Cap is too much for Carlmont

So it’s always special when White’s Mustangs take on his alma mater, as they did Friday night in Belmont.

It was a good night for Capuchino and its coach as the Mustangs led 21-0 at halftime and went on to post a 35-6 victory.

“It feels great. I love coming back here. This is a big game for me,” White said. “It was nice, little homecoming.”

Things were made easier for Capuchino (2-1 PAL Lake, 5-3 overall) with Carlmont (2-2, 3-5) minus two of its top running backs, who were both injured last week. Demarii Blanks was declared out for the rest of the season after suffering a concussion, while his backup Devon Sagon was shelved with a severe ankle sprain.

It didn’t leave the Scots with a lot of weapons and the Capuchino defense teed off. The Mustangs held Carlmont to just 71 yards of total offense in the first half as they built a 21-0 lead. Carlmont, which made a change at quarterback in the second half, had a better showing, picking up 150 yards and a score over the final two quarters, but other than that, it was Mustangs’ domination.

“Our defense did a great job,” White said, who singled out defensive tackle Moses Olive and linebacker Isaiah Arcilla as playing particularly well.

Offensively, Capuchino was also without its top running back, Brandon Mailangi, who was knocked out of action a couple weeks ago.

Unlike the Scots, the Mustangs had the depth in the backfield to pick up the slack. White said he uses a running-back-by-committee system, but he might have found a new No. 1 option in Trey Zahursky, who converted from receiver to running back. Zahursky had the best game of his career running the ball, finishing with 162 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries.

“Not bad for two games playing running back,” White said. “We lost our top running back a couple weeks ago. A bunch of guys have had to step in (and perform).”

In addition to Zahursky, Abnan Grajeda added 79 yards on 12 carries.

And though the Mustangs don’t throw the ball a lot, they showed Friday night they can be deadly with the ball in the air. Quarterback Teisina Fifita completed only 4 of 8 passes for 64 yards, but two of those completions went for scores.

White said his biggest concern coming into the game was his team’s lack of consistency from one week to the next.

“This year, we’ve played well one week, then the next game we don’t play well,” White said. “It was nice to play up (to our potential).”

Both offenses got off to slow starts as the teams traded punts for most of the first quarter. But on Capuchino’s second possession of the game, it got its offense in gear. Starting from their own 34, the Mustangs needed just four play to find the end zone. They were aided by a personal-foul facemask penalty following a 4-yard gain by Grajeda on the first play of the drive. Zahursky followed with a 10-yard scamper and Grajeda another 4-yard gain to move the ball to the Carlmont 30. On second down, Fifita found Raynaz Obregon-Halim with single coverage on the right sideline. Fifita heaved a pass downfield, with Obregon-Halim making a nice adjustment. He caught the ball as he was falling backward into the end zone, managed to spike a foot down before going out of bounds to give Cap 7-0 lead with 1:27 to play in the opening quarter.

The Mustangs, now in a rhythm, would go on to score on their next two drives as well to take command of the game. After forcing another Carlmont punt, Capuchino took over at its own 46. After a false start penalty to start the drive, the Mustangs needed only two plays to make the score 14-0. After Zahursky ripped off a 29-yard run down to the Carlmont 29, Fifita and Obregon-Halim hooked up again. This time, Fifita had all day to throw and found a wide open Obregon-Halim, who simply had to catch the ball and walk into the end zone.

After Carlmont’s fourth punt of the first half, Capuchino cashed in again, this time with Zahursky scoring from 39 yards out — nearly untouched to give the Mustangs a 21-0 lead at halftime.

Carlmont recovered a fumble on Capuchino’s first drive of the third quarter and the Scots appeared poised to make things interesting when quarterback Tim Palthe found Troy Rice all alone along the right sideline, who turned it into a 49-yard, catch-and-run to cut the Capuchino lead to 21-6.

But that would be all the Scots could muster. Capuchino, meanwhile, two more scores from Zahursky of 1 and 11 yards to provide the final margin of victory.