High school football: No. 19 St. Frances Academy races past De La Salle 42-28

After fumbling on its second play, No. 19 St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) righted the ship, scoring on six straight possessions spanning three quarters to beat De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 42-28 on Friday in an East-West nationally televised high school football battle.

St. Frances Academy sophomore quarterback Michael Van Buren made the most of his start against the Spartans, throwing for four touchdowns — all in the first half — and 241 yards on 16-of-19 passing. He threw two scoring strikes to Malik Baker and one each to Elijah Sarratt and Terron Kellman becoming the third De La Salle opponent to toss four TDs joining Matt Leinart and DJ Uiagalelei.

The game didn't start according to plan as Kellman fumbled on the Panthers' second offensive play. Grant Wells scooped the ball and raced 73 yards before being dragged down on the 3, where Anthony Bianchina put the Spartans up 7-0.

The lead didn't last long as St. Frances Academy (3-1) went 80 yards in six plays capped by the first of Van Buren's four scoring strikes, this one to Baker from 10 yards out.

Van Buren was 13-of-16 passing in the first half for 214 yards. He led St. Frances to scoring drives of 80, 42, 56 and 49 yards in the opening half.

Out of intermission, the Panthers needed three plays to go 67 yards capped by Kellman's 49-yard scoring run through the heart of the Spartans defense.

De La Salle (3-2), which lost its second game of the season in October for the first time since 2009, couldn't gain any traction offensively in the first half. The Spartans, who saw their 30-year, 318-game Northern California unbeaten streak snapped three weeks ago by Saint Francis (Mountain View), were consistently behind the chains on every drive and totaled 75 yards offense.

Trailing 28-7 halfway through the second quarter, De La Salle engineered a 10-play, 60-yard drive picking up three of their four first-half first downs en route to Bianchina rumbling in for his second touchdown.

But St. Frances answered with a 52-yard strike from Van Buren to a wide open Baker to go back up three scores 35-14.

After Kellman's score to open the third quarter, De La Salle refused to roll over. The Spartans put together an eight-play, 80-yard drive to make the score 42-21 on the first of two Charles Greer touchdowns in the second half.

As St. Frances looked to salt the game, Arizona commit Zeke Berry sacked Van Buren, forcing a fumble as the Panthers were poised to score on their sixth consecutive drive.

Greer's late score after a botched punt cut the lead to 14, but the Spartans couldn't convert on fourth-and-long with under three minutes left.