NorCal School Finals: St. Francis On Top
NorCal School Finals: St. Francis On Top
St. Francis beat De La Salle 31-22 Saturday to win Northern California’s single-school final.
The speed of play and athleticism from St. Francis was impressive, with center
Kingston Keanaaina scoring two tries on the day. Naia Alatina also scored twice while Hunter Gosset added one.
“The boys played their hearts out but St. Francis was too much to handle,” said DLS Head Coach Derek Holmberg.
“We have a lot of respect for De La Salle’s program and their ability to have good teams year after year,”
said St. Francis Coach Mark Scharrenberg. “Any win over them is an achievement.
De La Salle took a 15-5 lead but as halftime approached their defense faltered and St. Francis pounced, scoring three tries in 10 minutes to take a 24-15 lead into the break.
Things settled down a bit in the second half but St. Francis kept DLS at arm’s length with Keanaaina’s second try.
While it is true that DLS suffered some injuries, not least of which was to their forwards captain, they are still a formidable team. St. Francis, of course, was also carrying injuries.
“We’re pretty happy with our defense and how we handled playing into the wind in the first half,” said Scharrenberg.
Scharrenberg added that he felt the team lost their shape on attack in the second half and played to protect the lead rather than put the game away.
Even so, they were impressive.
“This is the best St. Francis team we have faced and they proved too much in the end,” said Holmberg. “We learn more from the losses than the wins and we will learn a lot from this and be a better team for it.”
Jesuit v Ignatius for 3rd
Also this weekend in the NorCal Single-School finals, Jesuit of Sacramento beat St. Ignatius SF
Jesuit started strong with three tries in the first 20 minutes before some aggressive defense saw Ignatius score under the posts with an intercept try. Jesuit regrouped and was able to score one more before halftime t lead 24-7.
The second half saw Jesuit continue to control the game and they ended up winning 43-12.
"We are a work in progress, but we were able to get more players back this week with winter sports ending,” said Jesuit Head Coach Andrew Acosta.
Flyhalf Maverick Nagel just rejoined the team after winter sports and he led the team with three tries and a conversion.
“Some big improvement in just one week and now we reload and get ready for our league,” said Acosta.
Bishop O'Dowd v Serra for Open Division
And Bishop O’Dowd won the Open division with a hard-won defeat of Serra29-22. Serra hung tough and this was a closer game than the two had encountered earlier in the season.
BOD Wing Andrew Kerley opened the Dragons account by scooping up a loose ball to touch down in the corner. Sophomore No. 8 OC Lehner, powered over via a close-quarters offload from scrumhalf William Van Niekerk.
Van Niekerk set up several tries and score twice himself. The O'Dowd try of the day however was scored by Senior Fullback Felix Davis, courtesy of some well timed distribution from senior flyhalf Elliott Lewis, who threaded a pass into a tight window with some misdirection and then finished the movement on a nice team effort.
Center Jude Crum ran some hard lines, pressing the Padres defense. Lock Christian Haarsma and prop Kekoa Mayo-McKinght were strong on defense. Prop Eli Burnside and Lewis were named players of the game by Serra.
"We were not great today but did enough to get the win,” said BOD Coach Ray Lehner. “I am pleased for our Seniors, especially Elliott Lewis, who is a very special player and deserves to go out on a high note. I am also excited for young Eli Burnside, he is a stud and only a freshman. the future for the Dragons is bright.”
Next up, St. Francis will play Torrey Pines in San Diego for the All-California title. DLS will play Loyola for 3rd.
