MATTHEW ASUNCION, SAINT FRANCIS
Prep2Prep Student Contributor

November 12, 2017

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - A football game can be described as a story of four quarters. In this story, however, a dominant first quarter set a resounding tone for the rest of the game as Serra held on to defeat St. Francis, 31-21, in their final game of regular season play.

With 8:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, the momentum looked to be all but lost for the Padres. St. Francis had completed a two-point conversion, capping their 21-point rally back from down 21-0 early in the second quarter. After conceding two consecutive three-and-outs and missing a field goal, Serra’s hopes of maintaining their undefeated league record seemed to diminish. However, the team was able to regain their focus as they ended the game with 10 unanswered points.

“I pulled the team together and said, ‘Hey, it’s 0-0,’” said Serra head coach Patrick Walsh. “We aren’t losing, we’re not going to panic, there’s still lots of time left, and we have the fortitude to finish.”

After posting a six-yard run to start the drive, a wide-open Isaiah Kendrick caught a pass in stride and took the Padres to the Lancer 10 with 7:50 remaining. The St. Francis defense held Serra to the 10-yard line, but in the end conceded a 34-yard field goal to sophomore Damon Lewis.

“We’ve got to work on giving up big plays,” said St. Francis head coach Greg Calcagno. “We want other teams to have to work a long way against our defense, and I think we’re pretty good defensively, and if we stop these big plays, we know we have a chance.”

On the following possession, penalties plagued the Lancers as they were forced to punt with 4:19 left on the clock. Wide receiver Chris Park (3 rec - 140 yds) put the dagger on the game as he took-it-to-the-house with a 69-yard reception on the first and only play of the drive. Quarterback Luke Bottari would end the night with 16 completions on 25 attempts and 347 passing yards; in other words, each pass on average yielded about 21.6 yards.

Meanwhile, Lancer quarterback Reed Vettel was unable to advance the ball past midfield in the final four minutes of the game. A tackle by Caleb Tuimavave and Nate Sanchez on third-and-10 set up a game-clinching sack for Patrick Nunn with 2:30 remaining, and the Padres were content to run down the clock to end the game.

According to lineman Nick Brown, “On defense, we always say that we should never get too high, never get too low. We always had our heads in the game, and that’s how we got the stops when we needed it.”

The game began quickly for the Padres, who scored their first touchdown only 2:14 into the game. Methodical passing by Bottari to Nunn and Shane Villaroman and runs by a Kendrick marched Serra down the field as St. Francis was unable to adjust to their fast-paced offense. The Lancers failed to respond on the following possession, and a 68-yard pass to Park put St. Francis down 14-0 with 4:17 remaining in the quarter. St. Francis was forced to punt the ball from midfield with 2:10 remaining, and Serra advanced the ball past midfield to end the first quarter.

The Padres continued to storm through Lancer territory at the start of the second quarter, as a 33-yard pass to Villaroman set up an 8-hard touchdown pass to Nunn at 11:14. Runs by Darrell Page and Opeti Fangupo helped bring the Lancers to midfield, but an under-thrown pass to a slipping St. Francis receiver was intercepted by Park at the 3-yard line. Following a Serra three-and-out, however, St. Francis was able to take the ball deep into Serra territory. Vettel completed a 4-hard touchdown pass to wide receiver Evan Williams on fourth down with 1:49 remaining in the half. The Lancers forced yet another three-and-out from the Padres and regained the ball at the Serra 45 with a minute to play, but were ultimately unable to penetrate their pass coverage as time expired.

In the third quarter, neither team was able to cross midfield until the Lancers did so with just over two minutes remaining. Page, who was held to 31 yards on 14 carries in the first half, made a magnificent 80-yard touchdown run to spark life into the Lancers. Slippery conditions, however, prevented St. Francis from completing the PAT, and the score remained 21-13. The Padres battled their way back into Lancer territory late in the quarter, but a missed field goal kept the score at 21-13.

At the start of the fourth quarter, passes to Williams, Sebastian Carrillo, and Lucas Andrighetto kept the Lancers moving, and a 9-yard run by Page brought the game to 23-21. On the two-point conversion, Vettel waited outside of the pocket and tossed a ball to a well-defended Joshua Pakola, whose mid-air grab tied the game at 21-21. However, the response from Serra was too strong, and ultimately big plays came back to befall St. Francis in the final 8:41.

“We knew they were gonna come out there and make big plays,” said Park. “We just came out and made more of them.”

In the opening round of the CCS Open Division II playoffs, top seed Serra (8-2) will go on to face eighth seed Archbishop Mitty at home on Saturday, November 18 at 1:00 P.M, and third seed Saint Francis (7-3) will meet sixth seed Wilcox at home on Friday, November 17 at 7:00 P.M.