The St. Francis defense came up big in critical moments and the offense collectively clicked in a 37-13 win over Alemany on Friday night. It’s the Golden Knights’ first win of the season.

“I feel good for the players,” head coach Dean Herrington said, “because this team has worked so hard and to not reap any of the benefits like that, it’s great for their hard work to finally pay off.”

Quarterback John Sanders missed the first three games of the season due to a sprained MCL and appeared fully back to form on Friday night when he threw two touchdown passes for St. Francis (1-6 overall, 1-1 Angelus League).

The senior has several Division 3 offers and has visits to Montana and Sacramento State lined up for the next two weekends.

“I feel great,” Sanders said. “I couldn’t even feel it (tonight), to be honest.”

— Haley Sawyer

DAMIEN 34, UPLAND 33, 2OT >> Damien football coach James Stewart had one word that summed up his team’s Baseline League game against Upland: insane.

Damien overcame a 21-point halftime deficit, saw both teams miss opportunities to win the game late in regulation before the Spartans pulled out a double-overtime victory at Upland High School.

The final play of the game was an extra-point attempt by Upland that hit off the left upright, giving the Spartans (5-2 overall, 2-0 league) the victory.

“It lived up to the hype of the Upland and Damien rivalry,” Stewart said. “(It was) littered with a bunch of mistakes on our end in the beginning, but these guys are tough.”

The teams were tied 24-24 at the end of regulation. Upland’s Jackson Hauducoeur kicked a 21-yard field goal, and Damien’s Preston Yado answered with a 27-yard field goal to send it to the second overtime.

— Pete Marshall

CHARTER OAK 36, LOS OSOS 13 >> The high-flying Chargers stayed on top of the Sierra League standings with a hard-fought win over Los Osos.

After stopping the Grizzlies (5-2, 0-2) on their first possession, the Chargers (6-1, 2-0) scored on their first play from scrimmage for a 7-0 lead and they never looked back.

Junior quarterback Corin Berry threw a short swing pass to junior Antonio Reasby who broke one tackle and raced 68 yards for the score with only 2:43 gone off the clock.

Berry completed 18 of 29 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns.

— John Honell

LOYOLA 24, BISHOP AMAT 17 >> Bishop Amat fell into a big hole and rallied, but Loyola held on for the victory after taking a 24-0 lead.

Bishop Amat’s quarterback Frankie Villalbazo did not finish the game as he suffered a knee injury midway through the third quarter.

— Gabriel Duarte

LA HABRA 37, HUNTINGTON BEACH 35 >> La Habra’s Christian Ramirez kicked a 40-yard field goal with one second left on the clock to give the Highlanders a victory over Huntington Beach in a key Epsilon League game.

The Highlanders (6-1, 2-0) started the winning drive on their 42-yard line with one minute, 12 seconds remaining after quarterback Brady Edmunds led Huntington Beach (4-3, 1-1) on a 65-yard drive and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak to give the Oilers a 35-34 lead.

— Lou Ponsi

COLONY 44, GLENDORA 33 >> Glendora (3-4, 0-2) lost a high-scoring battle with Colony in the Sierra League.

Tim Johnson scored a touchdown on an 86-yard screen pass from Sebastian Lawrence to cut the Tartans’ deficit to 16-10 with just over two minutes left until intermission.

— Derryl Trujillo

EL TORO 31, SONORA 28 >> Sonora lost the Iota League game when El Toro’s Andrew Bozych made an outstanding catch in the end zone for a touchdown with 16 seconds left.

The Raiders (3-4, 0-2) had taken a 28-24 lead when Olin Morales Hyder scored his third touchdown of the game with 3:33 left in the contest.

“I told our kids that we just played a playoff-caliber football game,” said Sonora coach Kevin Oberlander, whose team fell to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in league. “I felt good about our defense, I didn’t mind them having the ball after we scored. But El Toro did a great job on that last drive, a great job of time management.”

— Martin Henderson