By Michael DUMANSKY

Coming off a disappointing finish in the CIF Division 2 Southern Section game on Saturday, the St. Francis Golden Knights were ready to begin the journey to capture a state championship. That journey began on Tuesday night when they faced Carlsbad High School Lancers in the first round of the state playoffs. Surprisingly, in this game St. Francis would be the team with the clear height advantage – a fact they utilized from beginning to end as the Golden Knights responded to their critics in a big way by beating Carlsbad 82-63.

Senior Andre Henry added 29 points with six assists and a block on his start line while senior guard Jason Gallant had 22 points and three assists.

The Golden Knights pushed their way to the line as they forced the Lancers into foul trouble early on. The team went nine times to the charity line making 16.

Holding the lead for the majority of the game, St. Francis Head Coach Todd Wolfson was able to play the majority of his bench.

“It’s amazing that people don’t know how much work they put in all season long,” said Henry. “For all of them to come in and contribute ¬– that’s huge, that’s what we live for.”

Henry and his teammates carved out a new goal for themselves.

“We have a chip on our shoulder,” said Henry. “We are going to keep fighting; it didn’t end how we liked it [in the Southern Section final]. But knowing this team, we have a lot of heart so we are going to keep on going and make a run for this.”

After the first go around in the Division 2-AA playoffs, the state playoffs will show if Wolfson’s team has the spark to pull out these unconventional victories … something the Golden Knights will consider as they prepare to face Birmingham High School at home tonight at 7 p.m.

Birmingham possibly will be the biggest test to Wolfson’s squad aside from the championship game. Currently, St. Francis holds the number one seed in the state playoffs and has home court advantage for most of it. Tonight’s game will show if Wolfson’s team has authentic talent or is just plain lucky.

  Michael DUMANSKY