Clawing for ‘The Paw’

Burlingame head coach John Philipopoulos has since won the Saturday-morning archrivalry showdown for six straight years. More importantly, since the Panthers were promoted to the PAL Bay Division after 2009 — the league-champ Bearcats interestingly were not — the two programs have polarized on the PAL circuit, with Burlingame maintaining its Bay standing while San Mateo has since fallen to the PAL Lake Division.

While the Bearcats and Panthers are at opposite ends of the PAL spectrum again this year, when the two teams meet at Burlingame’s Umland Stadium at 11 a.m. Saturday, it will feature one of the more balanced matchups in recent memory. While the Panthers settled for second place in the ‘A’-league PAL Bay Division, they are coming off a tough loss to Aragon. The Bearcats, meanwhile, dominated PAL Lake Division play by running the table in the ‘C’-league en route to a division title.

“San Mateo, bottom line is they’re league champs,” Philipopoulos said. “When they get off the bus, they get off the bus as league champs.”

When Philipopoulos took over at Burlingame in 2002, he entered as no stranger to rivalry games. A graduate of Oceana High School when the Sharks still featured a football team, Philipopoulos was part of the classic Pacifica rivalry “Anchor Game.”

“They were pretty intense,” Philipopoulos said. “Transitioning from there to here wasn’t that much of a difference. … [The Anchor Game] was the real deal.”

The legend of the “Paw” has grown to be a lopsided story though, with Burlingame dominating in recent years.

“For us, obviously, the Paw is a big deal to everyone,” Scheller said. “We haven’t won it in a few years, but the kids talk about it.”

This year, Scheller’s squad is not your typical Lake Division team. Featuring a balanced offense, the Bearcats are looking to showcase their various weapons with senior running back Boris Mazin (807 yards on 110 carries) senior fullback Anderson Perdomo (771 yards on 132 carries) and senior quarterback Austin Salvail (47-of-92 passing for 936 yards).

“I think we’ve got to use all the bullets,” Scheller said. “It’s going to be a different level of competition. And Burlingame tackles really well.”

Burlingame is coming off a 28-7 loss to Aragon. San Mateo, too, fell to the Dons 42-14 in Week 2 during non-league play. While both teams’ offenses were contained by Aragon, the key difference was the Dons had their star middle linebacker VA Wilson in the lineup against San Mateo. With Wilson injured for last week’s Burlingame game, the Dons still limited the Panthers to just one score.

The usually ground dominant game of the Panthers seemed non-existent against Aragon. Burlingame totaled just 141 rushing yards, with junior Alec Meredith gaining 71 yards on 11 carries but not playing in the second half due to injury. The Panthers’ leading rusher Sean Saunders totaled just six yards on six carries.

“It’s our offense in general,” Philipopoulos said. “I think we have to be getting back to what we did earlier in the year.”

San Mateo has shown more of a “Steady Eddie” approach to offense this year. Scheller stressed that dynamic is going to be pushed to the extreme as San Mateo faces just its second Bay Division opponent of the season.

“You can’t expect a lot of big plays,” Scheller said. “We just have to try to grind it out.”

One counterintuitive advantage San Mateo holds is it is playing on the road for the fourth straight week. The Bearcats won three previous road games at Carlmont, El Camino and Mills.

“We’ve been road warriors for the last half of the season,” Scheller said. “It’s worked out well for us.”