ROCKLIN, Calif. – Junior Reese Lieuwen and sophomore Cassandra Salvucci each earned all-tournament honors after leading St. Francis varsity and junior varsity, respectively, to third-place finishes at the Girls of the Gridiron flag football tournament at Rocklin High Saturday.

The Troubadour varsity improves to 3-6 for the season. The jayvees score their first wins of the year, moving to 2-3 overall.

Each St. Francis team won its first-round game to remain in the championship bracket, lost in the semifinal, then turned around with a win in the third-place game.

The Troubie varsity blanked Inderkum to open the tourney, with Lieuwen highlighting the defense with two interceptions while Emma Karamanoukian and Annie Swanson scored touchdowns. Lieuwen then had the only SF points, thanks to a her "pick six" interception return in a 31-6 loss to the host Thunder.

The Troubies then rallied back from a 13-0 hole against Granite Bay, scoring 20 unanswered en route to a 20-13 win. Caitlin Hafenstein hauled in a touchdown pass and a two-point conversion to close out the first half, bringing SF to within a 13-8 deficit. Then Tayli Paeu-Lindgren scored on Karamanoukian end zone strikes at 16:45 and 1:27 in the second, while the Troubie defense kept the Grizzlies off the board. Abbey Pavelchik, still on loan from the SF junior varsity team, nabbed a leaping INT on a long ball intended for Jadyn Perez-Guerrero to highlight the shutout second half.

In addition to the all-tourney T-shirt, Lieuwen and Salvucci each were recipients of a program award, which head coach Melissa Triebwasser unveiled on Saturday. Their respective pick sixes earned the team's Big Play medal, which will be awarded at the coach's discretion for key plays in Troubie wins.

Salvucci earned her awards for her pick six against Rocklin, which kicked off the scoring in a 19-0 win in the third-place game. The Troubie jayvees began the afternoon with an 18-0 shutout of Davis, then fell to Granite Bay by a 25-6 final in the subsequent round.

Freshman Ava Votaw collected two touchdown passes in the opener against the Blue Devils, while quarterback Haydyn Haecker found center Emma Robinson for a short-yardage score early in the second half.

However, the SF-Davis game largely belonged the secondary, which had four interceptions: two by Abi Hall, another by Sofia Rainbolt and still another by Olivia Alvernaz. In fact, either Rainbolt or Alvernaz could have accounted for a fifth pick: a deflected ball fell through each of their hands midway through the second. Alvernaz got her redemption in the next DSHS series, which set up the second Votaw touchdown.

Both Troubie flag football teams return to Sierra Foothill League road action next week, with doubleheaders at Whitney (Tuesday) and Davis (Thursday). The SF jayvees also confirmed the schedule addition of their first and only home game of the year: a game against West Park on October 11.