SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Lola Fox connected with junior receiver Tayli Paeu-Lindgren on three touchdown strikes in a 40-0 victory in the varsity night cap, while freshman quarterback Chloe Hoertsch threw for three scores and ran for two more in a 38-0 win, as St. Francis posted shutouts on each end of a non-league girls' flag football doubleheader against Rio Americano Thursday evening.

Both contests marked the first official games of the year for the Troubadours, although the varsity previously took part in one of the Sac-Joaquin Section Foundation games on Tuesday.

Thursday's nightcap represents the fourth shutout win in St. Francis varsity history, along with Folsom on Oct. 23 last year (44-0), Davis on October 18, 2023 (19-0) and Inderkum at the inaugural Girls of the Gridiron tourney at Rocklin earlier in 2023 (13-0). This is the third for the Troubie jayvees, which blanked both Davis (18-0) and host Rocklin (19-0) at that 2023 Girls of the Gridiron event.

St. Francis also enjoyed four interceptions in the varsity win. Sophomore Piper Bates, who had two picks at Rio Linda in the Foundation Game, had her first official INT on the opening series. Abbey Pavelchik ended the Raiders' second possession with her interception on a third-and-short attempt. Monet Zauner had a pick called back due to a penalty in the first Rio series in the second quarter, then promptly snared Aliya McCoy's next attempt.  
Finally, sophomore Taylor Mitchell nabbed a pass deep in Rio territory and would have completed a pick six if not for a fluke situation. An errant scrap of paper on the field was mistaken for a pulled flag, even though the scrap was of a different color and Mitchell had both streamers still attached.

Nonetheless, all four interceptions provided the offense with a short field and resulted in subsequent touchdowns. The Bates pick set up the Troubies with first-and-goal on the Rio 5-yard line, setting up a Jade Abalateo run-in. Pavelchik returned her INT to the Rio 22. Two runs later, Annie Swanson hauled in a tipped pass from Fox to double the lead to 12-0. Swanson then converted the 1-point conversion.

Zauner's second-chance interception put SF just outside of the red zone, but Paeu-Lindgren came back on her route to grab a Fox pass at the Rio 5. Nassali Serwanga ran the ball to within a yard of the goal line, then Natalia Zitelli finished the drive with her one-yard TD plunge. This increased the lead to 19-0.

Senior Nevaeh Gavino highlighted the Troubies' next scoring drive. After Fox's keeper brought her team across the 40, Gavino made a spectacular grab and tacked on YAC gains to the Rio 20. Fox found Paeu-Lindgren in the end zone, then Zitelli connected with a sliding Gavino on the ensuing conversion, increasing the lead to 26-0 going into halftime.

Serwanga began the second half with a 46-yard run to the Rio 20. A short pass, a fumbled pitch and a missed chance in the end zone left SF with a fourth-and-goal from the 20. That's when Fox delivered to Paeu-Lindgren yet again, with Zitelli finding Swanson for the 1-point conversion. SF now led, 33-0, with more than eight minutes left in the third.

Rio came up with red-zone stops to end the third and again at the mid-point in the fourth, the latter of which came after the Raiders had failed on downs inside their own 20. Rio had largely relied on quarterback keepers and bootlegs for much of the game, and had suffered a sack to Anastacia Uniza earlier in the frame. An attempt to put a ball in the air resulted in Mitchell's grab. Zitelli's double reverse marched the Troubies to the Rio 6, and a penalty halved the distance to the 3-yard line. Finally, Fox made the quick pass to Paeu-Lindgren for a third TD, and Zitelli fired to Abalateo on the 1-pointer, bumping the lead to its final score of 40-0.

The potent varsity offense followed an equally dominant performance by the Troubies' JV squad – so much so that the 38-0 final in the opener gave the older team a target to match or surpass. Hoertsch threw a touchdown to Victoria Tateishi early in the first quarter. She ran for her team's second TD before hitting Sarah Patella for the 1-point conversion three minutes later. Hoertsch fired a strike to Cali Chambers with less than six minutes in the second, then ran for another 2-yard score shortly before the two-minute warning. St. Francis led by a 25-0 margin at the break.

Hoertsch delivered on her third TD pass late in the third, this time to sophomore Sophia Kennedy-Contreras with 1:50 remaining. Finally, St. Francis posted its only score not thrown or run by Hoertsch to start the fourth quarter. With a second-and-goal on the Rio 6, and freshman Hope Sperber pitched a ball to Tateishi for the TD run, then passed to the same target for the ensuing 1-point conversion.

Rio finally put together its first drive into SF territory following the Sperber-Tateishi score. However, freshman Kiley Pratt pulled the flag on three straight plays before the Raiders managed to convert a first down. Then Isla Pattni hurried the Rio quarterback into throwing two misses. The Raiders turned the ball over on downs, with Rose Leahy posting the final deflagging well before the first-down marker.

The JV win also marked the first for new head coach Matt Lemes. Already a beloved member of the soccer coaching staff and a former Troubie parent, Lemes served as an assistant coach in 2024 then took over as head coach in the offseason. He is joined on the sidelines with another SF soccer coaching legend, Alex Hoang. This is the third Troubie sport Hoang has mentored, each time with a member of the Sperber family under his watch: Havana in water polo, Holland in soccer and Hope in flag football.

St. Francis returns to action on Saturday with the varsity-only Lady Knights Classic tournament, taking on Pleasant Grove (8 a.m.), host Rio Linda (11 a.m.) and Cordova (1 p.m.). The jayvees are back on Wednesday as part of a home doubleheader with River City.