St. Francis Overpowers Serra, 34-20

With its superior size and depth, the plan for St. Francis High was to wear down Serra in a nonleague game Thursday night.

By the second half, the plan was working to perfection.

The Golden Knights finally broke open a close game in the third quarter and finished with a 34-20 victory over Serra at St. Francis.

“They’re a big-play football team and they don’t really have a lot of depth,” St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds said. “So our plan was to wear them out in the second half.”

The plan couldn’t have worked without the powerful running of Matt Milton, who had 129 yards rushing and two touchdowns in 26 carries.

Milton’s second touchdown, on a three-yard run early in the fourth quarter, gave the Golden Knights (4-1) a 27-12 lead and helped put away the Cavaliers (2-3).

St. Francis received a steady performance from quarterback John Sciarra, who completed 13 of 20 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown.

Brett Mitchell had five catches for 89 yards and Jared Vandercook had five for 59 yards and a touchdown.

The Golden Knights, ranked No. 7 in the region by The Times, out-gained Serra, 317 yards to 227.