9/01/2017
Palma-St. Francis football
Friday's game
Palma (0-0) at St. Francis (1-0), 7:30 p.m.
You can make the argument that last year's 8-7 loss to St. Francis, in which it scored in the final two minutes, turned the Chieftains season around, as they went on a 10-game winning streak
The Lancers were impressive in a 35-0 season opening win over Oak Grove last week. They opened last year with five straight wins, finishing 10-2, with both losses coming from Serra.
Palma is 4-3-1 in its last eight regular season games with the West Catholic Athletic League powers, with four of those games being decided by five points or less.
Darnell Page was a workhorse in the backfield last week for the Lancers, rushing for 105 yards and two touchdowns while teammate Lucas Andrighetto chalked up 109 yards on just six carries.
St. Francis is a throwback type of offense, as evident by it putting the ball in the air eight times last week. All five touchdowns came on the ground.
With the Chieftains looking to establish a ground game behind sophomores Anthony Villegas and Jon Jon Berring, this could be a quick game.
Success through the air, though, is critical for Palma. In three of its four losses last year, the inability to throw the ball down field late in the game crippled them.
1 comment:
St Francis looks like they are the top team in CCS. While their offense is conservative - they do have a QB that can air it out. What makes this team tough is their line and LBs. Key players: Reed Vettel, Sr, 6-4, 185, QB, played in loss to Citrus Hill in the CIF D2-A state bowl game and strong armed passer. He's improved alot; Tyler Manoa, Sr.,6-3, 280, DT/OL, committed BYU; and Joshua Pakola, Jr, OLB, 6-3, 230, offers from Stanford, offers from Georgia, Oregon, UCLA, Washington and others
Palma will have a tough matchup on the lines and it may be a struggle to score againt St Francis which has a stellar defense. That Oak Grove team they shut out had a pretty good QB and was athletic and had size on their line. The lost two FBS prospect RBs that transferred to other schools. They will be a tough matchup against Salinas. As far as Palma is they will need to have some success running but may need to pass to open up the run. Also Palma will need to play great defense. It is really hot in Mountain View this evening and that is another factor - Palma's depth may be a disadvantage. Palma is the underdop this year. The game will be video streamed on NFHSnetwork tonight starting at 7pm and it is the television show Sports Focus game of the week.
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