No letdown for Knights in win

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — In the gauntlet that is the Mission League, St. Francis High football Coach Jim Bonds cautioned his team not to look past St. Paul.

The Golden Knights certainly didn’t look past the visiting Swordsmen, they simply ran past them.

Running back Austin Nieves led the charge in the absence of injured tailback Dietrich Riley, rushing for 159 yards and a score in only seven carries, as St. Francis rumbled over St. Paul, 34-7, in the teams’ Mission League opener.

“That was a major concern,” said Bonds, of his team coming out flat against St. Paul (3-5) after an emotional last-second win against Loyola the week prior. “That’s the thing I was happiest with. We didn’t have a letdown.”

St. Francis, which is ranked second in the CIF Southern Section Western Division, rushed for 237 yards on the night, as it improved to 7-1.

“[Coach Bonds] always stresses that, it’s always one game at a time, we weren’t worried about Alemany, we worried about St. Paul,” said Nieves in reference to the Golden Knights’ contest next week against reigning league champion Alemany.

Nieves, who also caught four passes for 59 yards and had an interception in the end zone, had the biggest play of the night on a 79-yard touchdown run as time expired in the opening quarter. He found a giant hole on the right side, broke free and then cut across the field with Travis Talianko paving the way to a score and a 14-0 lead.

“It sort of shocked me,” said Nieves of his performance. “[I saw a] big opening on the right side, I had a chance to make a big play and I got lucky and I made it.”

Michael Melnick, who also had two of his team’s three sacks on defense, barreled through would-be tacklers for a three-yard score and 7-0 lead earlier in the first quarter.

The Golden Knights owned a 24-0 halftime lead as their offense was still dominant despite two dropped touchdown passes.

Quarterback Justin Posthuma was 11 for 21 for 167 yards and two touchdowns, throwing a 1-yard score to Michael Singelyn in the first half and a 12-yard score to Luke Anderson, who busted loose of three tackles en route to the end zone in the second half.

Kicker Ian Sternau also had two field goals and had all but one kickoff go for a touchback.

The defense was just as impressive as the offense, as the Golden Knights outgained the Swordsmen, 426-246.

“Everyone performed as we practiced, everyone did as they were supposed to do,” Nieves said. “Everyone should be happy, we played well.”

According to Bonds, Riley, who’s suffering from a bad hamstring, could have likely played, but the coach didn’t want to rush him back. And he certainly didn’t have to with the way the game turned out.

“Some guys really stepped up,” Bonds said. “The one thing I love about our team is we’ve been focused one game at a time.”

 GRANT GORDON is the sports editor. He can be reached at (818) 637-3225 or grant.gordon@latimes.com.