QB Brady Palmer and WR Parker Johnson hooked up for two TDs during Cathedral Catholic’s 35-7 win on Friday at St. Francis. Palmer also had one other TD pass and a TD run. Johnson also had a 98-yard kickoff return TD. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
Actually seeing teams play from as much of the state as possible has been a goal of ours at Cal-Hi Sports since the early years in the 1980s. That’s partly why it made sense to check out one of the top two teams from the CIF San Diego Section when it played on Friday up at St. Francis of Mountain View. Cathedral Catholic impressed in a 35-7 win but did it look like eventual CIF D1-AA state champ Lincoln last year when we saw the Hornets in a NorCal game? Go inside to find out.
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There’s a definite path that the top team from the CIF San Diego Section takes to win a CIF state title.
First, one has to realize that the section’s Open Division champion is never going to be in play for the CIF’s berth from Southern California for the Open Division state championship. That will be going to the CIF Southern Section D1 champion, which has been Mater Dei of Santa Ana or St. John Bosco of Bellflower for the last nine straight years with no end to that situation in sight.
Second, it’s that the San Diego Open winner is almost always going to play the CIFSS D2 champion for the right to go to the CIF D1-AA state title. And then third, it’s going to take a win over the second-best team in Northern California to win that CIF D1-AA state title. The San Diego team also is not going to have to worry about playing any of the other very highly ranked teams from the CIFSS D1 playoffs, either. Only section champions are advanced to a regional game.
Cathedral Catholic head coach Sean Doyle collects CIF SoCal title plaque after team topped Narbonne in 2016. Photo: SoCalSidelines.com.
That’s the path that Lincoln of San Diego made in 2022 and 2024 with state title wins over De La Salle of Concord and Pittsburg, respectively. That’s also what Cathedral Catholic did in 2021 with a win over Folsom.
Lincoln was checked out in person a year ago when head coach David Dunn and the Hornets had a game at Grant of Sacramento. It therefore made sense on Friday to see Cathedral Catholic (currently ranked second behind Lincoln in the San Diego Section and No. 11 in the Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 50) play in person at state No. 41 St. Francis of Mountain View.
The Lancers have always played a physical brand of football and are coming off of a 10-4 season in which they lost to Grant on a last-second field goal in the CIF NorCal D2-AA regional final.
Just as last year when Lincoln just played on another level as Grant, Cathedral Catholic did the same on Friday at St. Francis with a 35-7 victory. It was thought it would be a tougher test for the Dons than in their first game, a 52-7 romp past Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista. It was, but not for very long.
“We just want to keep up the momentum every week,” said Cathedral Catholic senior quarterback Brady Palmer, one of several D1 committed QBs from the San Diego Section this year who has done that with Cal. “When we lost in the (Open) championship last year (to Lincoln) it gave us motivation coming into this season. We’ve been installing a new offense and it’s been great. We have all the bits and pieces to go all the way.”
Palmer got the scoring started for the Dons on their first series on a 44-yard swing pass to Honor Faalave, who broke tackles on his way down the St. Francis sidelines. The visitors from San Diego then scored again on a 80-yard drive on their second series and took a 14-0 lead on a 6-yard TD pass from Palmer to Parker Johnson.
The only scoring drive for the Lancers came early in the second quarter on a possession that started by recovering a surprise onside kick attempt by the Dons. With sophomore Drew Cumby in at quarterback, he launched a deep ball from around the 40-yard line in which senior Sefania Alatini stretched out to make a diving catch in the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown.
Any momentum that St. Francis had after that play was quickly reversed, however, as Johnson back-pedaled back to the 2-yard line on the ensuing kickoff to collect the ball, found a seam and got past several tacklers for a 98-yard touchdown.
St. Francis then had to punt on its next series, which was followed by another lighting bolt delivered by Johnson as he got past the defensive coverage and hauled in a well-placed bomb thrown by Palmer for an 80-yard touchdown. That pushed the score to 28-7 with 6:16 left before halftime and it could have been 35-7 if not for an interception in the end zone by St. Francis junior safety Uate Pifeleti.
In the second half, the teams traded punts until the fourth quarter when Palmer capped an 80-yard scoring drive with a 19-yard run with 7:48 left in the game.
“I think we are where we need to be,” said Cathedral Catholic head coach Sean Doyle, who tied late San Diego Point Loma legend Bennie Edens on the all-time state coaching wins list with 241. “There’s a lot to work on, but I really like all aspects of the team. The special teams had four touchdowns last week and we had another one tonight. I’m super happy about that.”
Palmer only threw 15 passes, but completed nine for 248 yards and three scores. Our own stats (not official) had him rushing for 53 yards on 11 carries with one score. Johnson had three catches with two for scores plus the 98-yard TD on the kickoff return.
“If we keep our heads down, we can keep our competitive level high,” Johnson said when asked what it would take to do what Lincoln did last season. “I thought the coaches got the best out of us this week. It was a great week of practice.”
The biggest dudes for each team during Friday’s St. Francis-Cathedral Catholic game were easy to spot as they were USC commits John Fifita (left) and Chase Deniz. Both are offensive tackles and didn’t hit each other during the game. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
Johnson and Palmer, along with Faalave and several other of the team’s best players, including defensive lineman Bronx Letuligasenoa, were all freshmen three years ago at St. Augustine of San Diego, the arch-rival of the Dons (the two aren’t playing this season for the first time in 65 years). They came in after a coaching change there.
“PJ has been my best friend starting freshman year and we have a special connection,” Palmer said. “This was a test for our o-line because they are a really physical squad. We’re going to have get that same kind of play later against Lincoln and De La Salle.”
The Dons have been in the same league as Lincoln that past few years and will face the Hornets next on October 24 in their next to last game of the regular season. They have a matchup back up in the Bay Area on October 3 at De La Salle (which they last played in 2022). Lincoln improved to 2-0 on Friday with a 36-20 win over Long Beach Poly and will stay higher ranked in the state and locally (the Hornets were No. 10 in our State TOP 50 last week) if it keeps winning. Depending on the score, the Hornets also could lose on Sept. 12 to current state No. 4 Mission Viejo and still be ranked higher.
In having seen all three of Cathedral Catholic’s state title game wins (beginning in 2008 vs St. Mary’s of Stockton) plus both of Lincoln’s, this team at the school does indeed look similar. The depth of playmakers is not the same as Lincoln had last season, but the top end talent, including at QB, can get it done. Senior running back Willie Flores adds to the offense and on Friday he had 20 carries for 90 yards.
St. Francis may not exactly be in a rebuilding situation after last season, but the offense had trouble sustaining consistency. Head coach Greg Calcagno mixed in both senior Andrew Franzino and Cumby, the sophomore, at quarterback and junior Motu Keanaaina had 45 hard-earned yards on 15 carries. The other Keanaaina on the roster, senior Kaimani, was in street clothes and didn’t play. The defense gave up some big plays, but behind preseason all-state second team linebacker Chase Cahoon (committed to Stanford) had two sacks, two interceptions and stopped Flores for no gain, minus yards or just one yard on eight of his carries.
Next week, Cathedral Catholic will continue its tough schedule at home with a matchup vs Arizona powerhouse Chandler High. St. Francis is playing at McClymonds of Oakland and then in two weeks will host De La Salle.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
