GRANITE BAY, Calif. – Junior receiver Annie Swanson caught a pair of two-yard touchdown passes from freshman Lola Fox, including the go-ahead score with less than four minutes remaining in the contest, but St. Francis surrendered a nine-yard quarterback keeper with 51 seconds left to fall, 36-30, to Granite Bay in a Sierra Foothill League flag football contest Tuesday night.
The Troubadours drop to 4-13 for the year and 3-8 in SFL play. The Grizzlies improve to 8-6 overall and 6-5 in league, moving ahead of Whitney for fourth place in the standings.
Sophomore Tayli Paeu-Lindgren and senior Zia Smith also collected touchdown passes from Fox, with Paeu-Lindgren, Piper Bates and Haydyn Haecker each caught two-point conversions from Jade Abalateo. Paeu-Lindgren, Swanson and junior Nevaeh Gavino finished with six receptions apiece, not counting Paeu-Lindgren's conversion. Senior Reese Lieuwen pulled seven flags to lead the defense.
Swanson's second touchdown of the game arrived on the heels of several key plays, including Gabriella Kamin's six-yard sack of Lillian McDaniel on a third-and-7 midway through the second. This forced Granite Bay to punt for the first time since its initial series of the contest. On the following possession, the Troubies faced a 3rd-and-29 on their own 31-yard line.
Paeu-Lindgren's catch brought the ball to the GB 31, but SF still needed 11 yards and a visit to the red zone to avoid turning over on downs. Gavino stepped in for the catch near the Grizzly 20, with the official spot proving crucial. The ball was placed on the GB 19 for a first down and an extended opportunity for the Troubies to erase what was a 24-28 deficit to this point.
Fox hit center Lauren Herbelin and Swanson for two short passes, the second of which also had an illegal contact flag to set the ball on the Grizzly 2. Fox went to Swanson yet again for the go-ahead, although Kylee Flores intercepted the two-point conversion attempt. Nonetheless, St. Francis held a two-point lead with Granite Bay taking over on its 20 with less than three minutes remaining in the contest.
McDaniel found running back Leilani Teaupa on consecutive plays to advance to the Troubie 18, plus a holding call marched the ball half the distance to the 9. Armed with a first-and-goal, McDaniel avoided the SF pursuit, running a bootleg toward the right pylon for the touchdown. She tacked on another two points by finding Anna Craven in the end zone, extending the Grizzly lead to 36-30.
St. Francis went three-and-out on three straight incomplete passes, with Kylee Flores breaking up a pass to Paeu-Lindgren, and Gianna Al-Shaikh and Mia Blankenship winning their double coverage against Monet Zauner in the process.
The Troubies had crafted a 16-6 lead early in the game before Granite Bay closed the gap with a touchdown pass and a two-pointer with 1:03 left before halftime. The Grizzlies then scored 14 unanswered in the first six minutes of the second half, thanks to Cori Todd's touchdown catch, Alyssa Poehlman's wide-open two-point conversion, and Hallie Tapuosi's "pick six" interception TD. Only a Zauner break-up on a one-point try interrupted GB's start to the second.
St. Francis cut into that margin, with Paeu-Lindgren's leaping catch starting a drive that culminated with Smith's 1-yard TD catch from Fox. Natalia Zitelli and Swanson also made plays in the series. Bates tacked on the two points, making a chest catch with 13:30 left. The Kamin sack halted the next GB series, leading up to the consecutive heroics by SF's Swanson and GB's McDaniel down the stretch.
The varsity thriller followed Granite Bay's 27-12 win over the Troubie junior varsity. Sophomore quarterback Jocelyn Villaflor ran for a touchdown and threw another to Madison Trafican for the two SF scores. But the Grizzlies led wire-to-wire, scoring the game's first touchdown, leading 14-6 at the break and by a 21-6 edge before the Trafican TD at the 12:50 mark in the second.
Freshman Mariko Palmieri caught five passes in the game, including one for 40 yards.
St. Francis varsity and JV return to action for an SFL doubleheader at Del Oro on Thursday. Game times are 7 and 8 p.m., with the Golden Eagles tied with Rocklin atop the league standings.
