St. Paul is 0-7 against St. Francis since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The St. Paul Swordsmen will be playing in front of their home fans against the St. Francis Golden Knights at 7:00 p.m.
Last Friday, St. Paul came up short against Cathedral and fell 28-21.
St. Paul's defeat came about despite a quality game from Christian Melendez, who rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, St. Francis had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.4 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 42-27 victory over Crespi. Given St. Francis' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 59th, while Crespi is ranked 388th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
John Sanders continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 108 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, while also throwing for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Sanders hasn't dropped below 100 rushing yards for three straight games. John Calmette was another key contributor, rushing for 33 yards and two touchdowns.
St. Paul now has a losing record at 4-5. As for St. Francis, their win was their sixth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 8-1.
St. Paul was dealt a bruising 49-20 defeat at the hands of St. Francis when the teams last played back in October of 2022. Thankfully for St. Paul, Devyn Turner (who rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 12.2 yards per carry, and also picked up 57 receiving yards) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
