St. Francis football coach Dean Herrington can’t remember a four-game stretch like this.
The Golden Knights have allowed 47 or more points in all four of their games this season, allowing an average of 52 points.
During Herrington’s first season with the Golden Knights last season, they never gave up 47 or more points, finished 13-3 and marched straight to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 final, where they lost to Long Beach Poly 38-7.
St. Francis is 1-3 after its 47-22 loss to St. Pius X-St. Matthias last week, and it’s hoping it can turn things around when it hosts Muir (1-3) on Friday at 7 p.m.
“Never seen anything like this in all my years of coaching,” said Herrington, who has been coaching more than 25 years and had successful stints at Alemany and Paraclete. “We’re pulling our hair out a little bit. A lot of times we feel like we’re playing well and then we get beat on a deep ball. It’s happened over and over, but we feel like they’re correctable mistakes. We’re not panicking.”
St. Francis opened the season with a 61-41 loss to West Ranch followed by a 52-48 win over Mira Costa. Its other loss was a 54-28 thrashing to Long Beach Millikan.
“In the West Ranch loss, they had five one-play drives for touchdowns,” Herrington said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Just getting beat, big plays. We’re facing teams that are more athletic than us, but a lot of teams are more athletic than us. We just have to figure it out and get better.”
There are a few factors contributing to the Golden Knights’ rough start.
They have played teams with a combined record of 13-2. There’s also the injury to senior running back Devyn Turner, a transfer to St. Francis from Allen High in Texas. Turner was expected to be a big contributor, but he injured his ankle in the season-opening loss to West Ranch after carrying the ball five times for 39 yards.
Turner hasn’t played since, and he is likely out this week, too.
Junior John Calmette has replaced him in the backfield and has done well for a Golden Knights offense that has played well. They are averaging 35 points.
But Calmette is normally a starting outside linebacker, and they miss him on defense due to his running back duties.
“That’s part of it (defensive struggles), and hopefully we will have Turner back when (Angelus) league begins,” Herrington said. “We’re also really young on defense. We have eight new players that had never played a varsity game before the season. We have three sophomores going through growing pains and we’ve played some pretty good offenses.
“But it is what it is, we know that. But thankfully, the kids are good, their spirit is good and we just have to wear it. You never want to lose and give up points like this, but again, it’s correctable and we’ll get better.”
Muir will be an intriguing challenge for St. Francis. The Mustangs won their first game, beating St. Margaret’s 21-2 last week. The Mustangs also have a loss to St. Pius X-St. Matthias.
“They’re a much better team than last year,” Herrington said of Muir. “The (St. Margaret’s) team they beat went to the CIF finals last year. I think their coach (Lance Mitchell) is doing a good job and they seem more organized. And again, they will be faster than us, so we have to be better in the secondary.”
