Stunner: Wilcox shocks second-seeded St. Francis behind Elijah Walker’s big night
Wilcox’s Elijah Walker scores five touchdowns as Chargers roll past St. Francis and into next week’s CCS Open title game
MOUNTAIN VIEW — Wilcox senior running back Elijah Walker’s five-touchdown performance against St. Francis stunned and perplexed head coach Paul Rosa.
“He had five touchdowns?” Rosa inquired following the game.
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
Walker rushed for four touchdowns and returned a 97-yard kickoff for a touchdown to lead No. 7 seed Wilcox to a 52-28 road upset of No. 2 St. Francis in the first round of the Central Coast Section Open/Division I playoffs Friday night.
In the win, quarterback Tyson Bonilla added two rushing touchdowns, and the Chargers defense forced three turnovers.
“We came in with nothing to lose,” said Bonilla. “We came into this game knowing exactly what we needed to do and we did exactly that.”
Wilcox will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Salinas and top-seeded Serra for the CCS Open Division title and a spot in a state game next week. The loser of the Open will compete for the section’s Division I title in two weeks.
The Lancers’ season comes to an end with a 7-4 record.
St. Francis jumped out to an early lead, thanks in part to senior running back Kingston Keanaaina. He finished the game with three touchdowns, two of which were longer than 75 yards.
On the second play of the game, the 5-foot-11 junior took a handoff 74 yards to the end zone, putting the Lancers up 7-0.
Wilcox led 17-14 after Walker scored on a six-yard run early in the second quarter. But Keanaaina scored again, this time on a two-yard run with just over four minutes left in the second quarter to put Saint Francis up 21-17 at the half.
Wilcox started the second half with a five-minute drive that ended with Walker’s 13-yard touchdown, putting the Chargers up 24-21.
Keanaaina scored on a 76-yard touchdown down the left sideline to put the Lancers up 28-21 with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter.
However, Keanaaina’s touchdown was the only one allowed by the Chargers for the rest of the game.
Wilcox then scored 28 unanswered points, led by the rushing attack of Bonilla and Walker.
Linebacker Brayden Rosa recovered a fumble, setting up the Chargers offense at the 47-yard line, and that was the final blow. With 9:48 remaining in the game, Walker broke through the left side of the line for a 30-yard touchdown, putting Wilcox up 45-28.
“Ground and pound is what we do,” Walker explained. “You’ll have some four-yard runs, but you only need one to break through.” And I happened to have five tonight.”
Rosa and Walker attributed the success of the run game on Friday to the offensive line. The Chargers were able to rush their way to a road victory, led by University of Arizona commit Justin “Moose” Hylkema.
“Moose had a great game and a lot of those rush yards came from our offensive lineman,” Rosa went on to say.
“Those running lanes were massive,” Walker added. They were impossible to overlook. Big-time linemen will make big-time blocks.”
