St. Francis of Northern California is the undisputed All-California single-school champion after the Lancers beat Torrey Pines 33-24 Saturday night in San Diego.
With the SoCal school season splits between SoCal Youth Rugby on one side and SCIRF on the other, there might have been a debate as to who was the top team is Torrey Pines had won—the Falcons tied Cathedral Catholic in a non-conference game this season, and Cathedral won the SCIRF final on Friday.
However, St. Francis put all that aside. Having beaten Jesuit of Sacramento to make the NorCal school final and then defeated De La Salle to win NorCal’s school season, the Lancers brought a smart game plan and a nice mixture of rugby understanding and athleticism to the state final.
“We were outplayed and outcoached,” said Torrey Pines Head Coach Matty Sandoval. “Everyone knows that a big part of our game is the kick and the chase. That’s how we won our [SoCal] final against Loyola. Well St. Francis negated that, and that forced us to beat them on the ground, and I don’t know if anyone can beat them on the ground.”
“We came into the game with a lot of confidence and felt if we stuck to our game plan we wuold be in good shape,” said St. Francis Coach and former USA Eagle Mark Scharrenberg. “We prepared for their kicking game with the goal of being able to neutralize it and rely on our defense. In attack we felt we left a few tries out there, but credit to Torrey Pines for their defense.”
Sandoval concurred, saying it was his team’s best defensive performance of the season.
Captains and three-year starters Mone Pifeleti and Kingston Keanaaina were outstanding once again.
“They lead by example and will be sorely missed,” said Scharrenberg.
