When JaJuan Lawson begins scouting an opponent, the first thing he watches is how that opponent kicks the extra point following a touchdown. To Lawson, the identity of a team is ingrained in how they handle their point-after attempts.

On a chilly Friday night in San Francisco, St. Ignatius narrowly defeated Monte Vista 17-13 in the Division 3-AA NorCal final as the Wildcats’ special teams unit provided an edge in a game where both teams were evenly matched.

Thomas McKeon kicked a 34-yard field goal and senior Ty Hicks blocked a field goal, a pair of plays that helped send the Wildcats to Southern California to face Ventura for the 3-AA state title.

“The job’s not done,” Lawson said. “We felt like last year, when we won CCS, we were almost content with it. NorCal was just the cherry on top. But the cherry on top is winning state this year. We understand that we’re in December. We’re playing this long; we might as well go finish the job.”

Monte Vista senior quarterback Ian Ondricek put on a dazzling performance on a night when offense was at a premium. Along with completing 17 of 24 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, Ondricek routinely made something out of nothing with his legs and scrambled for 92 yards.

“There’s not a kid that plays harder than he does,” Monte Vista head coach Joe Wingert said. “He might make a mistake on what he’s doing, but he’s going 110 miles per hour. After two carries, he’d be gassed and he’s in phenomenal shape. That’s how hard he was running. I’m really proud of him and proud of the whole team.”

For St. Ignatius, senior running back Steve Malone had a rushing touchdown while senior quarterback Caedon Afsharipour connected with senior wide receiver Zui Shelton for a 31-yard touchdown.

5-AA NORCAL FINAL: Bishop O’Dowd 23, Chico 20

When Bishop O’Dowd played in its only previous regional, the Dragons won on their home field in Oakland nine years ago.

Much different this time around. O’Dowd traveled three hours-plus for its CIF 5-AA NorCal title game against Chico on Friday night and had to scrap and claw with everything it had.

When the Dragons swarmed quarterback John Bernardez for a fourth-down sack in the final 90 seconds, they could finally exhale — and celebrate.

O’Dowd won the regional championship 23-20 behind more electricity from junior running back Lamar Ellis and a special-teams unit that had two blocks (field goal, extra point) and returned a kickoff for a go-ahead touchdown. The defense added a fumble recovery at the 1-yard line in the second half that kept O’Dowd in the lead.

The Dragons captured the same classification that their 2016 team won. Now they will try to match that team again next week when they seek the program’s second state championship. O’Dowd (10-4) will play Christian-El Cajon for the title in Southern California.

“We emphasize all three phases of the game,” coach Hardy Nickerson said. “Our kids have bought into that and we’re seeing the fruit of all that work and all that labor in that area.”

Ellis scored two TDs on Friday. His 17-yard run gave O’Dowd a 6-0 lead in the opening quarter, a touchdown set up by a deep pass from Christian Cermenelli-Johnson to Jess Brown. The PAT was blocked.

Chico (11-3) answered with a touchdown pass to Jake Detmer and a successful PAT that made it 7-6.

Zach Brien’s 24-yard field goal as time expired in the first half gave the visitors a 9-7 lead. Chico drove 80 yards for a go-ahead touchdown on its first series of the second half, a drive that ended with Bernardez scoring from 10 yards out.

The lead lasted only seconds. Trevor Erickson took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown that put O’Dowd back in front 16-14.

Ellis extended the lead with a stunning 48-yard run that began with a handoff to the left side. He followed his blockers, found daylight down the sideline, then weaved through defenders for a touchdown to make it 23-14.