Athlete of the Week: San Mateo’s Giancarlo Selvitella

That makes an option quarterback’s job among the toughest on the field. The quarterback in a true option offense has no concrete idea of where the ball is going before the ball is snapped. Based off reads of what the defense is doing, the quarterback either hands the ball to the fullback, keeps the ball himself or pitches it to a slotback, all while the offensive line has to perform their blocks correctly.

But when an option quarterback is in the zone, defenses have a hard time stopping the offense. That’s where San Mateo’s Giancarlo Selvitella found himself Friday night. He ran the Bearcats’ ’bone to near perfection against Terra Nova Friday night, leading an offense that racked up 356 yards on the ground as he helped lead San Mateo to a 26-14 win over the Tigers, the first in more than 20 years.

For his efforts, Selvitella is the Daily Journal’s Athlete of the Week.

“Some people mistakenly believe you need to have a fast quarterback (in an option offense),” said San Mateo head coach Jeff Scheller. “That’s not the case. You just need someone to make good decisions.”

That, in and of itself, is the toughest thing to do on a consistent basis. But in his fourth year in San Mateo’s system, including the last two and a half seasons as the varsity starter, Selvitella is now to the point that he is no longer thinking and just reacting to what the defense is doing.

“Coming in (to San Mateo as a freshman) and just watching what it took to run this offense, it was kind of crazy,” Selvitella said. “I thought it was simple. I thought it would be easy.

“It definitely takes a lot of work.”

Selvitella definitely put in the work over the last season and a half. He got his varsity baptism two weeks into the pandemic spring season of 2021, when the Bearcats went 0-6. Selvitella said the four games he started that spring allowed him to learn about the speed and physical nature of varsity football.

He started to get more comfortable during San Mateo’s run to the Lake Division title in 2021 and now, as a senior, he has full command of the offense and the Bearcats are a win away from the outright Ocean Division title.

“We were definitely the underdogs going into that game (against Terra Nova). No one outside our team thought we were going to win,” Selvitella said. “That got me fired up.”

San Mateo showed how effective its offense can be when firing on all cylinders. The fullback is the key runner in the option offense and San Mateo fullback Daniel Feletoa had huge game against Terra Nova, rushing for 163 yards and a 33-yard touchdown on 21 carries. Slot backs Gabe Buenrostro and Matt Radulovich combined for 94 yards and a Buenrostro score, while Selvitella rushed for 99 yards on 16 carries, including touchdown runs of 14 and 29 yards, the second of which came with 2:09 to play and put the Bearcats up 12 points.

“That’s one of the things about this offense. When one option is having success and now [defenses] have to adjust to that, it leaves the other two (options) wide open,” Selvitella said.

For the season, Selvitella has rushed for 525 yards on 88 carries and has scored seven rushing touchdowns, all of which rank second on the team.

And when things are clicking, Selvitella knows it and things are clicking for the Bearcats right now.

“I know when our team is rolling. These past six weeks, and especially Friday night (against Terra Nova), we were really rolling. Last Friday, there was just so much room. The offensive line was getting so much push,” Selvitella said. “It’s been pretty cool seeing how much better we’ve gotten every single week. From Week 2 against Half Moon Bay, getting shut out (36-0), to now, is pretty cool.”