St. Francis basketball shoots for first CIF championship
Don’t bother asking the St. Francis High basketball team’s players and coaches if they are surprised about their deep postseason run.
Nothing seems to shock the Golden Knights lately, as they attempt to win the program’s first CIF Southern Section championship.
Backed by a stalwart defense and balanced scoring, St. Francis has arrived back in the championship game for the first time since 2014.
St. Francis (26-7) will face another major challenge when it meets top-seeded Santa Clarita Christian (23-5) in the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA title game at noon Saturday at Azusa Pacific University.
“It’s definitely a very exciting time for our team right now and we’re playing with a lot of confidence,” St. Francis fifth-year coach Todd Wolfson said. “We’ve had to overcome a lot since last year, when we finished at the bottom of the league and we’ve since done everything to get better.
“There’s been a lot of obstacles along the way, but we’ve overcome them. We’d like nothing more then to win CIF, but we’ll be going up against a great team.”
St. Francis, which finished third in the Mission League, defeated host Roosevelt, 60-33, on Feb. 21 in a semifinal game. Santa Clarita Christian, which won the Heritage League championship, registered an 89-83 semifinal road overtime victory versus Chaminade.
The Golden Knights reached the Division III-A title game in 2014, falling to Oak Park.
“It’s where we want to be,” said St. Francis senior guard Andre Henry, who will attend UC Irvine in the fall. “I’m practically speechless that we’re here, but we haven’t doubted ourselves because we continue to do a lot of things well.
“It’s awesome to get here and we’re not done yet.”
Henry finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks against Roosevelt. The Golden Knights received 14 points from senior forward Jason Gallant in the semifinal tilt.
St. Francis earlier earned playoff wins against neighbor La Cañada (62-56), San Gabriel Academy (46-38) and No. 2 Heritage Christian (71-53). The Golden Knights are averaging 60 points per game and yielding 45 in the postseason.
“The coaching staff has worked hard with us to play excellent defense,” Gallant said. “It’s made a huge difference and we’re confident trying to shut teams down.
“We have to continue to keep doing that and we can’t wait to play [in the championship game].”
Santa Clarita Christian, under the tutelage of coach James Mosley since 2003, will make its third straight CIF championship contest appearance.
Santa Clarita Christian lost, 56-49, to Rolling Hills Prep in the Division III-A A championship game last season after notching a 66-27 win versus La Puente in the Division V-AAA title contest in 2018. The Cardinals took runner-up in the Division V-A championship game in 2014.
Against Chaminade, Santa Clarita Christian received 30 points from senior forward Ty Harper, 22 from senior guard Josh Ogarro and 16 from senior forward Kaleb Lowery.
“We knew going in that the Chaminade game was going to be a dogfight,” said Mosley, whose team has won 10 straight games. “We had to dig deep to get the win.
“We’re grateful that we have a great bunch of players and they love the game of basketball. We’re humbled that we get to play in another championship game and we know we’ll be going up against a team in St. Francis that knows how to defend and shoot well. We’ll have to earn it and it will be two great teams out there.”
Santa Clarita Christian defeated Maranatha (63-47), La Habra (74-53) and Fairmont Prep (60-44) before turning aside Chaminade.
The Cardianals are averaging 71.5 points per playoff contest and surrendering 56.8.
Following Saturday’s title contest, St. Francis and Santa Clarita Christian will move on to the state tournament, which begins in early March.
