SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis sophomore Monet Zauner scored a 66-yard touchdown reception from Natalia Zitelli, hauled in the one-point conversion then led the defense with nine stops, four pass breakups and an interception, but three Oak Ridge touchdown passes in the first 17 minutes of play doomed the Troubadours to a 26-7 loss against the visiting Trojans in Sierra Foothill League girls' flag football action at Jesuit's Shane Barnes '07 Field Thursday night.

The Troubadours, ranked seventh in the Sac-Joaquin Section by MaxPreps, dip to 17-5 for the season with a 6-4 record in league play. The fourth-ranked Trojans move to 13-2 overall, 9-1 in the SFL.

Zitelli completed 22 passes overall, with Zauner accounting for 6-for-114 in receiving, including the lone SF touchdown. Junior Tayli Paeu-Lindgren led the Troubies with seven catches for 69 yards. Junior Millie Katzeff (five), Alexa Randall (two) and Annie Swanson (two) also had multiple grabs.

Oddly, all of the scoring took place in the first half. Junior quarterback Maya Scipio hit Hannah Rivas and Laurel Smart on red-zone strikes at 10:01 and 1:57 in the first quarter, respectively, then delivered to freshman Taylor Lemos late in the second quarter. Scipio and Rivas also connected for a pair of one-point conversions to set the board at 20-0.

The Troubie score took place just two plays after the Lemos TD made it a three-possession game. Zitelli's first attempt from the 14-yard line fellow short of Katzeff, but the second found Zauner just a few yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Zauner eluded the first level of defenders, split two more Trojans near midfield, then outraced the secondary for 64 in YAC. Zitelli then found Zauner for the point after, putting SF on the board at 20-7.

Scipio threw her fourth touchdown of the game shortly before halftime, finding Smart on a 14-yard slant with 1:19 to go.

The Troubies came close to cutting the deficit midway through the third, but ended up going for a fourth-and-goal from the Oak Ridge 26. Zitelli found Swanson open inside the 10, but Swanson's leaping grab also sent her to the ground, five yards from the goal line.

St. Francis later came up with a red-zone stop in the final minutes of the third quarter, with Paeu-Lindgren batting down a Scipio attempt on third-and-goal. However, the ensuing Troubie drive stalled with a Siena Maher interception with just under 10 minutes left in the fourth. Another chance came on a second-and-goal shortly before the five-minute mark of the fourth. Zitelli opted to run up the left sideline but barreled into OR senior Rachel Groth at the 3-yard line. The penalty moved the ball back 10 yards, with runs by Randall and Katzeff coming shy of the end zone.

Randall, for her part, contributed two PBUs and an interception of her own on the defensive side.

The varsity loss followed an impressive fourth-quarter comeback win for the St. Francis junior varsity, which flipped a 13-7 halftime deficit into a 26-13 victory.  

The Troubies drew first blood with an opening drive that saw a hook-and-ladder play to Mariko Palmieri set up a six-yard Chloe Hoertsch touchdown pass to Callie Chambers with 4:47 left. But Oak Ridge answered with two touchdowns in the second quarter, with Sophie Camp finding Kennedy Dawson wide open in the end zone on the final play before halftime.

Talia Luhrsen's interception on the first series of the third, and Anna Votaw's sack on a fourth-and-goal to start the fourth kept Oak Ridge from any further scoring. The Troubies took advantage of the latter, first with a 51-yard pass to Audri Gordon to the Trojan 5-yard-line. Gordon finished the job with a gadget play that resulted in an uncontested touchdown run, tying the game at 13-13.

Votaw posted her third sack of the game on the next Oak Ridge possession, leading to a three-and-out and another SF possession with 5:04 remaining in the game. The Troubies also had favorable field position, with Gordon taking a lateral from Victoria Tateishi on the punt return and setting up her offense on the OR 32.  

Hoertsch fired a 26-yarder to Votaw to the 4-yard line but suffered a sack that sent SF back to the nine. Votaw scored the go-ahead touchdown on a sweep with 1:58 remaining. Hoertsch ran in the point after for a 20-13 lead. Offsetting penalties helped tick off more time during the conversion, resulting in Oak Ridge having a mere 17 seconds in its last possession. But Votaw recorded her fourth and final sack to send the Trojans to their 11, with Keanna Daneshvar finishing the game with a 35-yard "pick six" touchdown.

SF returns to action on Tuesday for a league home doubleheader against Granite Bay. Game times have moved up by 30 minutes to 3:30 p.m. for JV, 4:30 for varsity, due to the diminishing sunlight.