SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior wide receiver Caitlin Hafenstein posted eight receptions, including her team's first touchdown in the final minute of the first half, but three interceptions on first-and-goal opportunities ultimately doomed St. Francis, which lost to Davis by a 20-14 final in a Delta League girls' flag football doubleheader at Ron & Mary Brown Stadium Thursday night.
The Troubadours slip to 4-7 in their inaugural season, with a 2-5 record in league play. The Blue Devils move to 5-6 for the season, with a 3-4 mark in SFL games.
The varsity loss followed a 26-7 drubbing by the SF junior varsity, which improved to 3-4 for the season and picked up its first league win.
Hafenstein put St. Francis on the board with 58 seconds left in the first half. She began the drive with a 17-yard catch just after the two-minute warning. Sophomore Nevaeh Gavino drew a personal foul penalty, then turned a short pass into run-after-catch yards to the Davis 5-yard line on the next snap. Hafenstein then pulled down the scoring strike to bring the Troubies within one possession at the break.
Sophomore Annie Swanson had her fourth and fifth catches in the final minutes of the second half after Colleen Medina's sack forced Davis to put. This provided the Troubies with first and goal on the Blue Devil 11. Tayli Paeu-Lindgren hauled in another pass to move the ball to the 1-yard line, then Caroline Phillips grabbed the score with 56 ticks. St. Francis went for two, with Hafenstein drawing a pass interference call in the corner of the end zone. This halved the distance for a two-pointer, allowing Swanson to punch in the conversion.
Davis ran the ball twice to run out the final minute, sealing the win. The Blue Devils largely won the game on the strength of three interceptions: a first-and-goal at their own 16 just five minutes into the game, another at their own 5-yard line on the opening series of the second half, then a third on a deflected pass with 7:32 left in the game. All three picks squandered first-down conversions into the Davis red zone – Swanson's catch in the first half, Hafenstein's on each of the second-half turnovers.
The varsity setback followed a dominating victory by the Troubies' junior varsity squad. Madison Trafican posted three receiving touchdowns, while Haydyn Haecker threw for two TD and caught another. Trafican's first touchdown came just two minutes into the game, capping a drive in which quarterback Jocelyn Villaflor completed 6 of 6 passes: three to Trafican, plus three to center Emma Robinson.
However, Trafican's second and third scores came under somewhat unusual circumstances, and both thanks to extraordinary field position for St. Francis. In the first series of the second half, Lena Schnack picked off a pass and ran it to the Davis 2-yard line. With Haecker at quarterback, the Troubies went for a short pass to Robinson at the goal line. Haecker's pass went off Robinson's hands to a waiting Trafican in the front of the end zone.
Late in the second half, St. Francis marched deep into Davis territory, mostly thanks to a long RAC by freshman running back Grace Gustorf, who turned a simple check-down into a first-and-goal from the Blue Devil 5. Trafican brought the Troubies a little closer, but two incomplete passes – including one on a breakup by Davis' Harper Pfeifer – allowed the Devils to take over on downs, albeit pinned deep near their own end zone.
A fumbled handoff and an incomplete pass forced Davis to go for a first on 4th-and-19 on its own 1-yard line. When that pass failed, St. Francis took over with the best possible field possession. Haecker easily connected with Trafican, extending the lead to 26-7.
Schnack's interception had marked the second long St. Francis play to the Davis 2-yard line. Wide receiver Jaycey Todd converted a third-and-nine to set up Haecker's receiving TD with nine seconds left before the halftime break. Ava Votaw then added the two-point conversion, giving SF a 14-0 lead at the time.
The Troubies return home to host Rocklin for a varsity-only matchup on Tuesday, while the SF jayvees return to action two days later as part of a doubleheader at SFL leader Del Oro. Tuesday's game against the Thunder starts at 4:30 p.m.
