By Greg Hancock

Senior Desmond Howard scored St. Francis’ lone touchdown in Saturday’s playoff loss to Palma. Town Crier file photo

St. Francis High entered Saturday’s Central Coast Section Open Division semifinal game playing with a confidence that seemed to permeate throughout the football team. But that wasn’t enough to beat Palma, which prevailed 16-10 at San Jose City College.

The seventh-seeded Lancers (9-3), who dominated Aragon in the quarterfinals a week earlier, were undone by two turnovers and failed to take advantage of opportunities against No. 6 Palma (10-2).

“Turnovers win games,” St. Francis running back/linebacker Matt Taufoou said. “We gave it to them on turnovers. It’s hard to come back from that.”

Taufoou, the team’s emotional leader, ended his senior season by carrying the ball 16 times for 67 yards. He also hauled in one pass from quarterback Richie Scudellari for a 12-yard gain. Scudellari, also playing his final high school game, completed 8 of 16 passes for 92 yards.

Despite missing out on a chance to face top-seed Valley Christian-San Jose in the title game, a proud Scudellari had plenty of positive things to stay about his team.

“We were only down 10-0 at the half,” Scudellari said. “We had a couple of mistakes and a couple of things that didn’t go our way. We’ve been in this position before when we played Mitty and Salinas. We never lost our confidence. Our guys are very resilient. This is probably the best football team I’ve ever been on. I’m ecstatic to be part of the St. Francis tradition. I hope I left a good mark.”

As the Lancers came out for the second half, a sense of urgency accompanied the team. St. Francis’ first possession began at its own 31-yard line. Eleven plays later, Michael Calcagno kicked a 24-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 10-3.

The St. Francis defense continued to put the clamps on the Palma offense, and the Lancer offense kept moving the ball down the field. A subsequent drive consisting of 14 plays and 86 yards ended with running back Desmond Howard’s 9-yard touchdown run. Calcagno’s extra point tied the game at 10 with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter. The confidence St. Francis carried into the game had returned.

The Chieftains, however, deflated some of that on their next drive. Palma’s most dynamic offensive force, quarterback/return man Jordan Casas, quickly made his presence felt. Casas took the following kickoff deep in his own territory and eluded several tacklers before getting dragged down at St. Francis’ 22-yard line. Four plays later, Casas ran the ball in from the 2 to give the Chieftains a lead they would not relinquish.

St. Francis got the ball back two more times, helped by strong defense, but time ran out in the game and the season.

“Unfortunately, we ran out of time and timeouts,” St. Francis coach Mike Mitchell said. “We were forced to throw the ball up the field.”

The game might have ended differently had the Lancers held on to the ball in the first half. Ryan Van Amburg fumbled away a punt return in the first quarter and tight end Rhett Ellison lost a fumble in the second after taking a big hit on a pass reception. The Chieftains managed just three points off these miscues, a 23-yard field goal in the first.

These mistakes did keep the St. Francis offense from getting started early, though, which helps explain the team’s scoreless first half. But the Lancers were still in the game and had their chances in the second half.

“We played well enough to win,” Mitchell said. “They (Palma) played a little better today.”

The Chieftains also beat St. Francis in the playoffs two years ago, by a 17-13 score.

“It looks like we’re going to play each other more and more,” Mitchell said. “It’s a great rivalry with two classy teams and two very good programs. Hopefully, we’ll get another shot at them (Palma) next year.”