SAN FRANCISCO - Friday was a party in The City’s Sunset District as the St. Ignatius Wildcats hosted their first homecoming football game in recent history. Celebrating the anniversaries of historic teams from their past, honorees included the 1962 team that was ranked as the joint top team in nation, the CCS Open Division Champion 2012 squad, as well as the chief guest: Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback Dan Fouts ‘69.
With festivities cranked up to the max, the stands at J.B. Murphy field were as packed as they can get, with parents and students clamoring from opposing sides. The ‘Cats put up a fight, but as expected, it was the St. Francis Lancers that rained on the parade, as the defending Western Catholic Athletic League champs ran away with a 42-20 victory.
The Lancers set the tone from the opening, jumping out to a 14-0 lead early and never looking back. Coming off a three-game losing streak in which they recorded only two touchdowns, the Lancers needed a spark on offense which came in the form of RB Keala Keanaaina.
The senior was the undoubtedly the main feature of a versatile Lancer offense, racking up 231 yards and two scores off 29 carries. Keanaaina, along with a dominant offensive line, led the Lancer offense down the field on two grueling touchdown drives that ate up most of the first half, exhausting the ‘Cats.
“You've got to go with the hot hand,” Saint Francis coach Greg Calcagno told The San Francisco Standard. “He was obviously the hot hand. He gave us a lot of energy and was seeing it really well, and our guys were doing a good job blocking up front.”
After a first half which didn’t see QB Matthew Dougherty Jr. throw the ball around, he exploded to open the third quarter. On just his second play of the half, Dougherty connected with Riley Long for a 40-yard score. Minutes later, he found Andrew Adkison downfield for a 62-yard score, this time on the third play of the drive.
Finally, to cap off a stunning seven-minute period of play, Dougherty scrambled out of the pocket to find an open Ned Righellis for a 60-yard score. Dougherty ended with 231 yards and three scores off just nine completions, as well as adding a touchdown with his legs. The Wildcat defense had no answer for the Lancer offense as the Lancers exploited Keanaaina’s dominance to create an abundance of open receivers.
“We think we’re pretty multiple,” said Calcagno. “We got some receivers and quarterback we like, so we wanted to be diverse and and do both, and we ended up pretty even with pass and rush yards.”
The highlight of the game for the Wildcats was sophomore QB Soren Hummel. After regular starter Mac McAndrews suffered a back injury during last week's matchup against Bellarmine, Hummel was given the starting spot and made his mark.
He opened the game passing for two first downs, and continued to showcase his abilities over the course of the four quarters. The three-sport athlete displayed his stellar athleticism and vision, making passes from the pocket as well as making throws across his body on the run. Hummel took a particular liking to receivers Gus Parker (5 catches, 131 yards) and Monroe Barnum (3 catches, 105 yards and a TD), as they accounted for over 70 percent of Hummel’s yards through the air.
“He’s up with us for a reason,” SI coach John Regalia said. “We’ve got a number of kids in our program, like Soren, that we are going to push. We’ve seen that in him last year, and coming into this year. There’s a reason why he’s with us, we’ve got full confidence in him, our team does, our coaches do, and he did some really good things”
Looking to next week, the Lancers will look to ride their momentum in a home matchup against Sacred Heart Cathedral. Meanwhile the ‘Cats will look to bounce back during another game under their lights against Valley Christian.
