Lancer Heartbreaker: St. Francis overcomes injury to lead late, but Grant’s last-second field goal steals NorCal title

MOUNTAIN VIEW — St. Francis left it all on the field. The Lancers simply came up two points short.

The Lancers welcomed in Grant High School of Sacramento for the NorCal 2-AA regional championship game on Friday night in Mountain View, and afterward, no fan in attendance could say they weren’t entertained.

The two teams traded the lead multiple times in the fourth quarter alone, fighting until the bitter end. But when St. Francis’ last-ditch lateral play fell to the ground, it was the visitors that emerged with a 32-30 win.

Jose Romero’s game-winning 25-yard field goal with 5.7 seconds remaining sealed the win for Grant. But if you came late to the party, you missed a lot.

“That was a heck of a game, huh?” said St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno. “I don’t know how much people paid to get in, but it was probably worth it.”

So where should we start? How about the end.

Grant, trailing 30-29 with 1:23 to go, drove 72 yards down the field in seven plays, setting up Romero’s field-goal opportunity. Before that, St. Francis took the lead on a two-point conversion run by Motu Keanaaina.

Aaron Knapp, who played with a fractured ring finger on his throwing hand, had spun a perfect 17-yard spiral to Grant Righellis to bring the Lancers to 29-28. Then, as Calcagno rolled the dice, Keanaaina gave St. Francis the lead with a 3-yard scamper through the right side.

“Last Friday against Los Gatos, second drive of the game, got stepped on,” Knapp said. “Went to a lot of acupuncture. My neighbor, Lily Cosgrove, she really helped me get my finger right for this game. I wasn’t able to throw a spiral in the warm-up. So shoutout the adrenaline for kicking in. That’s really what made it possible.”

St. Francis had to mount its dramatic comeback after another potential game-winning drive got snuffed out with a shocking defensive play. As Kingston Keanaaina, who fought through a shoulder injury to play, ran to the left side, he was stood up around the Grant 40-yard line.

Pacers defenders surrounded him and ripped the ball out, then Ezekiel Castex snagged it and raced 60 yards down the field for a touchdown. Suddenly, Grant led 29-22.

“It’s what we expected,” Kingston said of the back-and-forth nature. “We don’t love the outcome, but Grant is a great program. We knew they were going to come here and play, do what they do. I’m just proud of how my guys fought tonight.”

Trailing 16-14 at the half, St. Francis (10-4) made a splash early in the third quarter. Roman Steciw returned the opening kickoff to the Lancers’ 42-yard line, then a personal foul penalty set St. Francis up at Grant’s 43. The Lancers took advantage, as Kingston ran 43 yards around the left side to put the Lancers on top.

Kingston let Motu do the honors on the two-point conversion that gave St. Francis a 22-16 advantage. But Grant responded early in the fourth quarter with a tying 33-yard TD run up the middle by Brandon Lambert.

“This morning, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play,” Kingston said. “But I knew I had to strap up and do what I can. I’m thankful to have my running back room, Loa (Tuiileila) and my little brother Motu being able to carry the load when I can’t.”

Kingston didn’t always look like himself in the first half, but he got stronger as the game went along. The Lancers needed all their players to perform to match Grant’s explosive offense.

But it was actually the Pacers’ defense that got the scoring started. They forced Knapp deep into the end zone, and his desperation throw was called for intentional grounding, giving Grant (11-3) a 2-0 lead thanks to an early safety.

The Pacers extended their lead later in the first quarter on a 7-yard TD catch by Koby “Cheese” Shabazz.

St. Francis responded with a 12-play drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Motu.

“I could not be prouder of them,” Calcagno said. “We asked them to give everything that they possibly could. We’re all spent. I’m exhausted. I know those guys were all exhausted. I can’t be upset. We played our tail off.”

Shabazz made another appearance in the second quarter, juking his defender on the outside to set up a 3-yard TD catch.

But once again, the Lancers had a response. After Motu converted a fourth-and-1 on St. Francis’ 30-yard line, Knapp – broken finger and all – found Perrion Williams for a 10-yard TD in the corner of the end zone, bringing St. Francis within 16-14 before the half.

“We stuck it out and put it all out there on the field,” Knapp said. “The result isn’t what we wanted, but we fought to the end, and that’s all you can do as a team. Obviously, we’re down as a team. This is a band of brothers who have worked so hard all since February. It’s been a long process, but I love each and every one of them so much. I’m so sad it’s over, but there’s no one else I’d rather have done this journey with.”

Despite the heartbreaking loss, this was a season of validation for St. Francis. The Lancers ended their decade-long CCS title drought with a win over Los Gatos in the Division I title game last Friday.

And though it came up slightly shy of another win for the books, St. Francis didn’t lose sight of how special the 2024 season was.

“We’ve heard enough about our CCS lack of championships,” Calcagno said. “They got it. They found a way, and they battled. We were 30 seconds away from going to another state game. So that’s a good class. We’ve been looking forward to this class for a while. Sometimes, you think it’s going to be good and it’s not. We thought it was going to be good, and it was good.

“We won the WCAL and won a CCS (title). And we were a minute away from going to a state game, so I couldn’t be prouder of this group.”