Aragon keeps Flea Trophy

Back to the beef. Aragon received the opening kick and started at it's own 36 yard-line. The Dons' game plan was to hand the ball to Junior Manase Tonga, who at 6'2" 210 lbs ran through and past people as if gravity went sideways. Tonga collected 53 yards on the drive before scoring on a 9 yard touchdown run.

"Manase ran great," said coach Steve Sell of Aragon.

Yeah, having a guy like Tonga is a great thing for a coach. That's because there's an interesting thing that happens in high school football that rarely happens at the college or professional level. That thing is ironman football, where offensive starters are also often defensive starters, and the attributes that make a player dominant on one side of the ball carry over to the other side. Tonga's speed and power at running back thus served to shut down other running backs when he was playing linebacker on defense. Junior Charles Bahlert speed helped him return an interception for a touchdown while scoring 2 offensive touchdowns and catching several passes.

Excellent individual performances and good team defense forced Hillsdale to punt on it's first two possesions, while the Dons scored twice more, first on a 4 yard run by Toa Tau, after which they missed the conversion, and on a 24 yard pass from Quarterback Robert Gamch to Bahlert. The score was 20-0.

But the Knights weren't about to quit, and after a fumble recovery on the exchange from Gamch to the running back, Hillsdale had the ball just 28 yards from the goal line. Quarterback Sean Mattson, who performed bravely on the afternoon in the face of constant pressure, connected with his favorite target Ian Houts for a 14 yard gain, then with Matt Cahill for a 21 yard TD. The extra point was blocked by Matt Fa, making the score 20-6.

Mattson and Houts would go on to have good games, with Houts totalling 91 yards on 7 catches, and Mattson throwing for 231 yards on 15 completions in 27 attempts.

Without a strong running game, however, the Dons could key on the passing game of the Knights and limit it's effectivness. The Knights lost both of thier starting backs, John Carlo and Rich Loumoli, in a previous game, against Burlingame, and as Houts explained, "We were forced to pass so much today because we didn't have those guys. It's great for me, because I get to make some catches, but we're a weaker team without those guys."

Injuries to key players were an overwhelming theme of this season, said Coach Rich Mazzoncini, who was left to wonder how much better the game could have gone with a full roster. "We have had more injuries this year than you can imagine. We were just devasted by them. But we threw what we had at them, and I think our guys played really hard. Aragon was just a better team today."

The Dons would finish the half on a 13 yard TD by Bahlert after picking up a fumble by Tonga, who had burst through the defense for 48 yards.

In the second half, Aragon scored on a one yard TD run by Fa, who took over as the backfield beef, gaining 57 yards of hardfought ground. A 23 yard TD run by Justin Wright, and the interception return by Bahlert completed the scoring by the Dons. Hillsdale would score on a 65 yard TD pass from Mattson to Sophmore Chis Rochester to end the scoring.

As the final few minutes wound off the clock, Coach Sell relaxed his vigilant eye, and his players took advantage to give him a Gatorade bath. A pleased coach described the significance of the game. "For us, this is a bowl game. We knew this would be the last game of the season, so we wanted the win. But we have a lot of hope for nextg season, and we decided that we would make this the first game of the 2001 season. I'm looking forward to game two next year with this great group of kids. This was an ideal group of kids to have in my first year as head coach. Boy, next year..."<