Football: Lebowitz, Talianko lead St. Francis in Blowout Victory

The football team looked in preseason form on Friday night while Crescenta Valley showed it still has some kinks to work out, falling to the Golden Knights 35-0.

“I’m really excited about the way the team played,” said St. Francis coach Jim Bonds said.  “Our defense has come a long way since last year.

"The shutout is especially nice,” he said.

The St. Francis defense racked up an impressive six sacks against Falcon quarterback Zac Wilkerson, but it was junior quarterback Jared Lebowitz who stole the show by completing his first nine pass attempts and totaling 170 yards with two touchdowns.

“Jared is still young and it’s early in the season, but he’s showing flashes of brilliance,” said Bonds.

On the Knights first possession, running back Austin De Los Santos broke a 40-yard run into the end zone, but the play was called back on an offensive holding penalty. Lebowitz responded by completing a 27-yard pass to Parker Nieves, setting up a four-yard touchdown run by sophomore Austin Finton three plays later.

“Once we fell behind we had to take some risks defensively and it cost us,” said Crescenta Valley coach Paul Schilling.  “Right now they’re the better team.”

After consecutive sacks by the Knights defense forced a Crescenta Valley punt, Lebowitz went right back to work. Facing a third down and long near midfield, Lebowitz connected on a slant pass with Christian Hess who beat his defender into an open field for a 59-yard touchdown.

“Anytime I can get Christian the ball with room to run he’s dangerous,” said Lebowitz.  “Our offensive line and receivers did a heck of a job tonight.”

Things didn’t get any easier for Wilkerson and the Falcons in the first half.

The team punted on its first five possessions of the game and, although dropped passes were detrimental, Wilkerson did not complete a pass until a two-yard shovel pass to Marro Lee midway through the second quarter.

“This game is going to make us better in the long run,” said Schilling.  “We can’t improve if we schedule games against weak opponents.”

Finton scored on another goal line run set up by a 20-yard pass interference play against Crescenta Valley with six minutes remaining in the second quarter.  The running back tandem of Finton and De Los Santos totaled 67 yards in the game.

Trailing 21-0 at halftime, Crescenta Valley urgently attempted an onside kick to open the third quarter that bounced awkwardly and was recovered by the Falcons’ William Wang.  However, a sack by the Knights’ Cole Ramseyer led to a 51-yard field goal attempt by Pavle Atanackovic that sailed inches left.

On their next possession the Falcons put together a strong seven-minute drive, but on fourth down and one yard to go on the St. Francis 17-yard line running back Marro Lee dropped back for a pass, but was tackled for a loss.

Comeback Stifled

The Knights took over on downs, but on the opening play of the third quarter the team gave life back to Crescenta Valley.  Lebowitz scrambled to the left looking to pass, but ran right into a blitzing Noah Stubblefield who delivered a big hit which forced a fumble and jumped on the loose ball at the St. Francis 12-yard line.

“They were in a shotgun, two back formation and I blitzed the outside gap,” said Stubblefield.  “When he rolled out I was in the right place at the right time.”

With a newfound golden opportunity, Crescenta Valley’s comeback was quickly extinguished.  On second down Wilkerson threw a pass over the middle that was tipped by Ryan McAleenan into the hands of safety Travis Talianko who returned the interception 95 yards for a touchdown.

“It was the first interception of my career.  I was excited, but by the time I got down the field I was worn out,” said Talianko, a senior.

Lebowitz added one more touchdown on a 14-yard pass to Parker Nieves before giving way to backup quarterback Forrest Ascarrunz.  Nieves, Talianko, and Hess all had over 50 receiving yards in the game.

Marro Lee led the Falcons with 30 yards from scrimmage while receiver Patrick Kim added 27 yards.

St. Francis (2-0) will take its hot start on the road next week to Venice while Crescenta Valley (1-1) will be on the road once again against La Canada.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

3:58 SF - Finton 4 run (McCreary kick)

0:06 SF - Hess 59 pass from Lebowitz (McCreary kick)

2nd Quarter

5:58 SF - Finton 3 run (McCreary kick)

3rd Quarter

No Score

4th Quarter

10:52 SF - Taliank intercepted Wilkerson for 95 yards (McCreary kick)

7:16 SF - Nieves 14 pass from Lebowitz (McCreary kick)

Stats:

Passing - SF: Lebowitz (11-19, 170 y, 2 TD, INT); CV: Wilkerson (6-22, 47 y, 2 INT).  Rushing - SF: De Los Santos (11-53), Finton (6-14, 2 TD); CV: Lee (10-24), Wilkerson (8-14).  Receiving - SF: Hess (1-59, TD), Talianko (4-58), Nieves (4-52, TD); CV: Kim (3-27), Lutynski (1-12).