SAN FRANCISCO – Defending CIF San Francisco Section and state CIF Division 7-A Bowl champion Lincoln left little doubt about who was going to claim San Francisco’s Turkey Game title.
In a tradition that dates back to 1924 - when Lowell won the first championship - recently the Mustangs have made the turf at historic Kezar Stadium their favorite pasture and this year they pranced once again, dominating cross-town rival Balboa in all aspects of a 35-0 victory.
With the win Lincoln (9-3) has now won two straight SF titles, four in the last six years in which Turkey Day championship games have been contested, 13 section titles overall and 10 under veteran head coach Phil Ferrigno. It was also the third time the Mustangs have shut out a title game opponent with Ferrigno at the helm.
“No, it never gets old,” responded Ferrigno about having so much success at Lincoln. “It was weird this time because I wasn’t really worried.”
“You always have some fear,” Ferrigno continued. “As long as we keep getting better, and that’s what happened to us this whole year. We kept getting better, and today we got even better.”
The final outcome was nothing like the Academic Athletic Association matchup at Balboa where Lincoln struggled before winning 15-10 after trailing 10-3 at halftime.
Prior to the game Ferrigno had said the offensive game plan was to use 5-10, 190-pound senior fullback Diego Cristerna to soften up the Balboa defense for the league’s leading rusher Jamelle Newman. The formula paid immediate dividends and didn’t stop until the final horn.
After Lincoln got the ball on the opening kickoff, Cristerna took the first handoff and pounded forward for four yards. Newman got the second carry and after getting past the line of scrimmage he broke outside and outraced everyone down the left sideline for a 76-yard TD run with 11:08 left in the first quarter, and less than a minute into the game Lincoln had a 7-0 lead it never relinquished.
“It was a great way to start the game but then we had a little bit of a lull,” Ferrigno said. “We had to really kind of adjust to what they were doing.”
“We kind of found out some things we wanted to do,” Ferrigno continued with what ended up as a chuckle. “You know? A little play action pass. Something up the coach's sleeve. Everybody thinks I don’t throw, but I know how to do it.”
By halftime it was only 14-0 after Lincoln junior quarterback Andrias Allanigue got the green light from Ferrigno and completed the first of two passes he attempted, both for touchdowns to junior tight end Kevin Zhao. This one was on a tipped pass Zhao took 65 yards to the house after corralling it and outrunning defenders down the right sideline to paydirt.
It could have been 21-0 after back-to-back sacks by Cristerna and Leo Kessler forced a punt with around 30 seconds left in the half. Newman took it and raced 54 yards and it looked like he would score, but he got nudged out of bounds as the half ended.
At that point the Balboa offense could only muster 42 yards of total offense, and it didn’t get better after halftime.
Balboa received the second-half kickoff and on the second play linebacker/kicker Isaiah De La Rosa forced a fumble and Cristerna pounced on it at the Buccaneers' 22-yard line. Seven plays later Newman busted in from two yards out and it was 21-0 Mustangs.
The Lincoln defense forced a three-and-out on the next series and what followed has longtime Ferrigno followers roaring with laughter.
After a poor Balboa punt and five running plays that covered 20 yards, Ferrigno was faced with third-and-seven. What did a coach that calls passes once if at all in a game do? He called a pass play.
And we already told you it went for a TD on a 15-yard catch by Zhao.
When asked if he could remember a game in which he was the head coach and his team passed for two TDs in a game since starting in 2001 at Mission and 2002 until now at Lincoln, the affable Ferrigno paused so long before answering about his days as an assistant to know the answer was almost assuredly never.
From there the only thing that wasn’t decided was the final score. That came with 3:57 left when Cristerna plunged in from 1-yard out for the final tally and at that point the game went to a running clock.
Newman added 172 yards on 21 carries with the two TDs to his section leading 1,708 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Besides rushing 13 times for 58 yards and the one score, Cristerna was the linchpin of the defense with at least 10 tackles, the sack, fumble recovery and a batted pass. On the play before the batted pass he had a sack on Balboa sophomore quarterback Rylen Thien-Jones and forced a fumble but broke past a holding penalty and Ferrigno took the penalty wiping what would have added to a great all-around performance.
“I mean, that’s my job,” Cristerna said. “Coach has always told I’m the one who gets the hard yards. I get them to squeeze on me inside so Jamelle can go wide.”
“I was a little sad about not getting that sack and the forced fumble,” Cristerna continued. “But it is what it is and as long as we come out with a 'W', I’m happy.”
Balboa (7-5) was only able to duplicate the 42 yards of total offense like the first half in the final two quarters. With the Buccaneers having to pass bruising senior running back Dontee Allen-Wilson only got seven carries for 18 yards.
“Everybody likes the flash and dash and I like fundamental football, right?” Ferrigno remarked. “Control the clock? Control the narrative, right? Play good defense, play good special teams, and you can be in every game you ever play.”
The game was hard hitting and it did get a little chippy at times. Despite it all, at the end the Balboa players got their runner-up medals from San Francisco Mayor London Breed and went over to the Lincoln players lined up waiting for Breed to give them their medals, and went down the line shaking the Mustangs players' hands. Lincoln and Balboa players mingled after the awards ceremony.
Lincoln will now await its fate when the CIF seeds the divisions but it’s likely the Mustangs will be in 7-A or conceivably in 7-AA based on their lopsided 54-6 win over Crenshaw in the 7-A title game last year. That was after there was no Northern Regional game when Fall River decided not to play the NorCal game.
“I don’t know who we play next week and I don’t care,” said Ferrigno. “I don’t care where we play either. We just want to play.”
