis games from a year ago, the Phantoms dealt the Knights a heartbreaker in 2012, 42-40. St. Francis’ potential game-winning drive was ended on an interception with less than a minute to play.
The Phantoms’ offense is built around quarterback M.C. Poe and running backs Martaveous Holliday and Jahmaree DeSett.
La Cañada at San Marino, 7 p.m.: It was a nice welcome to Rio Hondo League play, with the Spartans rolling through Blair at home, 56-12, last week.
La Cañada is in for a significantly greater test this week when it travels to face San Marino, which is ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Mid-Valley Division. The Titans are coming off a 21-6 win over South Pasadena and are 5-1 overall with their only loss coming to Crescenta Valley, 56-53, a team La Cañada fell to by a score of 42-14.
Spartans quarterback Robbie Fuelling threw for 89 yards, two touchdowns and ran for another score against Blair. Tight end Todd Murray had 77 receiving yards for La Cañada, which forced five turnovers in the game and got two rushing touchdowns from Mario Martinez (50 yards on nine carries).
San Marino is averaging 51.7 points a game and relies on the play of quarterback Andrew Ferracao, running back Tenny McFarlane and wide receiver JP Shohfi.
Flintridge Prep at Rio Hondo Prep, 7:30 p.m.: Prep League play didn’t start the way the Rebels hoped and there won’t be much of a letup as Flintridge Prep travels to face a perennial league and CIF Southern Section Northeast Division power Friday.
Prep (0-6, 0-1 in league) opened league with a 41-8 loss to Poly, while the 5-1 and No. 3 Kares shut out Chadwick, 35-0, in its opener. Rio Hondo Prep defeated Flintridge Prep, 48-12, in 2012.
Flintridge Prep’s top two offensive players are Stefan Smith and Andrew Tsangeos. Smith, a running back, had 88 yards and two-point conversion run on 20 carries. Tsangeos, a quarterback, completed 13 of 22 passes for 77 yards, one interception and also ran for his team’s only touchdown.