The Keanaaina brothers key the Lancers’ victory over Torrey Pines: ‘This means everything.’
The Keanaaina brothers key the Lancers’ victory over Torrey Pines: ‘This means everything.’
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The St. Francis rugby program established itself as the best in California after defeating a traditional powerhouse to capture its first state championship.
Led by all-Bay Area News Group running back Kingston Keanaaina and a slew of other talented players, the Lancers traveled to San Diego and defeated local power Torrey Pines 33-24 at Torero Stadium on Saturday.
“This means everything,” Keanaaina told ESPN. “We’re thankful for the support of our coaches, and our school for having our back.”
The Lancers are arguably the best program in the country in just their third year of existence. Coach Mark Scharrenberg said that while his team has size and athleticism, it is the Lancers’ drive that makes them great.
“We inherit kids that have discipline, understand structure, understand hard work and things like that, so it makes our job easier,” Scharrenberg told the Bay Area News Group.
Kingston’s father Keala – whose other sons, Motu, Kaimani, Kapono and Kevin, also play on the team – is the school’s director of rugby.
“Three years ago, we set out to build something special, something bigger than ourselves,” Keala said. “Today, we stand as champions, not just because of our talent, but because of the heart, sacrifice and love poured into this program. Our school believed in us, our families supported us, and our players gave everything they had.”
Saturday’s showdown was a rematch of the 2023 state championship game, which Torrey Pines won handily.
The Lancers proved early that the sequel would be much different.
Kingston, playing as the team’s versatile inside centre, started the scoring by ripping down the left sideline and diving into the pylon for his first try.
St. Francis made it 12-0 when Loa Tui’ieila broke through the Torrey Pines line, intercepted a pass and sprinted 60 yards for a 12-0 lead. Torrey Pines scored the next two tries to take a 14-12 lead into halftime.
After Torrey Pines made a penalty kick to extend the lead to 17-12, Motu Keanaaina punched in a try on a 15-yard rumble and Solomone Pifeleti drove into the try zone on a short run to give the Mountain View school a 26-17 advantage.
The Lancers’ newfound stamina stood out in San Diego.
“With this year’s team, we pushed a lot harder from a fitness standpoint,” Scharrenberg said. “If we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t have gotten the results necessarily on Saturday, because both teams were extremely fatigued.”
Torrey Pines scored a third try to cut the deficit to just two, but Motu iced the game by running to the left corner for the Lancers’ final try. Hunter Gossett kicked four conversions for St. Francis, too.
Scharrenberg credited strong support from the St. Francis administration — from the school’s president on down — as a main reason for the Lancers’ success. He noted that St. Francis is accommodating when it comes to making sure the team is able to practice regularly on the school’s field, even as other sports are in season.
“We wouldn’t be as successful as we are without their support,” the coach said.
The state title will stay in the Bay Area for the second consecutive season.
De La Salle – which St. Francis defeated in the NorCal title game – defeated Los Alamitos for the state crown last year.
While the Concord school has been the dominant program in the region for decades, St. Francis, despite graduating several key players, could be set to supplant the Spartan juggernaut.
“I’m positive about the future, even if losing those two guys will be difficult,” Scharrenberg said, referring to Kingston and Pifeleti. “We’ll miss the guys who are leaving, but we still have a young team, and I think we’ll be able to pick up where we left off next year.”
