By halftime, there were already chatters about Monday’s 9 a.m. practice on the St. Mary’s football sideline. The Rams were up big against their Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 semifinal opponent Manteca and could practically taste the win.
“This is just awesome,” said Tony Franks, St. Mary’s football head coach. “It’s really special to be able to practice on Thanksgiving morning and bring our families together and our community together with alumni back in town. We’re so excited to have a chance to keep moving on.”
St. Mary’s will be padded up on Turkey Day after a dominating 42-12 victory over the Buffaloes to punch its ticket to the SJS finals. Here are the key takeaways from the Rams’ playoff victory.
The St. Mary’s varsity football team takes the field before the start of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 semifinal game against Manteca at St. Mary’s Sanguinetti Field in Stockton on Nov. 17, 2023.
Standing on business
All season long St. Mary’s defense has been put to the test against run-heavy offenses such as Manteca. The Rams handled the run game in the two teams’ regular season meeting holding the Buffaloes to only seven points. But they had yet to see Manteca’s bruiser running back senior Bryson Davis who was out with an arm injury during the first meeting.
The Rams stood firm in front of their home crowd at Sanguinetti Field holding Davis to around 83 rushing yards and a touchdown. Aside from Davis’ five-yard rushing touchdown, Manteca couldn’t find any holes in St. Mary’s defense.
“Lining up against teams like De La Salle, Central Catholic, and Lincoln with the running back they have of his caliber, that all led us to tonight,” Franks said. “We were in this game three years ago and we lost 51-48 to Rocklin so we really wanted to put a tremendous amount of emphasis on playing good…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kings-209-st-marys-football-080152284.html
Author : The Stockton Record
Publish date : 2023-11-18 08:01:52
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