Victory with Honor: Fa’alave-Johnson leads Cathedral Catholic past rival Lincoln

Honor Fa’alave-Johnson ran for five touchdowns, including scores of 33 and 57 yards in the final 6 ½ minutes, and the No. 5 Cathedral Catholic Dons rallied from a 14-0 deficit to stun the No. 1 Lincoln Hornets 42-33 in a Western League game Friday night.

The Dons (7-2, 2-0) snapped a four-game losing streak to Lincoln (7-2, 1-1). CCHS scored on six straight possessions after falling behind 14-0 early in the second quarter.

Fa’alave-Johnson’s teammates call him the “Ghost,” and he lived up to his nickname by showing the Hornets the No. 9 on the back of his jersey on touchdown runs that were both short and long.

The junior five-star recuit, who is being heavily recruited as a safety, had scoring runs of 16, 4, 3, 33 and 57 yards.

He said the five touchdowns were his most since youth football.

Fa’alave-Johnson said the key was “just blocking and executing to our potential. We were losing a few players but I was preaching to the boys that we had everyone we need so just get the blocks down and just get downfield.”

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder has a bullish, straight-ahead style that serves him well in slamming through the line or getting free into the open field.

“I’m just playing football. I feel I was gifted with some talent that God gave me, but the blocking was executed well and I was just running hard.”

The Dons were without Cal-bound Brady Palmer for the third straight week. But Josh Faraimo played well and hit some key passes to set up Fa’alave-Johnson.

“I think they thought we couldn’t pass at all,” coach Sean Doyle said. “But Josh last week threw for four touchdowns in the first half of the game.

“That, and then Honor just started taking it over. He did a phenomenal job,” Doyle added. “We have played tough teams. So our kids believed. I could tell last night at our meal that they had a crazy … things have changed. They believed in themselves.”

The Dons’ most impressive stretch came from late in the second quarter into the early fourth quarter.

Fa’alave-Johnson scored on a 4-yard run on fourth down with 2.4 seconds left in the first half to pull the Dons to 21-14.

They received the opening kickoff of the second half and drove the field to tie the game at 21 on a 10-yard pass from Faraimo to Isaac Cook.

After the Hornets went three-and-out, the Dons drove the field again, with Fa’alve scoring on a 3-yard run to give the Dons a 28-21 lead. The big play was a 33-yard completion from Faraimo to Isaac Cook.

Lincoln quickly scored to pull to 28-27, but Cathedral blocked the PAT.

A 32-yard pass from Faraimo to Cook set up a 33-yard touchdown run by Fa’alave-Johnson.

On the first play of the Dons’ next drive, Fa’alave-Johnson broke free on his 57-yarder to put it away.

Lincoln jumped to a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter on Junior Curtis’ 3-yard run and Courtney Miller-Thompson’s 18 yard reception from Jordan Roa.

Cathedral closed to 14-7 when Fa’alave-Johnson took a direct snap and bulled 16 yards into the end zone.

Lincoln switched quarterbacks to Kainan Manna, who had a 24-yard gain to set up his 25-yard touchdown pass to Miller-Thompson in the back of the end zone for a 21-7 lead.

The Dons came back in the final half minute of the half, with Faalave’s 39-yard reception getting them to the 11. Four plays later, he scored on a 4-yard run up the middle to pull within a touchdown.

“Without Brady, we told him, we’re going to put this in your hands,” Doyle said. “And then Josh just stepped up huge with some enormous completions. It was just a great all-around game.”