By Alex Gonzalez
(La Canada) — With less than 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Golden Knight cornerback Kevin Armstead picked off Andrew Henriquez’ pass on the 18-yard line sealing St. Francis’ 31-27 win over La Serna in the Division 3 CIF Southern Section first round playoff Friday night at Friedman Field.
La Serna was the first to reach the end zone to open the game. Running back Issac Contreras capped the Lancers 14 play drive when he took the handoff and bulldozed his way into the end zone.
St. Francis wasted little time on their ensuing possession to tie the ballgame at seven. Taking only two minutes off the clock, St. Frank’s quarterback Darius Perrantes optioned to keep the ball and scored from six yards out.
The Knights then took the lead at the start of the second quarter when Perrantes hooked up with Greg Dulcich who went through three Lancer defenders to break the tie.
La Serna answered right back when Henriquez found Austin Sarabia alone in the end zone, tying the ball game at 14 with 8:07 left in the second frame.
Just before the half, both teams scored touchdowns. Armstead took the handoff and dashed his way to the end zone. Six seconds later, Henriquez completed his pass to Paul Duarte on the slip screen, who then took it 80 yards for the touchdown.
Following the break, the Knights broke the 21-21 tie when Nico Boschetti converted his 34-yard field goal. The Lancers tried to answer back on their next possession but Blake Howard picked Henriquez’s pass.
The Knights then extended their lead when Armstead scored his second touchdown when he powered his way into the end zone, pushing the score to 30-21 with 10:56 left in the fourth quarter.
La Serna finally answered back when Contreras scored his team’s first touchdown of the half with 6:07 left in the fourth but the point after attempt was blocked. The Lancers trailed the Knights 31-27.
After forcing the Knights to punt, the Lancers took over on their 28-yard line with 4:10 left to play in the fourth quarter. Running backs Fonzie Ibanez and Issac Contreras combined for 55 yards on eight carries, bringing the Lancers to the 27-yard line. With 38 seconds left, Henriquez took the snap, rolled to his left and tried to hit Duarte on the comeback route, but Armstead jumped the route and picked off the pass on the 8-yard line, stopping the comeback.
With the win, the Knights will travel to Perris to play Citrus Hill next Friday night.
That 12-men-on-the-field call without having even thrown a flag was a little weird. It also looked like LS stripped the ball from Parentes at the goal line, but a ref called his progress stopped, even though his was still fighting for yards like they were allowing our RB’s to do all game until blowing the whistle late. Again, a little weird. But LS showed up and played their butts off. It was a great game to watch and we couldn’t be prouder of the boys. Congrats to St. Francis. Hope they do well.
I found this website/chat room/blog (whatever you call it) about two weeks ago. I placed my first comments then. I am a fan of the local sports’ leagues (Del Rio & Almont) .
I placed another comment this week under the topic of this week football scores. A select few had a problem with my statement. In specific, I mentioned that I attended the St. Francis-La Serna game. I know I’m not the only one who was there because I opted to sit on the St. Francis side directly above where the LS team came out. The LS side was packed and the SF side had room. I sat next to another LS group and they were just as disappointed as I was with a few of the calls from the official on the SF sideline.
I thought both teams played very well and it was unfortunate that a few crucial calls made such an impact on the game. Am I the only one who saw it this way?
With that said, Congrats to all teams that are moving on to the next round!