Football:

For the second time in two years, St. Francis will be playing for a CIF-SS championship next week.

Unlike 2021, there won’t be a ringer like Long Beach Poly standing across from the Golden Knights.

St. Francis defeated visiting Aquinas, 52-35, in a D-5 semifinal round shootout.

The Golden Knights had a somewhat comfortable 31-14 lead in the second half, but the Falcons stormed back to pull within 31-28 of SFHS with 1:31 to play in the third quarter.

St. Francis, however, would close out the game by outscoring Aquinas, 21-7, the rest of the way.

Devyn Turner was incredible yet again.

Turner had TD runs of 48, 3, 4, 21 and 22 yards.

Turner’s final three scores were in the fourth quarter to pull away from a resilient Falcons’ bunch.

Jack Jacobs threw an 11-yard TD pass to Antonio Merlos with 10 minutes to play in the third period, and it gave SFHS a 24-7 lead.

Aquinas got a pair of rushing TD’s (4 & 3 yards) from Jusyis Solis, and Solis also caught a 9-yard scoring strike from quarterback Dre Robles.

Robles also found Hakim Halliburton on a 15-yard scored, and it was his 1-yard TD run with 2:56 to play that got the Falcons to within 45-35 of the Golden Knights.

What had to be one of the highlights of the night was a trick play for St. Francis.

Jacobs handed the ball to Turner, who reversed it to John Sanders.

Sanders would toss a 45-yard scoring pass to DruShun Phillips to give SFHS a 31-14 advantage with 4:54 remaining in the third quarter.

Jamie Lawyer had a huge night for the St. Francis defense.

Lawler picked two passes to thwart a pair of Aquinas drives.

Up next: The Golden Knights will travel to Rancho Cucamonga to take on Etiwanda in the D-5 finals.

They’ll find out shortly if the game will be played this coming Friday or Saturday.

The Eagles (8-5) edged Leuzinger, 22-21, in their semifinal round showdown.

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Box Score:
A: 7-0-21-7-(35)
SF: 7-10-14-21-(52)

Scoring:
SF: Devyn Turner 48 run (Clint Geryak kick)
A: Jusyis Solis 4 run (kick good)
SF: Clint Geryak 26 FG
SF: Devyn Turner 3 run (Clint Geryak kick)
SF: Antonio Merlos 11 pass from Jack Jacobs (Clint Geryak kick)
A: Jusyis Solis 3 run (kick good)
SF: DruShun Phillips 45 pass from John Sanders (Clint Geryak kick)
A: Jusyis Solis 9 pass from Dre Robles (kick good)
A: Hakim Halliburton 15 pass from Dre Robles (kick good)
SF: Devyn Turner 4 run (Clint Geryak kick)
SF: Devyn Turner 21 run (Clint Geryak kick)
A: Dre Robles 1 run (kick good)
SF: Devyn Turner 22 run (Clint Geryak kick)

Records: Aquinas (10-3); St. Francis (10-3)