MidValleySports.Com

By Alex A. Gonzalez

Los Angeles – Despite a late surge from the St. Francis Golden Knights in their Angelus League opener Friday night, Gianni Haynes helped lead the Cathedral Phantoms to a 21-18 win with his two-touchdown performance at Cathedral High School.

​Heading into the second half with the Phantoms up 7-3 on the toasty October night, and set to start the final 24 minutes with possession,  Haynes, who scored Cathedral’s lone touchdown in the first half with an 8-yard TD reception, did not wait for his offense to take the field.

​Instead, the future Washington St. Cougar returned the kickoff 90 yards, giving his team a 14-3 lead.

“On the kickoff return, we were talking about it. We said if we got a push left, then go right,” said Haynes when talking about the kickoff return. “We were doing it at practice, and we were doing it all week. We told each other we are going to do it in the game. We executed what we practiced, so that’s all it takes.”

​Then, after the defense smothered the Golden Knights on their ensuing possession, Jayden McCullough went 60 yards to the house once the Knights punted the ball away with 6:04 left in the third quarter.

​But then, St. Franks finally punched back and started their comeback on their next series. The offense carved up the Phantoms thanks to Vito Schiada and Teranus Synncere Pitts II, who combined for 29 yards rushing. Then, on second down, Schiada lobbed an 18-yard pass to Mason Maddox, who outjumped his defender for the score.

​The offense then got into a groove on their next possession with Schiada picking apart the Phantom’s secondary for 62 yards. After completions to Maddox and Hunter Bendis for 34 and 28 yards, respectively, the team set up at the Cathedral 1-yard line, and Synncere Pitts II took the handoff and bulldozed into the end zone for six.

​St. Francis then made it a 3-point game when they elected to go for two and got it when it looked like Synncere Pitts II was tackled in the backfield, but at the last second he pitched the ball to Asthon Gill, who managed to reach the end zone, making it a 21-18 game with 9:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.

​Luck was on the side of the Golden Knights on the ensuing kickoff when two Phantoms collided, creating a loose ball that Lucas Morzov ultimately recovered at the Cathedral 24-yard line.

​The Phantom’s defense tightened up on the possession and forced St. Francis to a 29-yard field goal. But for the second time that night, Nikolas Mansourian short-legged the kick and missed.

​St. Francis had one last chance to score with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, but the game was sealed on Homecoming night when Kayden Brooks picked off Schiada with 48 seconds remaining.

​“I have faith in my whole team. My defense, my offense, my special teams, you know,” commented Haynes. “We may have made bad mistakes, but at the end of the day we were going to play together, and when we are united we are going to play great.”

​With the win, Cathedral will look to make it a 2-0 start in league play next week when they travel to St. Paul. St. Francis will look to even their league record next Friday when they host St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy.