Outsized St. Francis falls to No. 1 seed Aragon in CCS D-V football championship

CAMPBELL — St. Francis High’s football players gave a post-game salute to the several hundred fans who made the trek from Watsonville. They’d hoped to see the Sharks pull one last stunner. No. 1 seed Aragon teetered, but didn’t topple.

“Keep your heads up,” one fan repeatedly yelled.

And Sharks coach John Ausman agreed: There was nothing sad about this historic season, which ended Saturday with a 38-14 loss to the Dons in the Central Coast Section Division V title game at Westmont High on Saturday afternoon.

“There’s nothing to hang your head about that,” he said. “You give it everything you have and … what is there to not be proud of? This senior class has done things that have never been done in St. Francis history. They’ve set the bar high for those classes that come afterwards. I’m really proud of the seniors and everyone.”

Earlier this month, few, if any, expected the No. 7 seed Sharks — champion of the Santa Lucia Division, the lowest tier in the equity Pacific Coast Athletic League — to reach the the section title game. But here they were after notching their first two playoff wins in school history, upsets at that.

This would’ve been another one. St. Francis has an enrollment just above 220 and Aragon’s enrollment is more than six times higher.

The Sharks (9-4) were in this one, too. They led 14-10 at the half, thanks in part to a nifty and shifty, 85-yard kickoff return from senior Johrdan Garibay.

But the Dons, significantly larger in the trenches, kept the Sharks’ offense in check and rode the surge of their offensive front to four unanswered touchdowns in the second half.

“I don’t think we were tired,” said Kyle Dyer, the Sharks’ quarterback. “Momentum shifted and we tried to get back into it.”

Junior wide receiver Lloyd Walter took a pitch from the quarterback on an end-around play and completed a 37-yard scoring pass to wide open receiver Alan Tanielu that gave the Dons the lead for good, 17-14, with 7:49 left in the third quarter.

“We started slowing down and that toss play, that throw, really killed out momentum,” said Charles Valencia, a defensive back for the Sharks.

The Dons (9-4) — the third-place finisher in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division — tacked on three short touchdown runs during a 7-minute, 40-second span in the fourth quarter to blow the game open.

Garibay finished with two touchdowns. He also scored on a tackle-breaking 21-yard run for a 7-3 lead on the first play of the second quarter. The scoring drive was set up by a 34-yard completion to tight end Seth Vasquez.

Otherwise, it was a rough go of things for the Sharks’ offense. After exploding for a combined 94 points in wins over No. 2 Cupertino and No. 6 Los Altos on successive weeks, the Sharks were held to 97 yards by the Dons.

St. Francis rushed 53 yards on 25 carries and completed 5 of 12 passes for 44 yards.

The Dons lost a fumble while on a punt return just before the half, but the Sharks, who took over at the Dons’ 19-yard line, threw an interception three plays later.

“We just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities in front of us,” Ausman said. “And they had some big plays, where we missed a couple of tackles, that just killed us.”

Valencia and Diego Ramirez recorded interceptions for the Sharks and Kautai Faaumu and Albert Zheng made interceptions for the Dons.

The Dons finished with 69 plays on offense to the Sharks’ 37.

Aragon passed for 93 yards, completing 5 of 13 attempts, and ran for 313 yards on 56 carries. Sophomore Ivan Nisa, who teammates affectionately call “D-I,” ran for a team-high 162 yards on 19 carries.

“He’s a great halfback,” longtime Dons coach Steve Sell said of Nisa. “We were dabbling with the Wing-T in Week 1. And in Week 2, we were like, ‘We have the personnel to run it.’ There’s three core runs in the Wing-T offense and they were taking away two of them. And you can’t take away them all. So they gave up the sweep. Not gave it up, but they were giving us a good look. It’s one of those things, in the second half I put away my play-calling sheet in my pocket because now it comes down to three or four plays. You kinda dabble in the first half and then go, ‘OK, now we know what we can do,’ and kinda go from there.”

While Nisa racked up the big yards following his linemen on sweeps, his teammates punched the ball in the end zone. Senior running back Solomone Hokafonu scored twice in the second half, and Jared Walsh and Tanielu also rushed for scores.

Nisa said he and several players were too focused on pleasing the friends and family in the stands instead of pleasing themselves and that created undue pressure.

“I think everyone was so stressed on winning, not all of us were actually having fun on the field,” Nisa said. “But coach said, ‘Don’t focus on your families, we might not get a chance like this again.’ It was a signal to have fun and do what we do best and go hard. That just made it better.”

The Dons opened scoring with a 25-yard field goal from Cole Smith.

It was the Dons’ fifth title game appearance and third title, but first for Sell, who became head coach in 2000. The school won its last crown in 1994.

The Dons gave Sell an ice water dousing with 45 seconds left on the clock.

The Sharks did their best to celebrate, too.

“This whole season, no one gave us a chance,” said Valencia, noting the Sharks started the season 0-3. “And just to be here in the Division V championship, it’s insane. We battled through so many things, injuries, people doubting us, and then losing. And just to be here after having this winning season, one of the most memorable seasons in St. Francis (history), probably, it was great. It was great to make history. I just wish we won that one.”

THE SCORE

Aragon 38, St. Francis 14
Up next: End of season