St. Francis had a 14-point lead four minutes into the game thanks to an interception and fumble recovery and never trailed Friday in a 24-14 victory over Valley Christian.
The win sends the Lancers on to the Central Coast Section Open Division championship game against St. Ignatius in a 7 p.m. start next Friday at San Jose City College..
Quentin Robinson’s 53-yard interception return for a touchdown on Valley Christian’s third play from scrimmage got the scoring started. Then a Sefanaia Alatini fumble recovery set up Kingston Keanaaina’s 19-yard touchdown run for the early 14-0 lead.
Valley Christian responded in the second quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from freshman Rome Leota-Pritchard to sophomore Riley McElvane to make it 14-7 at halftime.
Defenses took over in the third quarter as the teams combined to punt five times. It remained a one-score game until the Lancers finally got some breathing room when Aaron Wong kicked a 23-yard field goal with four minutes left.
“Valley had a good plan,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “They loaded the box and moved Champ (Taulealea) around.”
“Our defense played great,” Valley Christian coach Mike Machado said, making a point to mention the names of defensive end Micah Mosley, defensive tackles Edgar Birelas and Federico Cobarubio and cornerback Aaron Noriega Jr., in addition to the Washington-bound Taulealea.
Alatini, a senior safety, then came up with his second turnover of the game, an interception, to get the ball back for St. Francis..
“A heck of a football player,” Calcagno said. “Very athletic, very strong. A hitter. Good at covering space and physical at the point of attack.”
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That set up Keanaaina, who broke a 75-yard run for his second touchdown of the game and 23rd of the season, to make it 24-7. The BYU-bound senior finished with 219 yards rushing on 29 carries.
Leota-Pritchard connected with McElvane again on a 20-yard TD pass in the final seconds to close out the scoring. Leota-Pritchard completed 16 of 23 passes for 222 yards.