Football: Cathedral tunes up for showdown against St. Francis

While the alumni and students of L.A. Cathedral enjoyed their afternoon at L.A. Southwest College on Saturday routing their neighborhood rivals from L.A. Salesian, 58-20, in an Angelus League opener, the real focus for the Phantoms begins almost immediately.

A league championship is expected to be on the line next Friday when Cathedral (6-0, 1-0) plays host to St. Francis (6-0, 1-0). Look for a standing-room only crowd of more than 4,000.

Cathedral’s fans filled their section on Saturday for a game that took 14 years to finally be played. Salesian and Cathedral hadn’t squared off on the field since 2000. Salesian fans were also vocal, but it was pretty much all Cathedral, with Salesian losing the ball four times on fumbles, and twice Cathedral players fell on the ball in the end zone for touchdowns.

Leading the way was sophomore quarterback Andrew Tovar, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown. Senior receiver Marshaun Cameron returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown and had four catches for 94 yards. Cameron Haney had a 24-yard touchdown run, Aaron Moore caught a seven-yard touchdown pass and Renard Bell scored on a six-yard TD run.

For Salesian (2-4, 0-1), quarterback Damion Wright ran for two touchdowns and picked up 74 yards rushing.

Cathedral was called for double figures in penalties. The Phantoms certainly have some speed to cause St. Francis problems, and Tovar continues to develop, using his intelligence and instincts to effectively run Coach Kevin Pearson’s no-huddle offense. He has 21 touchdown passes in six games.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer