Loyola’s Kane Casani doing his best to make his coach dad proud

It’s not always easy being the son of a football coach. You experience the ups and downs of a season with your teammates knowing that your father is held responsible for the good and the bad.

Kane Casani, the son of Loyola head coach Drew Casani, did a lot of things Thursday night at SoFi Stadium to make his father proud and change the fortunes of the Cubs. He blocked a field goal attempt that led to a touchdown, picked up yards for a huge first down and made numerous tackles in a 13-10 Mission League win over Gardena Serra.

Afterward, as Drew addressed the team in the middle of SoFi Stadium, Kane looked on as just another player. But when you are so close to the head coach, you feel his emotions. And Drew has had plenty, trying to help a team that needs to rely on new players.

So far, so good. The Cubs are 4-3 and 1-1 in a Mission League that appears to have a wide-open competition for second and third behind undefeated Sierra Canyon. There are four teams with 1-1 records in league play and Serra (0-2) still figures to be in the mix heading into the season.

Next up for Loyola is a key matchup against visiting Bishop Amat on Friday.

Kane leads the team with 75 tackles. His 11-year-old brother, who watched the game from SoFi Stadium, was certainly inspired to one day take his place on the football field.

This is a daily look at positive happenings in high school sports. To submit news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.