St. Francis had a 14-point lead four minutes into the game thanks to an interception and fumble recovery and never trailed Friday in a 24-14 victory over Valley Christian.

The win sends the Lancers on to the Central Coast Section Open Division championship game against St. Ignatius in a 7 p.m. start next Friday at San Jose City College..

Quentin Robinsons 53-yard interception return for a touchdown on Valley Christians third play from scrimmage got the scoring started. Then a Sefanaia Alatini fumble recovery set up Kingston Keanaainas 19-yard touchdown run for the early 14-0 lead.

Valley Christian responded in the second quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from freshman Rome Leota-Pritchard to sophomore Riley McElvane to make it 14-7 at halftime.

Defenses took over in the third quarter as the teams combined to punt five times. It remained a one-score game until the Lancers finally got some breathing room when Aaron Wong kicked a 23-yard field goal with four minutes left.

Valley had a good plan, St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. They loaded the box and moved Champ (Taulealea) around.

Our defense played great, Valley Christian coach Mike Machado said, making a point to mention the names of defensive end Micah Mosley, defensive tackles Edgar Birelas and Federico Cobarubio and cornerback Aaron Noriega Jr., in addition to the Washington-bound Taulealea.

Alatini, a senior safety, then came up with his second turnover of the game, an interception, to get the ball back for St. Francis..

A heck of a football player, Calcagno said. Very athletic, very strong. A hitter. Good at covering space and physical at the point of attack.

That set up Keanaaina, who broke a 75-yard run for his second touchdown of the game and 23rd of the season, to make it 24-7. The BYU-bound senior finished with 219 yards rushing on 29 carries.

Leota-Pritchard connected with McElvane again on a 20-yard TD pass in the final seconds to close out the scoring. Leota-Pritchard completed 16 of 23 passes for 222 yards.