St. Francis bids to end Bellarmine’s streak
If St. Francis wants a new result in its “Holy War” rivalry with West Catholic Athletic League nemesis Bellarmine, it must rely on an old strength: defense.
With six defensive starters returning from last season’s Northern Region championship team, the Lancers (4-0, 1-0) didn’t figure to give up many yards or points in 2016.
Sure enough, The Chronicle’s No. 2 team has given up 27 points after last week’s 37-0 WCAL-opening rout of Riordan.
The Lancers will need more of the same at 7 p.m. Friday at San Jose City College against No. 7 Bellarmine (3-1, 1-0), which has won 11 straight in the 70-game series.
“We’ve always hung our hat on the defensive end,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “We pride ourselves on good defense and giving different looks.”
Under defensive coordinator Matt Scharrenberg’s 3-4 alignment, the Lancers are superb at reading keys and swarming to the ball.
Fourteen players have at least 10 tackles this season, led by 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker Dominic Graziani (24) and defensive backs Bennett Williams and Patrick Calcagno — Greg’s son — 21 each.
“Everybody sticks to their assignments and does their job,” Greg Calcagno said. “There’s a lot of team work.”
They get to the quarterback also, with 16 sacks — four from 6-4, 290-pound junior Tyler Manoa.
The secondary has knocked away 16 passes, five by Williams, who also has three interceptions. Sophomore Maurice Wilmer returned a pick-six 82 yards.
“The kids are active,” Greg Calcagno said. “They fly around.”
They’ll need to do plenty of that against Bellarmine, which has run the double-wing scrum offense for decades under Mike Janda, the Central Coast Section’s winningest coach with 273.
“There’s no magic to what they do; they’ve run the same offense and defense with the same coaching staff for 15-20 years,” Calcagno said. “They’ll have some wrinkles, but their level of consistency is amazing. They have good football players and great coaches and they just do what they do.”
What they’ve done over the past decade to St. Francis has been disturbing to the Lancers and their fans. The 11 straight wins are a series record and Bellarmine has opened a 42-27 series lead. The last time St. Francis won was a 31-28 decision in 2005.
Last year’s 28-26 Bellarmine victory marked the seventh time during the streak that the game had been decided by a touchdown or less.
St. Francis will rely on senior running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio (339 yards, three TDs), who last week decommitted from Washington State.
Habibi-Likio is off to a much slower start than a year ago when he rushed for 1,438 yards and scored 17 times, “but he’s running even better,” Calcagno said. “We’re excited about getting him the ball a lot more Friday.”