Merced’s repeat title hopes hit a roadblock in St. Francis

The dream of back-to-back section championships for the Merced High School flag football team came to an end on Wednesday night at third-seeded St. Francis came up with the big plays to defeat the No. 2 Bears 27-18 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinals at Cathie Hostetler Stadium.

 

The Troubadours seized momentum early with a 70-interception return for a touchdown and never surrendered the lead against a high-powered Merced team that entered the game with a 12-game winning streak.

 

St. Francis slowed down the Merced pass rush by holding back three players as blockers for most of the night and that gave their quarterback Lola Fox enough time to find their star receivers Natalia Zitelli and Monet Zauner throughout the night for big plays.

 

“I think they came out with a very confident strategy,” said Merced senior Averie Steverson. “They kind of took away our best option, our deep balls. They had double coverage on me. They sent two really fast rushers. They just played a really good defense overall. Our offense wasn't able to move the ball as efficiently as we always do, and our defense let up a few big flag pulls that just gave them a lot of long breakaway runs.”

 

Merced (23-3) marched down the field on the first possession of the game. The Bears look poised to score when a tipped pass ended up in the hands of St. Francis senior safety Alexa Randall, who then raced down the Troubadours’ sideline for a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with *;46 left in the first quarter.

 

The Bears answered on their next drive, covering 64 yards as quarterback Antonia Lejarde scored on a 1-yard sneak to cut the lead to 7-6 with 4:29 left in the first quarter.

 

St. Francis answered in the second quarter as Fox threw a quick pass to Zitelli near the Mered sideline. One missed flag pull turned into a 61-yard touchdown as St. Francis extended its lead to 14-6 with 8:27 left in the first half.

 

“It was a rough start last night and momentum is so huge in big games we just couldn't get back on track and find our groove,” said Merced head coach Victor Nazario.

 

The Bears cut into the lead late in the second quarter. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the St. Francis’ 15-yard line, Lejarde threw a pass to Steverson in the front corner of the end zone and somehow Steverson outjumped two defenders and came down with the catch inbound for a touchdown to pull the Bears within 14-12 at the half.

 

The Bears defense struggled to contain the Troubadours. Zitelli scored on two short touchdown runs to push the St. Francis lead to 27-12 early in the fourth quarter. “We struggled all night applying pressure, they were dropping as many as three blockers at one point to give their QB time and we just didn't make enough adjustments. They had some girls that were extremely fast,” Nazario said.

 

Lejarde was able to connect with Steverson for an 18-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 27-18 with 2:01 left in the game. However, the Bears failed on the conversion and then couldn’t come up with 20-yard play on the onside attempt as the Troubadours ran out the clock.

 

Lejarde finished with 276 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for the other score. Steverson had 105 yards receiving and two touchdowns and Alyssa Oseguera led the defense with six tackles and two sacks.

 

Antonia threw for 276 yards 2 passing TDs 1 rushing. Averie had 105 yards receiving with 2TDs and Amachi had 121 yards receiving. Alyssa Oseguera led  the team with 6 tackles and 2 sacks.

 

St. Francis advances to the section championship on Saturday against top-seeded Granite Bay. Merced had to come to grips with the sudden end of its season.

 

“It's really devastating knowing that this was the last last home game, our last game ever with these girls,” Steverson said. “I wish we could have made it back to another section championship.”

 

Del Campo 33, Buhach Colony 7 – The Thunder saw their playoff run end in the semifinals to the No. 2 seed. Buhach Colony’s lone touchdown came on a 55-yard punt returned by Emily Gallegos. The Thunder finished the season with an 18-6 record. Del Campo will face No. 1 Christian Brothers in the Division III championship on Saturday.

 

Boys Water Polo

Merced 20, Pacheco 1 – Kade Slocum scored six goals and recorded four steals as the top-seeded Bears opened the Division II playoffs with a rout of the Panthers. The Bears led 14-0 by the end of the first quarter on their way to a 26th consecutive victory to improve to 28-1 on the season. 

 

Cord McCall added five goals and five assists and Hunter Gossett came away with 10 steals. Andrew Hamilton chipped in with three goals and Mitchell Metcalf finished with four assists.

 

Buhach Colony 9, Whitney 7 – Thunder senior Joseph Laranjo scored four goals and added six steals to help No. 8 Buhach Colony open the playoffs with a victory over the Wildcats. Talen Tipler added four assists, four steals and a goal and Colton Alcorn scored a goal and recorded two steals. Logan Burroughs finished with five saves.

 

The Thunder will take on Merced in the quarterfinals on Friday.

 

Livingston 16, Del Campo 6 – Kelvyn Edwards poured in 10 goals as the Wolves defeated the Cougars in the Division III playoffs. Aydan Ramirez added five goals and two assists as Livingston improved to 21-7 on the season The Wolves will play No. 2 Sonora on Friday.

 

In other action involving MUHSD boys team St. Mary’s defeated Atwater 12-5 and El Capitan fell to Lodi 19-9.

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.