Riordan’s offense revs its engines in 56-30 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral

SAN FRANCISCO — The offensive machine that is second-ranked Archbishop Riordan revved its engines early Friday night and kept on rolling against inner-city rival Sacred Heart Cathedral.

SEC-bound quarterback Michael Mitchell completed his first two passes for touchdowns and finished with four scores on 348 yards passing as the Crusaders (5-0, 2-0) cruised to a 56-30 win over the Fighting Irish (3-2, 1-1) at Kezar Stadium.

Mitchell, who is off to Vanderbilt after this season, got to hold the Stanfel Cup trophy one last time as he and his teammates serenaded the visiting fans. Riordan claimed its third straight win over SHC — all by 20-plus points — though it still trails the series since 2004, 11-12.

After going up early on its past two opponents and allowing them to hang around, Riordan left no doubt against SHC.

“We talked about finishing,” coach Adhir Ravipati said. “My whole thing with the kids is just playing four quarters of clean football. We’ve got to get to that point if we want to be an elite team. … We still have a lot of room to grow.”

All but 28 yards of Mitchell’s yards through the air came before halftime as Riordan amassed a 35-7 advantage heading into intermission. His last touchdown put them up 42-7 shortly into the second half and the rest of the way Riordan leaned on its bruising running back, junior Adonyae Brown, who racked up 63 of his 99 rushing yards in the second half and scored three times in total.

“We talk about being a balanced offense and all that means is if the run game is there, we’re gonna take it and if the pass game’s there, we’re gonna take it,” Ravipati said. “(Brown) is a special, special talent. He’s a load to take down, just his fuel for the game, his vision, he’s a really special player.”

The multi-talented Brown showed off his arm, too, throwing for a touchdown on a trick play that extended Riordan’s lead to 49-14. Facing third and 4 from SHC’s 19-yard line, Mitchell threw what appeared to be a screen to Brown, fooling the defense, who left Cynai Thomas uncovered in the end zone.

Brown completed the pass to push his total yards from scrimmage into triple digits — and to make good on a challenge from Riordan’s basketball coach, Joey Curtain.

“Joey was giving me a hard time the other day that we don’t run a lot of trick plays,” Ravipati said. “We run reverses and stuff, but he was like, ‘I want something with a little more razzle dazzle.’ So I told Joey, ‘I’ve got something for you.’ That’s why, before the play, I was yelling at Joey on the sidelines.”

The bulk of the explosive plays came from the arm of Mitchell, who had amassed 161 yards by the fourth time he had thrown the ball and completed six passes of 35 or more yards. Senior Judge Nash was on the receiving end of three passes of at least 42 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown strike to open the game.

Thomas, who hauled in the trick-play touchdown, scored on two other passes from Mitchell and finished with 83 yards, senior Perrion Williams added 77 yards on a team-high seven catches and senior Kyle Welch caught six passes for 57 yards.

Senior quarterback Michael Sargent returned for Sacred Hearth Cathedral after sitting out the past two weeks with an injury and threw for 254 yards and three touchdowns but faced consistent pressure from the Riordan front seven. Defensive ends DJ Sanchez and Zachary Kleppin teamed up for multiple sacks and forced a fumble, while linebacker Tevita Tuifua capitalized on the duress to come down with an interception that set up another Riordan score.

“Our defensive line is playing really, really good football and our linebacking corps, we’ve got some really good players there who have played a decent amount of football now,” Ravipati said. “I think we’re just a little older in the box, we have a lot of talent and I think we’re picking stuff up well.”

So far, Riordan has lived up to the lofty expectations when it was voted as the top team in the West Catholic Athletic League in the Bay Area News Group’s preseason poll. Up next, the Crusaders will look to avenge last year’s loss to the eventual WCAL and CCS Open Division champions, St. Ignatius, whom they have beaten only twice in nine meetings since 2016.

“We’re close to being a team that can put 50-60 (points) on the board really consistently,” Ravipati said. “We’re close to being a team that can hold you under 20 and force you to throw the ball, and we like our chances when we start playing tempo and pushing teams that way.”