SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — San Juan Hills capitalized on multiple turnovers to beat St. Francis 37-18 in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 3 football playoffs Friday at San Juan Hills High.
The Stallions entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Division 3. San Juan Hills (10-1) will play Citrus Valley on the road in the second round Friday, Nov. 10.
St. Francis (8-3) was the co-champion in the Angelus League this season with Loyola. The Golden Knights had reached a CIF-SS championship game each of the last two seasons, losing to Long Beach Poly in Division 4 and Etiwanda in Division 5.
“This is a really good division and all the teams can beat each other,” San Juan Hills coach Rob Frith said. “We knew that St. Francis was a really good football team who has had a lot of success. We narrow our focus to one play at a time and try to go 1-0 each week.”
San Juan Hills took advantage of three turnovers by St. Francis in the first half. Isaiah Bennett recovered a fumble and Christopher Williams had two interceptions, both in St. Francis territory.
“That got our momentum going and it was just what we needed,” Williams said. “I saw their tendency to throw to their tight end. They wanted to get the ball to him and I wasn’t going to let them do that.”
“We capitalized and got points on all three of those turnovers which was huge for us,” Frith said.
Sophomore quarterback Timmy Herr completed 17 of 25 passes for 203 yards and four touchdowns. Herr also ran for 46 yards with a touchdown.
“He had a great week of practice and is mature beyond his years,” Frith said of Herr. “He came out and balled for us in the biggest game of the year.”
Washington commit Jason Robinson Jr. caught eight passes for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Stallioins. Jake Javorsky had a sack and led the Stallions in tackles.
St. Francis quarterback John Sanders completed 24 of 40 passes for 219 yards with a touchdown pass and two interceptions. Tim Murphy led the Golden Knights in receiving with 81 yards on five receptions.
The Stallions scored first on a 1-yard touchdown run by Herr that was set up by the fumble recovery by Bennett.
After the first interception by Williams, Herr threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Sullivan Land to increase the lead to 13-0.
St. Francis answered with an 80-yard scoring drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by John Calmette.
Herr found Washington commit Jason Robinson Jr. open in the endzone for a 12-yard touchdown. After another Williams interception, Manuel Maganda made a 38-yard field goal to make the score 23-7.
St. Francis made it a one-score game late in the first half. Sanders found Princeton commit Preston Jernegan for a 5-yard touchdown. The pair connected again for the 2-point conversion to make the score 23-15 at halftime.
Herr threw touchdown passes to Robinson Jr. and Elijah Ayala in the second half for San Juan Hills.
Freshman Shawn Sanders made a 27-yard field goal for St. Francis late in the third quarter. He also threw a 27-yard pass to Murphy on a fake punt in the quarter to set up the field goal.
