On the College of San Mateo sideline, there was a dry-erase board on which the football coaches used to diagram plays during the Bulldogs game with Butte Saturday afternoon.
Before the game, someone had written on the board, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish."
Prophetic words. CSM started decently enough, taking a 14-10 lead at halftime. But it was Butte that finished strong, scoring 35 unanswered points in the second half, pounding CSM 45-14 in the NorCal Conference opener for both teams.
"They kicked our ass in the second half," said CSM coach Larry Owens. "The thing we don't do is, we can't sustain anything."
Butte (1-0 NorCal Conference, 6-0 overall), the fifth-ranked team in the state by the J.C. Athletic Bureau, completely dominated the second half. The Roadrunners, which racked up 518 yards of offense, had 208 in the first half, 100 of which came on the ground. Over the final 30 minutes, the Roadrunners rushed for 289 yards and five touchdowns. Webster Patrick torched the Bulldogs for 211 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, good for over 11 yards per carry. His backfield mate Jason Peters carried the ball 18 times for 112 yards and another score. Of that total, 229 yards and three touchdowns came in the second half. Quarterback Brett Ratliff accounted for the other two scores, two quarterback sneaks from a yard out.
Webster's 9-yard touchdown in the first quarter, which put Butte up 7-0, was only a sign of things to come. In the second half, he had scoring runs of 35 and 45 yards. Peters added a 26-yard scoring jaunt late in the game and did so in dominating style. He shed one tackler a few yards past the line of scrimmage, used two stiff arms to knock down to more would-be tacklers and then bulled over another near the goal line before going in the for the score.
"They have some big fellas up front (on the offensive line)," Owens said. "And we didn't make tackles when we should have."
While Butte was running roughshod in the second half, CSM (0-1, 5-1) had a hard time mustering any kind of offense or energy in the final 30 minutes. Only twice did the Bulldogs manage a drive inside Butte's 40-yard line in the second half - on their first and last drives of the half. Neither time did the Bulldogs come away with any points. The rest of the half was spent punting or turning the ball over on downs.
"Once they got momentum we couldn't stop them," Owens said.
It was in direct contrast to the first half that saw the Bulldogs start reasonably well. Butte took a 10-0, scoring on its first two drives of the game. But reckless penalties -- personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls - kept CSM in the game. On the Bulldogs first drive of the second quarter, they were stopped at their own 35 and forced to punt. But the Roadrunners buried CSM punter Kevin Linnell on the play, giving the Bulldogs an automatic first down.
And they took advantage. From midfield, the Bulldogs drove to the Butte 27, converting a fourth-and-2 in the process. On first down, Linnell lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone where receiver Brandon O'Bannon, on a great stop-and-go move, ran under it for a touchdown to cut the Butte lead to 10-7.
The score fired the Bulldogs up and they came up with their biggest play of the day on Butte's next possession.
The CSM defense forced a three-and-out. The Roadrunners lined up to punt from their 17, but Farrell LeBlanc came off the right corner and deflected the punt. Fred Wilson snatched the ball out of the air at the 20 and stumbled his way into the end zone to put CSM up 14-10 with 5:36 left in the first half.
The Bulldogs could not maintain the energy from that play in the second half, however.
"We didn't match their energy (in the second half)," Owens said. "We didn't make plays. They're 6-0 and deserve to be 6-0."
Butte 45, CSM 14
Butte (1-0, 6-0) 7 3 21 14 -- 45
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CSM (0-1, 5-1) 0 14 0 0 -- 14
Scoring summary
B -- Patrick 9 run (Eller kick)
B -- Eller 37 field goal
CSM -- O'Bannon 27 pass from Linnell (Gonzalez kick)
CSM -- Wilson 20 blocked punt return (Gonzalez kick)
B -- Ratliff 1 run (Eller kick)
B -- Ratliff 1 run (Eller kick)
B -- Patrick 35 run (Eller kick)
B -- Patrick 45 run (Eller kick)
B -- Peters 26 run (Eller kick)
Individual stats
RUSHING (car-yds): BUTTE -- Patrick 19-211, Peters 18-112, Ratliff 5-52, Cox 3-7, Julmisse 3-7. Totals 48-389. CSM -- Conner 13-46, Makasini 4-21, Griffin 8-16, Bizon 3-15, Boganey 1-4, Ben 4-4, Linnell 5-3, Pickett 2-1. Totals 40-110.
PASSING (com-att-yds-td-int): BUTTE -- Ratliff 9-23-129-0-2. CSM -- Linnell 10-24-146-1-1, Pickett 3-10-41-0-1. Totals 13-33-201-1-2.
RECEIVING (rec-yds): BUTTE -- Barber 3-47, Peters 1-36, Williams 1-16, Wilson 2-15, Simmons 2-15. Totals 9-129. CSM -- O'Bannon 5-69, Gamch 1-45, Bizon 3-30, Tenbruggencate 1-25, Washington 1-20, Florence 1-9, Griffin 1-3. Totals 13-201.
TOTAL YARDAGE (rush-pass-total): BUTTE -- 389-129-518. CSM -- 110-201-311.
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