SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior Natalia Zitelli scored two long touchdown runs and also hit Nassali Serwanga on a passing strike, leading St. Francis to a 56-6 win over Cordova in the varsity nightcap of a non-league girls' flag football doubleheader Wednesday night.
The Troubadours extend their overall win streak to 12, improving to 10-0 for the year. They also won their final two games of the 2024 season.
In contrast with recent wins, St. Francis scored the majority of its points from beyond the red zone. After Monet Zauner and Maddie Trafican began the game with consecutive pick-six touchdowns, Zitelli turned a backfield pitch into a 59-yard scamper with 3:18 left in the first, extending the Troubie lead to 20-0.
Zitelli then connected with Serwanga on a 16-yard touchdown pass in the final minutes of the opening frame, thanks in part to Abbey Pavelchik's interception on the first Lancer play after Zitelli's run. Jade Abalateo found Nevaeh Gavino on a 34-yard hookup then ran for a 3-yard plunge of her own in the second, boosting the SF lead to 38-0 at the break.
Gavino, Zitelli and Serwanga had touchdown runs of 41, 63 and 51 yards, respectively, in the second half.
Cordova scored its only points on a pick six of its own. With St. Francis offensive and defensive personnel trading sides of the ball, safety Jasmine Ferrell gathered an errant pass at the 35, then dashed her way to the left end of the Troubie end zone to spoil the shutout bid.
Zauner totaled five passes defensed in the game: the interception return to start the game, a second pick midway through the fourth, plus three pass breakups. Alexa Randall and Abbey Pavelchik paced the defense with four stops, with Lucia Vicio providing her own set of highlights in her return to action. Vicio pulled three flags for losses: two sacks, plus a tackle for loss on a Lancer fourth-down conversion attempt – the latter of which led to Abalateo's TD run in the second.
St. Francis junior varsity opened the doubleheader with an 85-0 drubbing of its Cordova counterpart. Freshman quarterback Chloe Hoertsch threw for four touchdown passes while also running for a fifth TD and a pair of one-point conversions. She handed the signal-calling to fellow ninth-grader Caroline Oriolo, who tacked on three straight touchdown strikes in the third and fourth quarters.
However, overwhelming the game was the total of nine interceptions, four of which were returned for touchdowns. Angela Miles enjoyed the first pick six at the end of the first quarter, extending the lead to 34-0. Then Sophia Kennedy-Contreras, Victoria Tateishi and Rose Leahy went back-to-back on the first three Lancer possessions after halftime.
Elizabeth McNearney added three non-scoring interceptions in the first half, with Tateishi and Emily Nguyen coming up with takeaways in the second. All in all, such defensive plays provided St. Francis with incredible field position. Besides the opening play, the Troubies took over the ball inside the red zone on seven occasion. The other exception was the first McNearney pick, which gave SF a start on the Cordova 23 – a series that resulted in a 23-yard Hoertsch run.
Also helping St. Francis' cause was the Lancers' refusal to punt. Isla Pattni posted a sack on a fourth-and-short to set up the SF on the opposing 16, resulting in the fourth Hoertsch scoring connection. Pattni also posted a tackle for loss on a fourth-and-long near the end of the third, giving Oriolo a short field for her first TD pass.
On the receiving end of the Hoertsch TDs: Julia Tipton, Gillian Hamm and Tateishi in the first quarter, then Kennedy-Contreras in the second. The Tipton score came on the very first play of the game. Starting at her own 14-yard line with the first-and-6 that begins every half, Hoertsch delivered to a wide-open Tipton, who was more than 10 yards behind the defense for an easy 66-yard bomb.
Oriolo threw her TDs to Kiley Pratt, Anna Votaw and Angie Weston.
Wednesday's contest is part of three straight days of action for St. Francis varsity, a run that concludes with a road game at Monterey Trail. This varsity-only date kicks off at 7 p.m.