Cub Football - Loyola pulls out overtime victory over longtime rival St. Francis
LOYOLA COMES BACK LATE TO DEFEAT ST. FRANCIS, 9-3, IN OVERTIME
In a game devoid of much aesthetic quality, Loyola made an improbable late comeback and notched an overtime, 9-3, victory over longtime rival St. Francis at Smith Field on Friday night to complete its non-league schedule with a 3-2 record.
After a game-long anemic offensive effort that was looking to be headed to an ignominious ending for the Cubs, Loyola senior kicker JACOB KREINBRING drilled a 46-yard field goal on fourth down with just 1:39 remaining on the game clock to tie the contest 3-3.
Immediately thereafter, a group of blitzing Cub defenders batted a Golden Knights’ pass attempt at the line of scrimmage, and sophomore defensive lineman WILL MACK grabbed the fluttering ball to give Loyola a first and goal opportunity at the St. Francis six yard line with a little over a minute to play. After three running plays, the Cubs inexplicably let the clock run out with the ball inside the Golden Knights’ one yard line.
On the first play of overtime Loyola sophomore DB MALIQUE POLLARD picked off a deep St. Francis aerial, giving the Cubs an opportunity to win the game.
After an illegal procedure penalty pushed Loyola back to the 30 yard line, junior running back KANE CASANI made a beautiful 30-yard tackle-breaking sprint to the end zone on the Big Blue’s first play to secure a dramatic comeback-from-behind 9-3 victory for the jubilant Cubs.
The Golden Knights came into the rivalry contest with a 0-4 record, and conventional wisdom predicted a likely triumph for Loyola. The Big Blue freshman team beat St. Francjs 64-7 on Thursday, and the Loyola soph squad won 33-0. But rivalry games are rarely one-sided and, sure enough, it turned out that a well-coached St. Francis squad was in the driver’s seat until the Cubs began a drive, down 0-3, at their 32 yard line late in the fourth quarter.
A fourth down, 11-yard passcompletion from sophomore QB JOHN-CARL RISING to junior wide receiver TOBY THUSS gave Loyola a drive-saving first down, and a personal foul assessed against the Golden Knights on a third and 22 play was huge. Ultimately, the drive ended with KREINBRING’s 46-yard field goal to tie the game, 3-3. St. Francis kicked a 31-yard field goal at the 5:30 mark of the second quarter, and held the lead until just over a minute and a half remained in regulation.
The Cubs’ five first half offensive drives netted only 55 yards and ended as follows: punt, turnover on downs, punt, punt and expiration of time. Loyola’s second half offensive output wasn’t much better: missed field goal, interception, punt, 46-yard field goal, expiration of time.
The Cubs could only muster a meager 182 yards of total offense in regulation, while St. Francis was held to a paltry 108 yards.
Among the players who had standout performances for Loyola were RB/LB KANE CASANI (game winning 30-yard run for a TD, multiple tackles), DB MALIQUE POLLARD (1 interception), Edge MAX MEIER (multiple tackles for loss and QB hurries), and safeties GAGE SANTOS (1 interception) and PETER SCIARRINO (1 caused fumble).
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CUBS
Loyola has a bye next week, before embarking on its formidable Mission League schedule.
The Cubs, ranked 107th in the state by MaxPreps, will be the underdogs in every conference contest. Notre Dame is ranked 59th in California, Bishop Amat is 54th, Chaminade is 49th, Serra is 30th and Sierra Canyon is ranked sixth.
Loyola will need to improve exponentially to have a shot at any league victories. The bye week could not have come at a better time.
LOYOLA’S 1975 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM REUNITES
Members of Loyola’s undefeated 1975 National Championship team reunited before Friday’s game and were honored at halftime.
Travelling from New York to Palm Springs and many places in between an incredible group of Cubs reminisced and enjoyed spending time together as they celebrated their monumental achievements of 50 years ago.
HOW LOYOLA’S FUTURE FOES FARED THIS WEEK
NOTRE DAME (2-2) Bye
SERRA (3-2) 19, Oaks Christian 10
Cavaliers were in a tight one against surprisingly underperforming Oaks Christian
BISHOP AMAT (2-2) 32, Upland 3
The Lancers are proving to be very tough under new head coach Kory Minor
CHAMINADE (2-3) 35, Cathedral 28
The Eagles beat a team that Loyola lost to by 22 points in the season opener
SIERRA CANYON (5-0) 41, Orange Lutheran 9
The trailblazers have outscored five quality opponents by a cumulative score of 233-16.
CUBS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Below is the list of Loyola graduates on college football teams in 2025 according to published collegiate rosters:
JAKE ARELLANO '24, DB, Bentley University
CHAD BAILEY ‘20, DB, Bentley University
BROCK BOJORQUEZ ‘25, DB, Johns Hopkins
COLIN CRUCE ‘22, OL, Bowdoin
KHALIL CUEVA ‘24, WR, University of San Diego
JEFFREY JOHNSON ‘21, TE, Cal
LUKE HARRISON ‘24, OL, University of San Diego
CONNOR KLEIN ‘25, LB, Cornell
SHAWN LIN '22, DL, Columbia
LEIGHTON LINE ‘23, DL, Cal Lutheran
JOSHUA LONG ‘21, TE, Eastern Michigan
TAHJ OWENS '22, DB, Princeton
JACK PARIS '23, DL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RYAN QUINTANAR '20, LB, USC
XAVIER RICE ‘23, QB, Duquesne
ISAIAH SANDERS, ‘24, LB, UC Davis
PATRICK SODL ‘22, LB, Columbia
ZAKHARI SPEARS ‘21, DB, Idaho
HENRY STICKLER ‘22, WR, SMU
JACK SUSNJAR ‘23, OL, USC
JOE TATUM ‘22, QB, Texas
SCOTT TAYLOR '25, LB, UCLA
RYAN TURK ‘24, OL, Dartmouth
CHAMP WESTBROOKS ‘24, OL, Arizona State
ALEX WHITMAN ‘22, WR, Notre Dame
DESI VALDES ‘25, DB, Pasadena City College
CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘21, DB, Nebraska
SAM YOON ‘22, OL, UCLA
2025 LOYOLA VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
8-22 Cathedral (L 36-14)
8-29 @ Millikan (Long Beach) (W 35-25)
9-5 Mount Miguel (L 21-0)
9-12 @ Hamilton (Los Angeles) (W 42-21)
9-19 St. Francis (W 9-3)
10-3 @ Notre Dame*
10-10 @ Serra*
10-17 Bishop Amat*
10-24 @ Chaminade*
10-31 Sierra Canyon*
*Denotes Mission League game