Saugus football was doomed by a slow start and a few mistakes on Friday night as St. Francis beat the Centurions 28-7 on at College of the Canyons.
The Golden Knights scored their first touchdown of the evening late in the first quarter. Jack Clougherty made a 14-yard pass to Tanner Tomko for a 7-0 advantage with 3:13 left in the frame.
The Centurions (3-2 overall) turned the ball over two plays into their ensuing drive. St. Francis was able to turn it into a touchdown at the 2:05 mark, with Clougherty and Tomko connecting for a 17-yard score.
Saugus came close to scoring midway through the second quarter, setting up at the 7-yard line, but Colton FitzGerald’s pass was picked off by Mayze Bryant.
The Cents turned the ball over three times in the second quarter, but only gave up one touchdown.
With 1:33 to go until halftime, Kevin Armstead broke free on a 78-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 lead heading into the locker room.
St. Francis (3-1) put up one touchdown in the third quarter. With 1:28 left in the stanza, Max Garrison scored on a 2-yard rush.
The Centurions’ lone touchdown of the game came in the final quarter, with 10:17 left on the clock. Julian Bornn willed his way into the end zone to prevent the shutout and bring the score to 28-7.
“We just, we needed to get back to what we knew,” Bornn said. “We just ground and pound, we’re pretty good at that, our O-line, we just had a burst of energy and we needed to follow that. We did really good play-calling.”
Saugus is 2-4 overall against St. Francis and has lost three games in three years to the Golden Knights.
“When you play your preseason, you try to schedule a team that you should beat, you try to schedule teams that could go either way and you schedule a team that you’ve got to play really really good to beat and that’s these guys,” Jason Bornn said. “They’re a really, really good team and they’re well-coached, they’re disciplined, they do an outstanding job.”
Saugus’ next game will be in Foothill League play on Oct. 4 against Hart.
