Sacred Heart Cathedral defense turns up the heat

Kids from San Francisco aren’t used to heat, but Sacred Heart Cathedral’s football team not only took it, but offered a dosage in a 35-14 nonleague win at Novato on Saturday afternoon.

With temperatures hovering above 90 degrees in the stands and well over 100 on the field, the Irish (2-0) applied a lot of pressure on quarterback Robbie Cassee, sacking him six times. They also forced five turnovers, including two interceptions by Emiliano Guerrero Salazar.

Add 120 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns from Jamar Williams-Sheppard, a 40-yard TD run from Jay Na and two touchdown passes by Logan White, and the Irish matched their win total of 2013.

“Our defense played really well all day,” SHC coach Ken Peralta said. “Overall, we played well. I’m proud of our kids. It was a good collective effort, especially on defense.”

Down 28-0, Novato (1-2) got touchdown passes from Cassee to Jordan Polera (6 yards) and Chris Fletcher (30 yards).

Novato also did a good job pressuring White, sacking him five times.

The difference was that SHC turned its five turnovers into three touchdowns.

“We’re still a work in progress,” Peralta said. “I like this group.” #3 Clayton Valley Charter-Concord 42, #24 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa 21: Elijah Breon returned a thirdquarter interception 58 yards for a touchdown, breaking a 14-14 tie and the visiting Eagles (3-0) were on their way. … Justin Zapanta (8 yards), Jax Carter (10 yards) and Miles Harrison (40 yards) rushed for second-half touchdowns for the winners. …. Harrison, who didn’t play the first half for unspecified reasons, finished with nine carries for 128 yards. … Sophomore quarterback Jordon Brookshire (255 total yards) had rushing touchdowns of 15 and 49 yards for Cardinal Newman (1-2). … Teammate Craig Lucey rushed 25 times for 98 yards. Other games: Christian Silva connected on five touchdown passes to Xavier Thibodeaux as Tennyson-Hayward (2-1) scored a 56-14 win over visiting Lowell (0-2), which got a TD pass and run from Antonio Hughes. An 83-yard scoring pass from Hughes to Johnathan Choi cut the Tennyson lead to 14-8, but the winners scored four straight touchdowns in the second quarter to take control. … Jerald Daniels rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns as Oakland Tech (1-2) rolled to a 44-6 win at Balboa (0-2), which scored on a 93-yard pass from Lee Lelea to Giovanni Norori.