Lincoln beats Balboa, claims S.F. Section title
Phil Ferrigno was in all his glory Thursday, but saw no need not to share it with his team and assistants.
The Lincoln head football coach, moments after securing the school’s 13th San Francisco Section title with a 44-7 win over Balboa at Kezar Stadium in the 98th Turkey Day
Game, began deflecting.
Much like defensive end Leonardo Sosa did on the last play of the game.
Sosa tipped a pass into the air and returned the football 10 yards —
Lincoln’s third pick-six of the day — to cement the team’s third section crown in four seasons.
It was also the ninth section crown under Ferrigno, who broke a tie with Polytechnical’s Milt Axt for most SFS titles under one coach.
More honors, more deflections.
“It’s all them,” Ferrigno said. The coaching staff “prepared them well; the kids did a great job. They work hard, play for each other and have a love of the game. They reap the rewards as they should. They
Inside: Previewing the 13 section final games scheduled Friday and Saturday.
earned it.”
The Mustangs did it with a familiar physicality. There was their ball-control offense, which sprinkled in with a few passes (5-for-8). Then there was their punishing, opportunistic defense led by Xavier Solares (two pick-sixes) and middle linebacker Diego Cristerna (11 tackles).
Lincoln (9-3) advances to CIF State Regional Bowl play next week against an opponent to be named Sunday, while the Buccaneers finish 6-6. They defeated Lincoln in last year’s SFS title game 21-0 — their first section crown since 1984 — en route to a state 7-A title.
Lincoln “played a complete game,” Balboa head coach Fred Velasquez said. “They game-planned really well and executed in all three phases.
“But I’m super proud of our guys. We just have to reload and not rebuild. Hopefully we’ll be back next year.”
Solares, whose brother Erick was on the 2018 championship team, broke a 7-7 tie with a 53-yard interception return with 3:15 left in the first half.
It started a 37-point spurt that included a 75yard pick-six midway through the fourth quarter.
Solares, who attended the 2018 title game at Kezar, said he couldn’t have imagined a game like Thursday’s contest.
Ferrigno called it “a fantasy world performance. His brother played all four years in the program. Xavier came to all the banquets. It just all keeps rolling.”
Said Solares: “It’s all about discipline, dedication and desire, just like coach always says. He’s a hell of a coach.”
Of his touchdowns, Solares said: “The first one the ball was in the air, it was kind of a duck. I just went and got it. No one was in front of me and I just ran it in. …. On the second one, I baited the quarterback and caught it and I was off to the races.”
The Mustangs didn’t need much from their potent running punch of Jamelle Newman and Ricky Underwood, who combined to rush for 150 yards but no touchdowns.
Instead it was Cristerna who carried defenders on two 15-yard TD runs.
“Yeah I’m the guy who is supposed to just get those tough, dirty yards,” Cristerna said. “I’m just glad we got it done.”
Velasquez said Solares’ first pick-six was the play of the game.
“That definitely turned the tide,” Velasquez said. “We immediately got out of our game. We put it in the QB’s hand and we probably should have just kept running the ball. We were getting 6 and 7 yards a carry.”