Smart Game Plan Leads St. Francis Past Torrey Pines in All-Cali. Final
Smart Game Plan Leads St. Francis Past Torrey Pines in All-Cali. Final
St. Francis of Northern California is the undisputed All-California single-school champion after the Lancers beat Torrey Pines 33-24 Saturday night in San Diego.
With the SoCal school season splits between SoCal Youth Rugby on one side and SCIRF on the other, there might have been a debate as to who was the top team is Torrey Pines had won—the Falcons tied Cathedral Catholic in a non-conference game this season, and Cathedral won the SCIRF final on Friday.
However, St. Francis put all that aside. Having beaten Jesuit of Sacramento to make the NorCal school final and then defeated De La Salle to win NorCal’s school season, the Lancers brought a smart game plan and a nice mixture of rugby understanding and athleticism to the state final.
“We were outplayed and outcoached,” said Torrey Pines Head Coach Matty Sandoval. “Everyone knows that a big part of our game is the kick and the chase. That’s how we won our [SoCal] final against Loyola. Well St. Francis negated that, and that forced us to beat them on the ground, and I don’t know if anyone can beat them on the ground.”
“We came into the game with a lot of confidence and felt if we stuck to our game plan we wuold be in good shape,” said St. Francis Coach and former USA Eagle Mark Scharrenberg. “We prepared for their kicking game with the goal of being able to neutralize it and rely on our defense. In attack we felt we left a few tries out there, but credit to Torrey Pines for their defense.”
Sandoval concurred, saying it was his team’s best defensive performance of the season.
Captains and three-year starters Mone Pifeleti and Kingston Keanaaina were outstanding once again.
“They lead by example and will be sorely missed,” said Scharrenberg.
Keanaaina is a top running back in high school football and is signed to play the sport at BYU, but he’s been playing rugby for a long time and what he brings from both sports really helped lead St. Francis to the title. His speed off the line was one reason St. Francis blocked five Torrey Pines kicks.
“Our game is we kick, we have an effective chase, and we turn you over,” said Sandoval. “But we had a couple of lineout mistakes and when they started blocking kicks we couldn’t exit. They took away our game.”
Torrey Pines did lead at halftime 14-12 but St. Francis scored twice, and converted both, to take a 26-24 lead. That was when Keanaaina burst through for a classic try and conversion to make it a two-score game. Up 33-24 St. Francis was able to close it out.
“The better team won,” said Sandoval. “They are a very classy team and deserved it.”
“We have a great deal of respect for Torrey Pines,” added Scharrenberg. “They have a lot of experience and are used to playing and winning big games. But we’re proud of our boys.”
St. Francis has only been playing as a single-school for three years. Many of the players played club rugby or in youth programs before high school. The shift to supporting a school team has been huge for these players and Scharrenberg said the team was very grateful for the school support. It’s a good lesson in how there are already rugby players at any school, and you can make more, and perhaps create a championship team, with a little school support
