LOOMIS, Calif. –  Natalia Zitelli and Jade Abalateo each scored rushing touchdowns on offense, while Tayli Paeu-Lindgren posted four sacks plus two pass breakups to lead the defense, as St. Francis captured a 13-6 win over Del Oro to cap a Sierra Foothill League girls' flag football doubleheader Tuesday.

The Troubadours improve to 14-3 for the year with a 3-2 league record. The Golden Eagles, winners of the first two Sac-Joaquin Section championships, slip to 4-4 overall with a 3-2 SFL mark.

Paeu-Lindgren, last year's SFL Offensive Player of the Year, made a relatively rare appearance on the defensive side of the ball for Tuesday's game. Two of her four sacks came in the same series early in the third after a 6-6 halftime, the second of which resulted in a third-and-24 situation for DO. Paeu-Lindgren then hurried the quarterback, resulting in a Piper Bates interception at midfield.

Bates' pick, one of two Troubie takeaways, gave way to Abalateo's six-yard touchdown run with 1:18 left in the third. Zitelli ran in the ensuing one-point conversion to set the board at 13-6, a score that held up through the final 13 minutes due to the SF defense.

Besides Paeu-Lindgren's contributions, Monet Zauner and Holland Sperber each had four PBUs, with Bates chipping in another three. Colleen Medina posted another SF interception to hold off the Golden Eagles in the final minutes before halftime, plus she pulled a team-best eight flags for the game.

Anastacia Uniza also came up with a key sack to start the fourth quarter. With DO facing a third-and-19, she stuffed the quarterback for another seven yards back to the DO 14. This forced the Golden Eagles to punt, and the kick took such a friendly bounce that it rolled backwards more than 10 yards and across the 40 into DO territory.

St. Francis managed to inch its way toward the next first-down marker but still looked at a 4th-and-12. The Troubies opted to forgo a coffin-corner punt attempt and go for the long conversion. Abalateo scooted her way to a 12-yard run and a first down, plus penalty yards halved the distance to the DO10. The Golden Eagles managed to stop SF's red-zone opportunity, but the series still ticked more than four minutes from the clock, while also pinning the hosts back on their own 7-yard line.

Another DO punt favored St. Francis, with the backspin setting up the Troubies with a first-and-7 on the DO27. On the second play of the drive, the Golden Eagles intercepted the ball and returned to the SF 26 with less than five minutes remaining. Taylor Mitchell later halted a DO bootleg to make it fourth-and-4 with 2:45 left. The Golden Eagles had no choice but to go for it, only for Paeu-Lindgren to come up with her final sack of the game.

Despite the stop, SF failed to move the ball past the midline for a first down, opting to punt and taking its chances on making another defensive stop. Zauner's deep punt to the DO13 helped that cause, as did a Medina stop at the 19 to make it second down with less than yard to go. Sperber nearly intercepted the next ball, and the deflected pass bounced out of the target receiver's hands. Still, this incomplete pass stopped the clock for a timeout-depleted Del Oro team.

The Golden Eagles did unload a long completion to junior Grace Sjolie in the final seconds of the game, but Zauner's soft coverage allowed her to make an easy pull on the flag at the SF 38-yard-line with 3.9 on the game clock. In her haste to run one final play, the DO center fumbled the snap, which ran the clock out and preserved the Troubie victory.

Zitelli first got SF on the board to start the second quarter, thanks to a 16-yard rush, a 19-yard pass from Abalateo and 14-yard run for the touchdown. Del Oro had multiple opportunities in that frame thanks to a pair of interceptions, but the Troubie defense picked up the offense – including Paeu-Lindgren's blocked pass on a fourth-and-7 situation. Then another SF turnover provided DO with a 6-yard field. The Golden Eagles capitalized with the equalizer TD to senior Caroline Carson. Abbey Pavelchik swiped the flag just shy of the goal line on the subsequent PAT, keeping the score tied at 6-6 into halftime.

Like the Troubie varsity, the St. Francis junior varsity also enjoyed a win on the backs of the defense. Elizabeth McNearney had four PBUs plus an interception, with Angela Miles and Angie Weston also coming away with picks.

Freshman receiver Audri Gordon nearly put the Troubies on the board on the opening series of the second quarter when she collected a pass from quarterback Hope Sperber at her team's 38, then ran all the way down to the DO 3 before getting her flag pulled. Sperber found a surrounded Victoria Tateishi in the end zone for the touchdown with 7:06 to go in the second for the game's only score.

Tuesday's doubleheader saw the first St. Francis wins in the head-to-head series with DO for both JV and varsity. The jayvees suffered a shutout to the Golden Eagles in their abbreviated 2023 inaugural season, then dropped both home-and-home matchups in 2024. The Troubie varsity entered the contest having lost all four meetings with Del Oro, including a 7-0 overtime road setback in the 2023 inaugural year.

St. Francis returns "home" on Thursday, hosting Rocklin for a doubleheader at Jesuit. Game times are 3:45 p.m. for JV and 5:15 p.m. for varsity, with tickets available at GoFan and video to be found on the NFHS Network.