October 28, 2022

Cub Football - BLUE EUPHORIA - Loyola holds off St. Francis to capture share of Angelus League title

LOYOLA DEFEATS ST. FRANCIS 28-27 IN DRAMATIC LEAGUE FINALE TO CAPTURE SHARE OF LEAGUE TITLE
Before the largest Smith Field home crowd since 2019, Loyola played its best game of the season holding off arch rival St. Francis, 28-27, in an emotion-charged down to the wire battle on Friday night which concluded on a failed Golden Knights’ two-point conversion pass attempt following a St. Francis touchdown with no time left on the game clock.

The ebullient Cubs charged the field as the victory earned Loyola a share of the Angelus League championship, the Cubs’ third consecutive conference title.

On Sunday, the CIF Southern Section will announce divisional placement and seeds for the Southern Section playoffs which get underway next Friday. The Big Blue is guaranteed a playoff invitation. Coin flips on Saturday will determine first through third places in the Angelus League as Loyola, Cathedral and St. Francis each finished with 4-1 conference records.

Prognostications did not favor the Big Blue going into Friday’s contest as Loyola was coming off a disappointing 21-3 setback a week ago at the hands of co-champ Cathedral, who was dispatched by the Golden Knights, 49-38 two weeks ago.

The Cubs were undaunted by the projections of a loss as they forged an impressive 21-7 halftime lead over their high-scoring long time rivals. 

A fast tempo offense rolled,  aided by the Big Blue offensive line’s (JACK SUSNJAR, RYAN TURK, MATT POHL, CHAMP WESTBROOKS, JACK PARIS) best performance of the campaign thus far. Loyola moved the ball very effectively on the ground and through the air, finishing with 476 total yards.

The Golden Knights drove to the Cubs’ 11 yard line on their opening possession. It appeared as though a score by the visitors was imminent, but Loyola senior linebacker and team captain ZACH BOWLES recovered a fumble to stave off the scoring threat.

A delay of game penalty call against Loyola forced the Cubs to punt. St. Francis then missed a 34-yard field goal attempt.

On its ensuing possession Loyola drove 80 yards in 11 plays, scoring on a 21-yard XAVIER RICE pass to WILKE WILES. MARK HYAN’s kick gave the Cubs a 7-0 lead with 2:39 left in the first quarter.

The Cubs’ ‘Wolfpack’ defense then forced a three-and-out, following which Loyola drove 67 yards in 14 plays, scoring on an eight-yard jaunt by sophomore running back DESI VALDES. HYAN’s PAT kick increased the Cubs’ lead to 14-0 at the 8:34 mark of the second quarter.

The Golden Knights answered with a 78-yard drive, capped by a one-yard TD run with 4:33 left on the second quarter clock, making the score, 14-7.

Loyola responded with an 85 yard drive, with senior running back JON BAUTISTA bolting into the end zone from 11 yards out to give the Cubs a 21-7 lead.

Sophomore corner BRANDON LOCKHART defended a pass in the Loyola end zone just before the second quarter ended to thwart a scoring threat.

LOCKHART caused and recovered a fumble early in the third quarter to set Loyola up at its 43 yard line. Seven plays later RICE hit junior receiver KHALIL CUEVA with a 15-yard scoring pass with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter. HYAN’s PAT kick upped the Cubs’ lead to 28-7. It felt like the game was iced at that point. But a determined St. Francis squad had other ideas.

With 2:09 left in third quarter the Golden Knights scored on a one-yard run to cap a hurry-up 80-yard drive to draw within 14 points.

On Loyola’s ensuing drive St. Francis intercepted a Cub fourth down pass on the Golden Knights’ 15 yard line, and St. Francis promptly drove 85 yards, scoring on a pass play with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 28-21. The heart rates of Loyola partisans were suddenly racing.

The Cubs went three-and-out on their following possession, but Loyola’s defense made a tremendous fourth down stop, and the Cubs had the ball at their own 40 yard line with less than five minutes left in the contest. JON BAUTISTA raced for 15 yards on the first play as the clock continued to run, but a 42 yard field goal attempt was blocked by the Golden Knights with less than two minutes on the clock. A sense of dread permeated the large home crowd as St. Francis started the final drive of the battle at its 33 yard line.

Aided by a controversial pass interference call and a personal foul penalty assessed against Loyola, the Golden Knights scored on a five-yard TD pass with no time left on the clock. With the score, 28-27, St. Francis lined up for a two-point conversion attempt, which if successful, would have given it the win.

Senior Cub linebacker JARED ERBY tipped a pass intended for the Golden Knights’ 6-4 tight end over the middle resulting in an incompletion, and euphoria enveloped a Loyola squad that played what was its best game of the season.

RICE had an outstanding performance, completing 22 of 29 (76%) of his passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns.

The Cub rushing attack rolled up 275 yards on 37 carries for a 7.4 yards per carry average.  BAUTISTA (21 carries for 167 yards, 8.0 ypc) and VALDES (8 carries for 85 yards, 8.5 ypc) were workhorses.

Junior safety/WR JAKE ARELLANO had a standout performance on both sides of the ball. Sophomore outside linebacker had another good game as did BOWLES. Inside linebackers NICHOLAS MORRIS and JARED ERBY helped slow down St. Francis’s run game, as did defensive linemen ISAIAH SANDERS, JACK REED and KEENAN TARBET. 

Head coach DREW CASANI ‘91 and his staff had a great game plan which was well executed. The dramatic victory was a big step up for Loyola.

LOOKING AT THE CIF SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS The Southern Section will place over 500 teams in 14 playoff divisions on Sunday. Friday’s victory could put the Cubs in Division 5 or possibly a high seed in Division 6.

The playoff divisions and seedings are determined by the CalPrep.com computer rankings under the competitive equity system recently implemented by the CIF.

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR LOYOLA - CIF AND STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE THE GOALS
The Cubs’ goal is to go 1-0 each week for the next six weeks. If they accomplish that feat they will be CIF and divisional state champions. An exciting new season starts next Friday.

Loyola finished the regular season 5-5, and the arrow is definitely pointing up after Friday’s big win over St. Francis.