Football: Live blogging for Crespi-Notre Dame

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It’s the battle of the Catholic school powers in the San Fernando Valley tonight, and I’ll be live blogging from the game between Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Encino Crespi.

I saw the Orange County Catholic school battle last week between Anaheim Servite and Santa Ana Mater Dei, and I can say there’s something special about these games. The players, coaches and fans get a little more excited.

The pressure is definitely increased, and particularly for this Serra League game. With only three league games, one loss puts a team in jeopardy of not making the Pac-5 Division playoffs. It’s a cruel but real possibility that a good team won’t make it.

What should make this game fun are the two quarterbacks, Oregon-bound Bryan Bennett from Crespi and Notre Dame’s Ryan Kasdorf. Bennett beat the Knights when he was a sophomore. He needs his receivers to catch passes. Kasdorf needs his running backs to be effective, opening the door for his strength, which is to make good decisions.

And the rivalry matters. How else to explain Thursday night’s freshman game when unbeaten Crespi drove almost the length of the field to pull out a 24-21 win over Notre Dame’s unbeaten team with a TD pass in the final seconds.

-- Eric Sondheimer