SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Tayli Paeu-Lindgren caught five passes including the game's first touchdown while freshman Monet Zauner picked off another interception, but St. Francis ultimately surrendered 19 unanswered points en route to a 19-6 loss to Christian Brothers in the varsity nightcap of the second-annual "Holy Bowl" flag football matchup at Bollinger Stadium Saturday night.
Known as either "Holy Bowl," as a nod to the boys' rivalry game between Jesuit and CB; or "Holy Flags," in an effort to differentiate from the boys' contest, the SF-CB game features the Sacramento area's top two Catholic school girls' teams. The Falcons, last year's Sac-Joaquin Section champions, have now prevailed in both matchups.
Zauner's interception, set on the first play of CB's second drive after halftime, raised her season total to eight. However, she arguably enjoyed her defensive highlight near the end of the game, when Falcons ran a flea flicker with less than two minutes remaining. As goes the play, the ball ended up back in the hands of freshman quarterback Taylor Jernigan. Zauner smothered the pass for her first pass break-up of the contest.
Paeu-Lindgren's score came as the result of a five-yarder in the games' opening series. Jade Abalateo first ran a pitch just across the midline for a first down, then Nevaeh Gavino's catch resulted in some penalty yardage. Sophomore running back Natalia Zitelli advanced a catch into the Falcon red zone, then after a fumble inched the Troubadours backwards by a few years, Zitelli came through again with a run to tie CB 5-yard-line. This allowed freshman quarterback to find her towering receiver in the end zone.
St. Francis had two cracks to convert the ensuing one-point conversion, but CB's Marisela Gaeta picked off the pass. The Falcons' junior double threat ended up figuring heavily in the contest, as Gaeta went on to post two pass break-ups on Troubie fourth-down conversion attempts, one of which came on a fourth-and-goal with less than three minutes left before halftime.
St. Francis trailed just 7-6 at the break, with Jernigan finding Malia Van Den Bogert on a long hookup with nine minutes left in the first. Jernigan added the conversion, evading a sack by Alina Uriarte before finding Gabriella Devlin in the end zone.
The second Gaeta fourth-down PBU, this time against SF junior Annie Swanson with 16 minutes left in the second, gave way to the second Falcon TD. Jernigan hit Devlin on a slant, then Devlin added some 40 yards after the catch. Still, Zia Smith broke up the conversion attempt to keep the margin at just seven.
Unfortunately, St. Francis failed to reach the CB red zone in its next three series. Brooklyn Kann pulled in a pass on a fourth-down conversion but was stopped just shy of the Falcon 20 with about nine minutes left. Zitelli's sweep right under the seven-minute mark ended up as the longest gain in a three-and-out possession, then an Aleyah Harmon interception halted another Troubie offensive chance around the two-minute warning of the second half.
Meanwhile, the Falcons extended their lead to two possessions on Harmon's touchdown run with three minutes remaining. Charley Viley made one of her team-leading five stops to contain Ella-Simone Davis on the first play of that drive, then Devlin ran the ball another 15 yards before Reese Lieuwen interrupted the process. But Harmon did one better than her two previous teammates with a 30-yard scamper to the end zone.
St. Francis had one last shot to cut into the margin, thanks to a defensive pass interference against Paeu-Lindgren on a fourth-and-4 chance. This moved the yard marker to the CB 30. Paeu-Lindgren grabbed another short pass, then gained additional penalty yards to result in a first-and-goal on the CB 19. A Fox pass to Gavino ended up in the hands of Devlin, giving the Falcons a chance to kill the final 25 seconds.
The varsity setback followed a JV contest with the opposite shape: Christian Brothers started with a 19-0 lead before the Troubies got on the board. On SF's second drive after halftime, Mariko Palmieri had runs of 19 and 34 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Falcon 7-yard line. Quarterback Jocelyn Villaflor had an easy toss to her center Zada Rodriguez, reducing the deficit to 19-6 with almost eight full minutes left to play.
St. Francis had a previous chance to score in the second half thanks to Elizabeth McNearney's interception on a fourth-and-9 attempt. This gave the Troubies a short field, giving Palmieri a series with a 10-yard run, 20-yard reception and six-yard run to the CB 4. But credit Falcon freshman Claire Fong for her second interception in the end zone. In fact, Fong's first pick came on the first series of the contest. Isabela Brenes' catch put the Troubies on the Falcon 8-yard-line merely minutes into the game, but Fong intercepted the next pass in the end zone and ran it the full field to kickstart the CB's run of 19 unanswered.
This marked the first JV edition of the SF-CB end of the doubleheader, since the Falcons opted not to field a junior varsity program last season.
Both St. Francis teams start Sierra Foothill League play on the road, traveling to Davis on Tuesday for a 6:30/7:30 p.m. doubleheader at Ron & Mary Brown Stadium.
