By Vincent Liu

One down, one to go. One streak came to an end Friday night when the St. Francis High football team snapped host Los Gatos’ 40-game unbeaten string with a grinding 17-7 win.

St. Francis can break another streak — the granddaddy of high school winning streaks — Friday night when it plays a 7:30 p.m. game at De La Salle of Concord. The Spartans, ranked No. 1 in the nation, have won a national record 140 games in a row.

The Lancers prepared for this Friday’s David vs. Goliath contest with a strong effort against Los Gatos, a team it shared the Central Coast Section Division III title with last year. St. Francis wore down a Wildcat team that it had lost to three times in the last four years.

The Lancers set the tone at the coin toss, which they won and still opted to kick off. It was a display of confidence by head coach Mike Mitchell, who obviously has great faith in his defense and kicking game.

His players promptly responded according to script.

After forcing the Wildcats to go three and out, the Lancers mounted a nine-play scoring drive from their 44-yard line to take a 7-0 lead. The key play of the drive was a 25-yard romp by William Taufoou, who bounced off several tacklers to set up his 2-yard touchdown down plunge four plays later.

The senior fullback often resembled a runaway locomotive with tacklers hanging on his 240-pound body for dear life. Taufoou racked up 91 yards on 14 carries and got plenty of relief from running mate Justin Sieber (54 yards on nine carries) and quarterback Kyle Spraker (51 yards on nine carries). The only thing able to slow Taufoou down was a cracked helmet, which sidelined him for much of the second quarter.

Much of the game was a defensive struggle. Brilliant individual efforts by St. Francis defenders denied Los Gatos several opportunities to sustain drives.

Halfway through the second quarter, the Wildcats were driving for an apparent tying score. On second and 9 at the 22-yard line, St. Francis linebacker Tevita Naufahu broke through the line to down the quarterback for an 11-yard loss to take the Wildcats out of field goal range. Two plays later, Naufahu smelled out a screen pass to break up a fourth-down play.

St. Francis took advantage of the Naufahu-induced possession change with a little trickery. With a first and 10 at the Los Gatos 42, the Lancers lined up in a Hail-Mary passing formation by flooding the right side with three receivers. With Ryan Lee and Brian Biniek releasing down field as blockers, Dan Descalso caught a screen pass and scampered into the end zone untouched to give his team a 14-0 lead.

Los Gatos mounted another drive in its ensuing possession, but sacks by defensive end Travis Martin and linebacker Taufoou preserved St. Francis’ two TD advantage at half time. In all, the Lancers recorded a total of five sacks for the game, including two by Naufahu and one by defensive tackle Sione Umufuke. Taufoou and Naufahu also led the team with six tackles each, while strong safety Sieber had five.

The Lancers decisively won the battle of field position behind the strong right leg of kicker Lee. His booming kickoffs and punts forced the Wildcats to start six of their seven drives at their own 20. After three games, all but two of Lee’s 18 kickoffs have landed in or beyond the end zone. He also hit a 30-yard field goal Friday to clinch the victory.

Los Gatos tallied its lone touchdown late in the game to keep the score respectable.

The victory is a redemption of sorts for Lee and the Lancers, who battled the Wildcats to a 21-21 tie in last season’s CCS final It was a game many felt should have been won outright by St. Francis, which missed a 40-yard field goal attempt by Lee in the closing moments.

Based on its impressive performance Friday, St. Francis (3-0) seems ready to take on De La Salle — a team it came within a dropped TD pass of tying a year ago in a game the Spartans went on to win 14-0. It is the narrowest winning margin the Spartans had experienced over the 12-year span of their remarkable streak.

To a man, from the St. Francis players to the coaches, the battle line has been drawn.

“Last year we played a hell of a game and lost,” Spraker said. “To win this year: no mistakes and no penalties. We need to play a perfect game.”

“One streak is over, and we’ll take care of the next one,” Mitchell said in a rousing locker room speech to his team after the game. “We’re not going to Concord to lose.”

Mitchell then put a spin on the monumental task at hand.

“It’s tough to treat it like another game,” he said. “(De La Salle) is No. 1 in the nation, and I have to keep it in perspective. But it will be a game (the players) will never forget.”