For a second time in three years, St. Francis will play for CIF state football title.
The Lancers claimed the NorCal Division 2-A championship Saturday night with a 28-23 victory at Manteca — and it’s no surprise that running back Darrell Page ignited the offense.
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior rushed for 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he continues to rewrite the record books at St. Francis (10-4).
Page broke the single-season mark for rushing yards, a record that stood since 1996 when running back Charles Tharp amassed 2,007 yards.
“It’s pretty crazy,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “Charles was a pretty good running back and Darrell is, I keep saying the word, special, but he really is. Everybody knows that we give him the ball a lot, but he justifies why we give it to him so much.
“It’s a pretty nice honor for him, and the other thing I say a lot is his uncle Markee Lockett was a heck of a running back also in his own right, and Darrell growing up all along he always wanted to be a Lancer running back — and he’s making the most of it, that’s for sure.”
And he’s not even done, with next week’s state final at Sacramento State against SoCal champ Grace Brethren (13-2) an opportunity to add to his current total of 2,204 rushing yards.
Page is also chasing other records:
• No. 3 on the list for total offense (includes rushing, receiving, punt returns, kick returns) with 2,370 yards this season, which ranks behind quarterback Mike Lauck (2,637 in ’12) and Tharp (2,635 in ’96), who achieved those stats in 13 games;
• tied for No. 2 in touchdowns for a single season with Marquis Jessie (’92), who also found the end zone 23 times, while Tharp (’96) crossed the goal line 26 times.
Manteca (12-3) was burnt for TDs of 50 and 20 yards by Page, with the latter to go up 28-17 with 28 seconds left in the third quarter for the eventual game-winning score.
St. Francis also held leads of 14-3 after the first quarter, which included a 1-yard TD run by fullback Nicholas Robinson, 14-10 at halftime and 21-10 early in the third quarter after a 4-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Reed Vettel to wide receiver Evan Williams.
But it couldn’t shake off Manteca until recovering an onside kick with fewer than 90 seconds remaining in the game.
“We knew it was a hostile environment, we knew the town was coming out and we’re just this team from Mountain View and we needed to make sure that we kept our poise throughout that game — and it was tough at times,” Calcagno said. “We went through some adversity and our guys they never quit on each other and they showed a lot of poise and a lot of resiliency going into somebody else’s home.”
The only previous appearance in a state final for St. Francis came in 2015, when the Lancers suffered a 23-20 defeat at Citrus Hill.
“For us to go to a state championship game two out of the last three years is huge,” Calcagno said. “And I think that says a lot about our kids, our coaches and all the hard work that’s gone into that. We’re very happy about it. Last time it didn’t turn out so good, and you don’t get a lot of second chances. So this is kind of nice for us.”
Nor Cal Champions! pic.twitter.com/pfDOHTxJGI
— Saint Francis HS (@sfhsathletics) December 10, 2017
