San Francisco high school football roundup: Week 2

Eight of San Francisco’s 10 high school football teams took to the field over Labor Day weekend. Three opened their seasons, while five played their second games.

None of the eight tasted victory, though Lincoln, St. Ignatius and Washington certainly represented the city well against tough competition.

As always, The Standard has you covered on any action you may have missed.

A week after Lowell was shut out in the second half, squandering an 11-point lead to Monta Vista-Cupertino, the Cardinals had no trouble scoring against Archie Williams (formerly known as Drake). The problem for Lowell (0-2) was stopping the Falcon offense. The combination of Nate Karpay-Brody and Will Roberts proved too much for the Cardinals, with Roberts throwing for two touchdowns, running for two more and catching a fifth score.

Lowell kept up behind Gavin Barry-Smith, who ran 14 times for 83 yards and found the end zone twice, and quarterback Angelo Ornelas. After completing just three of his 10 passes in Week 1, Ornelas connected on 13 of his 24 attempts against Archie Williams (1-1), throwing for 155 yards and touchdowns to both Teddy McCarty and Stevie Rivas. He also ran 11 times for 115 yards and a TD.

A difficult third quarter proved too much for the Eagles to overcome, but they put a scare into the Vikings in the fourth quarter. With just 1:55 to go and no timeouts, quarterback James Mertz took Washington down to the Irvington 30-yard line before a sack and a pair of incompletions ended the comeback bid. The game got off to a wild start, with each team running back a kickoff for a score in the first minute.

Ethan Nguyen took the first kick 80 yards to give Irvington (1-1) an instant 7-0 lead, only for Mason Fong to run one 91 yards the other way for Washington (1-1). Despite conceding a safety, the Eagles held a 14-9 lead after the first quarter as Ayan Razzak returned a blocked field goal for an 87-yard touchdown. Razzak finished with 125 receiving yards on just three catches.

An unforgiving Marauder defense, a fumble in the red zone and two long Jesuit drives sent the Wildcats to their first loss of the season. Time of possession favored the visitors from Sacramento County by a nearly 2:1 ratio, and Caleb Dixon recovered a fumble to halt a potential game-tying drive by St. Ignatius (1-1) in the third quarter. Dixon’s 26-yard field goal with 3:04 remaining all but sealed the win for Jesuit (2-0), and the Marauder defense twisted the proverbial knife by forcing a turnover on downs, setting up Jagger Shaddix for an insurance score.

Mission’s offense was left without an answer after quarterback Adrian Chavarria dislocated his wrist on the first possession of the game, and the results were telling in a 32-0 loss at Oakland Tech. 3-star defensive end recruit Omar Staples dominated for Oakland Tech (1-0), opening the scoring with a 74-yard reception on a screen pass and hauling in a 27-yard Rashaan Buffin pass as time expired in the first half. Mission (0-1) recorded just one first down, though Isiah Pearson did force and recover a fumble during the second quarter as the Bears defense overcame the early blow from Staples. At the request of Bears head coach Terrill Vinson, the second half was played with a running clock.

The Fightin’ Irish were plagued by an inability to run the ball for the second straight week, and this time, it proved fatal in a surprising loss at Rabobank Stadium in Salinas. Sacred Heart Cathedral (1-1) was held off the scoreboard until the final four minutes by a Chieftains team that had been blown out by Mitty a week earlier, finally snapping the shutout on an Aidan McGrath touchdown pass to Jackson Irons. McGrath had a solid showing despite two interceptions, completing 18 of his 32 passes for 271 yards, but the lack of a rushing attack was a prevalent issue for the SHC offense.

The Irish ran the ball just five times all night, and aside from one 21-yard carry by Kendric Sanders, they averaged just 2.75 yards per attempt. Tommy Nunes threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third for Palma (1-1).

Balboa’s state title defense opened on a sour note, not only losing to Skyline but also losing quarterback Edwin Maiava to a shoulder injury. Ball security plagued the Buccaneers all afternoon as they fumbled seven times, losing four of them. Though the game was played on a sunny afternoon, both teams struggled to hold on to the ball in the sort of affair that would be more appropriate for a rainy day. Skyline (1-0) also fumbled five times, losing three of them.

While Balboa’s defense played a solid game, allowing just two touchdowns and a short field goal, the fumbles piled up. Khalid Frison’s 71-yard fumble return opened the scoring for the visitors from Oakland, and the Titans got the final touchdown of the day on a Ta’Jon Nalls 92-yard scoop-and-score. Balboa’s lone touchdown came on a three-yard Nick Wong run in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 10-7.

The Lions trailed just 7-0 after a quarter in San Rafael, but allowed two touchdowns in the final minute of the first half as Terra Linda (1-1) built an insurmountable 27-0 lead. Trojans quarterback Garrett Pardo called his own number for a 1-yard run after converting a third-and-14 with a pass to Cole Greene, and Kai Walker picked off a deep pass for a 64-yard pick-six to stretch the lead to four scores. Walker’s touchdown was the second recorded by the Terra Linda defense; defensive end Marvin Hernandez extended the lead to 14-0 with a 13-yard interception return early in the second quarter. Jack Weiksner ran six times for 43 yards for Galileo (1-1) in the loss.

Lincoln trailed just 14-13 at halftime in Pacifica, but three third-quarter touchdowns by Terra Nova (2-0) ensured the Tigers would beat the Mustangs for a second year in a row. In their first game without running back Ricky Underwood, sidelined by a collarbone injury, the Mustangs were slightly less effective running the ball, but not catastrophically so.

Jamelle Newman ran 27 times for 123 yards and a touchdown, and freshman quarterback Latu Manumua finished off a pair of drives with short runs as well. Manumua also completed 5 of 8 passes for 61 yards. Underwood’s presence was perhaps missed most in the secondary as Lincoln (1-1) struggled to stop Terra Nova through the air. Tigers quarterback Mason Mini was picked off twice, once by Hezekiah Davis and once by Ryan Tan, but he threw touchdowns to Steven Dalton, Rocco Gentile and Ronin Sargent.

Serra finally got an elusive win over De La Salle, outscoring the Spartans 17-0 in the fourth quarter on the road for a 24-21 win before a national TV audience on ESPNU. Marley Alapati, who transferred from DLS to Serra after his family moved from Concord to Daly City, fueled the Padres by recovering a fumble on the first play from scrimmage and intercepting a pass in the final minutes that set up Dylan Joudieh’s game-winning 20-yard field goal.

Bellarmine fell to 0-2 with another close road loss to a top public school opponent, this time losing 24-21 in overtime at McClymonds. The Bells held the Warriors to a field goal on the first possession of overtime, but Tayshon Clayton forced a fumble and Gregory Kenny recovered the loose ball to secure the win for the Warriors, who have been the top public school in Oakland by leaps and bounds for the last 12 years. Turnovers plagued St. Francis in a 28-7 home loss to Monterey Trail-Elk Grove, a bad omen with a trip to De La Salle coming up for the Lancers.

Sacred Heart Cathedral volleyball went 2-2 over the last week under first-year head coach Symone Mackiewicz.

The Fightin’ Irish opened with a four-set victory at Bishop O’Dowd, then pushed perennial power Marin Catholic to five sets before dropping the decisive game, 16-14. SHC held a 2-1 lead after a 25-19 win in the third set, but the fourth went to the visiting Wildcats, 25-17.

The Irish split a pair of matches at the Spikefest Tournament on Saturday, downing Menlo in two sets but then losing in two sets to league rival St. Francis.

St. Ignatius started 2-0 under new head coach Saga Vae, beating both Burlingame and Lowell in four sets.

The Wildcats then placed fifth in the Silver Division at Spikefest, improving their overall record to 6-1. Their lone defeat came at the hands of Sacred Heart Prep, who they’ll face Tuesday in a full match (tournament matches are an abbreviated best-of-three).