Football: St. Francis Rebounds for a Win Against Venice

For the first half of the St. Francis-Venice game, the Golden Knights were outrun, outmuscled and outclassed by the Gondoliers.

Trailing 7-3 at halftime, came out looking like a new team in the second half, using big plays to fuel a big comeback, leading to a 27-17 victory.

“It really was a tale of two halves. We came out really slow and they came out fired up in front of their home crowd,” said St. Francis coach Jim Bonds. “I think that as the game went on, our conditioning kicked in and we wore them down. It was a tough win and one we can really build on.”

Venice came out on fire, marching down the field on their first possession, capping it off with a 10-yard touchdown. Despite the offense clicking so far this season, they weren’t able to get anything going early on.

St. Francis caught the first big break of the game, as senior Billy McCreary came up with an interception on the Venice 27. However, the Golden Knights only mustered up two yards in four plays, a microcosm of their first half.

“We are dealing with kids who are 16-18 years old, so it’s tough to figure out a way to get their motor going early on. We as a staff need to figure out a way to get them started quicker. We will discuss that when we meet on Sunday,” said Bonds.

St. Francis was finally able to get on the board with a field goal late in the half, and they went into the locker room down 7-3.  St Francis needed a big play after Venice went down and tacked on a field goal, and they got it - thanks to senior Christian Hess.

Hess took the ensuing kickoff and went untouched on his way to the endzone in the first big play that the Golden Knights had all game. St. Francis missed the point after, leaving them down 10-9.

Venice answered back with a touchdown, and the Golden Knights once again looked to Hess, who came up with another big play.  This time it was a 68 yard touchdown catch, tying the game up 17-17.

After that, the Golden Knights started to wear on the Gondos, who started to make mistakes. After making it 20-17, St Francis forced a fumble, and punched it in on a 15 yard run by quarterback Jared Lebowitz, making it 27-17.

Venice mustered up one last drive, but it ended on yet another fumble. St Francis ran the clock out, and took the hard earned victory, 27-17.

“We have division play coming up in two weeks, and this is a great win for us to hang our hat on,” said Bond. “We are 3-0, but we are also down five starters, so I think we are going to go alittle lighter in practice to let some people heal up.”

The next test for the Golden Knights will be next week against West Ranch (3-0). That game will be at 7:30 at St. Francis high school.