Opportunity knocked for the St. Francis football team Saturday afternoon.

The defense forced four turnovers and the special teams unit recovered a pair of pooch kickoffs and blocked a punt that was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown during the Spartans’ 44-14 triumph over Chicago King (7-5) in a Class 5A quarterfinal in Wheaton.

“We were coming in thinking, ‘We had a good week of practice, punching the ball out, preaching that we were going to force turnovers and make them move the ball slowly on us,’” said St. Francis senior two-way standout Tanner Glock, whose 32-yard scoop-and-score touchdown extended the Spartans’ lead to 14-0 midway through the opening quarter.

“We forced all those turnovers that we were practicing.”

After senior Preston Shipley’s fumble recovery thwarted the Jaguars’ opening drive, the Spartans’ first offensive play from scrimmage was a tone setter of sorts.

All-state nose guard Jaylen Torres took a handoff from quarterback Brock Phillip and rumbled 27 yards, setting up Drew Kegebein’s 12-yard touchdown run to put the Spartans on top 7-0.

“I got to run the ball,” said Torres, who bounced off a couple King defenders for what turned out to be the day’s longest run. “The defensive linemen were running after me — I don’t know if they wanted to do that.”

“We tried to do some different things to keep everyone off-balance,” St. Francis coach Bob McMillen said. “Jaylen (Torres) is a heck of an athlete, so 305 pounds running downhill is kind of tough to tackle.”

Kegebein, a senior, followed with his touchdown run, and the Spartans (9-3) were off to the races.

“These kids come out to work every day, and sometimes you need to get a little reward,” McMillen said. “Drew has been working his tail off for us. He has gotten better as the season as gone on. I think with the ACL injury (last year) — he’s finally feeling comfortable with it.”

Phillip, who completed 10-of-11 passes for 126 yards in a half of playing time, connected with Blayke Lohmann and Glock on second quarter touchdown passes of 9 and 5 yards, respectively, and Evan Kolinski’s 35-yard field goal at the horn extended the Spartans’ lead to 34-7 at halftime.

“He’s playing real good football right now, and that’s what you need at this time of year,” McMillen said of his quarterback. “I think all of our kids are doing that.”

Midway through the third quarter, freshman Bren Kolinski recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown to make it 41-7, and junior brother Evan Kolinski’s 46-yard field goal with 8:34 remaining closed out the scoring.

With the win, the Spartans advanced to the 5A semifinals for the fourth straight season. St. Francis will travel to Belvidere North (12-0).

“We’re excited to have five more days together, but we have to get ready for a good football team,” McMillen said. “We’ve been here (semifinals) four times now. Hopefully, one of these times, we’re going to get through this and push through.

“We’ll have a good week of practice. I believe in this coaching staff. I believe in these boys. We’ll be ready to play on Saturday.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251115/prep-football/defense-special-teams-spark-st-francis-in-quarterfinal-win-over-king/