Outsized St. Francis falls to Aragon in D-V final
No. 1 seed Dons score four unanswered TDs in second half
CAMPBELL >> St. Francis High’s football players gave a postgame 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 re