SAN JOSE — The wait is over.
St. Francis, the most storied football program in the history of the Central Coast Section, is again its champion. And it only took 10 more years.
The Lancers, steered to greatness decades ago by legendary coach Ron Calcagno, entered Friday’s game against Los Gatos with 16 CCS championships, tied with the Wildcats for most all time.
They’re alone at the top now thanks to Ron’s son, Greg Calcagno, who led his St. Francis team to a 27-7 win over the Cats in the CCS Division I championship game.
It is the Lancers’ 17th section title in school history and their first since 2014, when Greg won his first in the CCS Division II championship game.
“Been a while. It feels good,” Calcagno said. “But more importantly, it feels good for our kids. They know our history, and that was a big one for everybody, for sure.”
St. Francis (10-3) had to get up off the mat after conceding the CCS Open Division championship game to St. Ignatius just a week ago, when Jarious Hogan snatched the title from the Lancers with a late rushing touchdown.
There would be no ambiguity this time. St. Francis led by 20 after three quarters, and the fourth quarter was merely a coda to another crowning moment for the Lancers’ program.
“We really opened it up tonight, and I think it worked, as the scoreboard showed,” said senior quarterback Aaron Knapp, who threw one touchdown pass and ran for another. “We were blessed to have some better conditions this week than we did last week. We got the passing game going early and often, first, second, third down.”
Los Gatos (10-3) got the ball first, but a fourth-down stop in plus territory gave the Lancers a short field. They quickly capitalized, as Kingston Keanaaina’s 22-yard run set up a 1-yard sneak by Knapp that put St. Francis up 7-0.
“Our defense played phenomenal,” Calcagno said. “That football team scored a lot of points last week up in the city, and they’ve been on a roll. Great program. They were believing, and that’s a tough opponent. It was not easy. They had a plan, and defensively, we played phenomenal.”
It was the Lancers’ offense that got on a roll on Friday. Though Los Gatos countered with an 8-yard TD run by Grayson Doslak, Knapp quickly put the Lancers back on top.
He found Perrion Williams over the middle for a 36-yard score, showcasing the aerial excellence that a driving rainstorm grounded last week against SI.
“You’ve got to bounce back,” Knapp said. “We soaked in our loss for about a day, and we just knew we had to drop it. We had a couple games ahead of us, and we knew that. We knew we have the talent to make it, make a long playoff run, so we just had to come back and bounce back.”
This time, St. Francis didn’t let up after retaking the lead. In the third quarter, with the Lancers leading 14-7, Keanaaina was unable to return to the field after aggravating a right shoulder injury he suffered last Friday against SI.
Didn’t matter. Backups Loa Tuiileila and Motu Keanaaina – a sophomore and Kingston’s little brother – combined to escort the Lancers down the field on the opening drive of the second half. Tuiileila finished off the 66-yard march with a 1-yard TD run around the left side.
“Sometimes my brother, he be getting hurt,” Motu said. “So they just asked me to step up. Just gotta follow what my brother do.”
He didn’t quite record 300 yards in a game, which Kingston did multiple times this season. But when St. Francis needed a Keanaaina-esque performance out of the backfield, Motu obliged.
On the Lancers’ final scoring drive, he took the first carry and ran 48 yards, setting St. Francis up at Los Gatos’ 3-yard line. He then punched in the 3-yard score, ensuring that the Keanaaina family name would forever be tied to this game.
“We’ve got four (Keanaainas) on the team,” Calcagno said. “(Kingston’s) our guy. He’s our workhorse. If he tells you can’t go, then there’s no way he can go. He tried to gut it out. He is who he is. He’s a warrior. He got hurt last week in the first quarter and played through it, and nobody knew anything.
“Not just Motu, but both our backs – Loa did a fantastic job too, got us that touchdown. We leaned on him, and then we were able to flip and put Motu in, go back and forth with those guys.”
It was a storybook ending for St. Francis, perhaps representing the true dawn of the Keanaaina dynasty. But for Los Gatos, the Wildcats were met with an abrupt end to an exceptional run.
The Cats had clawed through the Division I bracket with stunning upset wins over Serra and Riordan, both on the road, in back-to-back weeks. But on Friday, these Wildcats weren’t singing a high school musical.
Los Gatos’ run may have felt like a Disney fairy tale. But the Cats didn’t get their happy ending.
“Tonight wasn’t our night,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail told his team after the game. “That happens. It’s bittersweet. But you can hold your heads up. I’m proud of who you are, I’m proud of what you are. You take care of one another. We always talk about it. You play with love, you love each other, win, lose. Tomorrow, the sun comes up, we’re going to be Los Gatos football.”
Los Gatos remains a great program. But St. Francis will be the one playing for a NorCal title next week.
“Man, it’s so great,” Knapp said. “There’s no one I love on this Earth more than this team right here. We’ve got such a special brotherhood going. A lot of guys who have gone through so much adversity, whether it’s family, health. Even the coaches, man. So we’re just a band of brothers. We’re just a tribe that has overcome a lot, and we look forward to keeping on doing that in these next coming weeks.”
