SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Freshman quarterback Lola Fox completed 17 of 19 passes for 170 yards and five touchdowns without an interception, as St. Francis trounced Davis by a final of 49-6 in Sierra Foothill League flag football action Thursday night.
The Troubadours improve to 4-10 for the season and 3-5 in league play. The Blue Devils fall to 1-10 overall and 1-7 in SFL competition.
Fox fired a TD strike to Natalia Zitelli in each half, plus back-to-back 19-yard connections to Jade Abalateo and Tayli Paeu-Lindgren early in the contest. She added a second touchdown pass to Paeu-Lindgren late in the first half, boosting the Troubies to a 24-6 lead.
Freshman Taylor Mitchell then took over behind center, finding Alexa Randall for a 15-yard touchdown pass before running in a score of her own. Finally, Paeu-Lindgren picked up a third touchdown: the receiver lined up on defense, out-leaped the Davis receiver at the 34-yard line, then took the ball nearly untouched for a "pick six" score on the final play of the contest.
This is the second high-scoring rout for St. Francis this week, following a 52-8 win at Folsom on Tuesday. In similar fashion to the win over the Bulldogs, Fox and the offense often had the help of a short field due to the work of the defense. The Troubies took over on downs at the Davis 39-yard line for each of their first two scores.
Reese Lieuwen, who also had two pass breakups and two deflaggins, snared an interception that set up her SF offensive teammates on the Blue Devil 34. This gave way for the first Zitelli TD, extending the lead to 18-0.
Davis did not convert a first down until the ensuing possession, but capitalized on a 34-yard touchdown pass at the 4:45 mark in the first half. This ended up being the lone Blue Devil score. On their next series, Randall jumped the receiver's route, snared an interception at the Davis 27, and advanced the ball into the red zone for a SF first-and-goal at the 19, the Troubies' best starting field position of the game. A defensive pass interference prevented Paeu-Lindgren from scoring on the first play, but she ended up with a 15-yards scoring grab on the next.
Lieuwen posted what appeared to be her second interception, and got tripped at the Davis 22, but an SF penalty offset the Blue Devil foul and erased the INT. Nonetheless, Lieuwen came up with a stop to force a fourth-and-3, then she broke up a long pass attempt to once again hold the Blue Devils on their side of the field.
St. Francis scored its fifth touchdown about 10 minutes into the second half. Paeu-Lindgren again used her height and her basketball-honed leaping ability to snare a Fox pass for a first down at the Davis 34. Then on the next play, Fox went over the top to Zitelli, who took the catch in for the score. This extended the Troubie lead to 30-6, and allowed Fox to check out of the game
A PBU by Nassali Serwanga and a three-yard sack by Piper Bates helped force Davis to turn the ball over on downs at its own 36. Mitchell threw passes to Brooklynn Kann and Olivia Alvernaz to march into Blue Devil territory, then hit Randall for consecutive 15-yard hookups – the second of which boosted the SF lead to 36-6. Randall had previously posted the pick and a breakup, but lined up on offense down the stretch of the game.
Meanwhile, Davis continued to struggle in its quest for the SF side of the field. Abi Hall broke up a pass and nearly had an interception of her own, leaving the Blue Devils with a fourth-and-4 and little choice but to go for the conversion. Instead, it was junior Amelia Zaragoza, who broke up the next play. Yet again, St. Francis had the ball deep in Davis territory, this time on the 31-yard line.
Mitchell hit Kann and Zia Smith – another defender who lined up on offense – for short gains into the red zone. With a first-and-goal on the Davis 13 and the two-minute warning already passed, Mitchell opted to run the ball in herself. Bates pulled down a one-point conversion to extend the Troubie lead to 43-6.
Davis still had time for one more offensive series but an interception to Paeu-Lindgren on the first play resulted in the pick-six and the seventh St. Francis touchdown.
The varsity win followed a decisive 34-12 Blue Devil victory in the junior varsity game. The Troubies surrendered 21 unanswered points to start the game, but managed to close the gap to two possessions with a Jocelyn Villaflor touchdown pass to Mariko Palmieri in the final seconds before halftime.
SF followed with another score, this time with Villaflor finding Kaili Heeb at the 16:30 mark in the second. However, Davis answered with two more touchdown passes down the stretch to claim the win. This marked the first Blue Devil JV win over St. Francis, with the Troubies having prevailed by scores of 18-0 and 26-7 last season, plus 19-12 back on September 10.
The Troubie jayvees slip to 3-8 for the season, with a 2-5 mark in SFL play. Both SF teams return to action at home against Rocklin on Monday. Game times are 4 and 5 p.m.
