The Galileo Lions were out of their element Saturday night. Having taken a 10-hour bus trip the day before, they faced a halftime deficit to Vincent Memorial in a game that was played just over a mile from the Mexican border.

Those unfamiliar conditions wouldn’t deter the Lions, as they beat Vincent Memorial 38-20 by outscoring the Scots 24-0 in the third quarter. They’ll return from Calexico as the CIF Division 6-A State Champions and the first San Francisco football team of any kind, public or private, to win a state championship.

Just appearing in the game made Galileo the first team from San Francisco to even appear in a state title game.

Yarvell Smith, Galileo’s star running back, ran for a touchdown and a two-point conversion, but most of his trips to the end zone on Saturday were to congratulate his teammates. Ronald Fox ran for two scores and small-but-mighty quarterback Adrian Poot, all of 5 feet and 3 inches, threw for a pair of touchdowns.