Saint Francis wins WCAL League Title 44 to 21 over Serra
- Thread starter WCAL75
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The better team won. SF offensive line manhandled Serra's defense and linebackers. They scored on every possession. Serra missing their best player just makes them less explosive, but he wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome, SF vs Rocklin would be a fun game to watch
No, It's a good thread. Lots of stuff to talk about specifically for this BIG game alone. First of all, it's a monster game, historical game for Teu, domination or fluke, CCS playoffs championship game. Serra and their lower divisions won their league so their future is bright! But it's the WCAL so nothing is guaranteed It's a crazy league but both teams will represent in the state bowl games. Hopefully.
Del Oro hosted St. Francis in the Norcal finals a few seasons back and my impression was they were a very physical, well disciplined team. Some big plays made the difference in what was a great high school football game. Gained a ton of respect for coach Calcagno and his program.
Watching the game yesterday, I was equally impressed and could see they're still getting solid hard nosed players at the school, even better than what I saw, and boy did they dictate that game. Controlled the tempo, the clock and their defense did a great job against what looked like a very talented group at Serra.
Look forward to seeing them in the Open.
Watching the game yesterday, I was equally impressed and could see they're still getting solid hard nosed players at the school, even better than what I saw, and boy did they dictate that game. Controlled the tempo, the clock and their defense did a great job against what looked like a very talented group at Serra.
Look forward to seeing them in the Open.
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I've seen St. Francis three times this year and they are very impressive. I have been wondering what happens when a team can match them physically, but it just hasn't happened. That ground game was awesome yesterday
Yep, it should be interesting if they make it to SBG Open. Mater Dei is the most likely candidate for the South. But 4 of the teams competing in the Pac-5 have higher composite opponent ratings than SF's power rating - Wow!
Streak, it sounds like st Francis has gotten better since the DLS win also. I don’t think anybody challenges them until open finals against MD/Bosco/Servite. Rocklin doesn’t have the offensive power to match St Francis in my opinion. I think rocklin makes a great d1 team however.
Folsom would lose by 4+ TD if they played st Francis or Serra for that matter.
How does Rocklin make it to D1 game? I assume they would have to play DLS if St. Francis wins out and is the open rep.
I wouldn't discount Serra in a rematch, but yes, St. Francis has shown they had more in the tank than just the DLS game.
A potential DLS-Rocklin game would be really fun too. It is nice to see some variety in these matchups
After that exhibition Saturday in front of a packed house, with folks outside clinging to the fence line and regional TV audience, one thing has become pretty clear: The only CCS team that can beat St. Francis is St. Francis. Turnovers, lousy special team play, grotesque and dumb penalties and a gaggle of blown coverages/assignments might be the sole formula for halting the SF express train. The Lancers face an excellent medium-sized public school, Aptos, in their CCS Division I opener. On paper, it should be one-sided. We'll see.
Looking forward to SF v Serra part 2 in the playoffs. Can Serra close the gap in their second meeting? If they can’t figure out a way to slow down Teu the answer is no.
Aptos is very tricky with the Wing T but any team with a physical defensive front will give the Mariners trouble. Mariners have an able QB who is mobile and can throw the ball, but St Francis defense should smother Aptos. Salinas High has a physical line and linebackers and the Cowboy defense pretty much dominated the Mariner offense. Maybe Aptos scores twice but may not do that and they will have a very tough time stopping the Lancer offense. Aptos just isn't physical enough this year. St Francis point of attack will be in the Mariner back field all night. Aptos should have been in D2.
I looked at the Calpreps projection if St Francis makes it all the way to the open state championship game and National #1 ranked Mater Dei is favored 56-10. Southern CA looks to be heavy favorites in the Open and D1 games. DLS is projected to handily defeat St Francis (if they met again), Rocklin or Folsom (if they met again). #1 ranked central section Buchanan is projected to lose by more to the mentioned in a match up. Whoever gets to the Open game from Norcal will be a sacrificial lamb.
Also for them to stop Teu the one man wrecking crew, that massive line of St. Francis will have to be dealt with so, it's more than likely they will not slow him.. I do wonder how Serra will game plan for the next match up should it happen.
Prayer. And a quick novena in honor of St. Rockne, the patron saint of run defense.
Not quite sure why many experts or posters feel so confident that De La Salle would win in a rematch with SF, if it ever happened. To me, DLS hasn't shown as much improvement at this point in the season as is typical for DLS teams leading up to playoffs. They've continued to start every game slowly. To me, St. Francis has only exponentially improved and fine-tuned their passing game and buttoned up some defensive issues. It would be a great game but I wouldn't be so quick to put my hat in for DLS.
This is the dream St. Francis team that Calcagno and the program has ALWAYS wanted. I remember from Freshman year, players get introduced to a smash-mouth style of ball, even when SF teams were undersized and lacked speed, they always lined up in the I-form or off-set and went between the Tackles. SF would run the ball at nauseum, even when they had a skilled QB with size and an arm, they'd still hand it off 85-90% of the time. Right now Calcagno is working with a bevy of receivers and a wild boar of a runner in Teu. Buckle up! its going to be fun.
Because SF won a 3 point game on the final play after DLS blew 2 TD’s in the final 5 min and Still took the lead with 1:30 to play…..
DLS has played very well since then, keep in mind they were down 30 players including 6 rotating linemen and the Best Player in Nor Cal Zeke Berry and still put a Running clock on CAL…..
SF is a GREAT Team, and I think they are the right team to go to the Open and I was very impressed with the way they beat Serra….
DLS would do the same To Serra though and what everyone has to keep in mind is that SF did not Blow out DLS…. They won on the Final play by 3 points, that’s why everyone feels DLS would win a RE-match with SF…..
To be clear, not "everyone" feels DLS would defeat SF in a re-match. Especially Serra followers who viewed last weekend's debacle in San Mateo.
That's the attitude that makes these match ups worth watching. In all the years I've been/worked at DLS's OO Field the most electric atmospheres are when a visiting team shows up with the unknown as to whether or not they may challenge the Spartans on the field.......the electricity is not just among the players but also the Coaches, the Parents, Interested Fans, Prep Sports Writers and School Students-both Home & Visiting. And this is just not the challenging OOS teams that DLS likes to schedule early in the season.
I have sensed "tonight's our night" can do attitude from EBAL & BVAL 'streak' teams, CVC, Folsom and some of the WCAL matchups .......all before the first whistle is blown.
Conversely one can see the focused mission on the Spartan squad as they walk out to their field in double file as a team.
Makes for an electric night. Curb stompings and snot smashings are not learning experiences or as fun to watch as a challenging matchup where we can see players grow/develop their best potential and rise before our eyes within those 4 quarters.
"DLS would do the same To Serra though and what everyone has to keep in mind is that SF did not Blow out DLS…. They won on the Final play by 3 points, that’s why everyone feels DLS would win a RE-match with SF…..
* 2 different posts and 2 alternate views & I will go with colhenry on this one. There is no guarantee that DLS would blow out Serra or that DLS would automatically defeat SF in a rematch. I have seen comments that DLS has played well since the SF loss & I would agree. Does that mean SF has not played well since the DLS game?
It makes for good debates and the possibility is that SF might play DLS better in a rematch. In the Serra-SF game Serra committed numerous mistakes and penalties - in a word they did not play "well" and of course were missing their best weapon on offense. SF executes very well and does not make mistakes , has a solid D and a run game that is simply difficult to stop. It could be that Serra simply doesn't match up well vs SF. Serra's coach Walsh says this SF team is the best he's seen in his lengthy career at Serra and having followed the series going back much further than Walsh I can't say I disagree - this Lancers team is the real deal. Like the Spartans "good teams find a way to win close games" which is how the Lancers won 28-26 despite the 15 yard penalty at the end.
I was referring to calpreps Freeman projection. I don't necessarily agree with projection but it is objective. the 56-10 projection of Mater Dei over St. Francis would have to be among the highest spread in some time.
