Bears claim Nor Cal title

M-A (12-2) rode its clutch defense and a stellar night from sophomore wide receiver Troy Franklin to a 27-20 win over Eureka in the Division 3-AA Northern California regional championship game Friday night at McKinleyville High School.

“The thing we knew going in that we knew we had was Troy Franklin,” M-A head coach Adhir Ravipati said. “And we were trying to get the ball into his hands as many ways as possible.”

Franklin — who totaled 200 yards, including four catches for 118 and three rushes for 82 — twice put M-A in front, once in the first quarter and then again, for good, in the fourth.

Eureka (12-1) jumped out to a swift lead, turning around an M-A turnover on downs just shy of midfield to open the game. The Loggers drove 44 plays on seven plays, scoring on a 7-yard run by fleet-footed senior running back Robert Weir.

But the Bears stuck right back — on the very next play from scrimmage, in fact — when junior quarterback Jack Alexander completed a bubble screen to Franklin, and the sophomore dashed up the left sideline 69 yards for a touchdown to tie it 7-7.

M-A took back possession later in the quarter at the Eureka 45, and it took just three more plays to grab the lead. This time, Franklin ran a fly route into the end zone and out-jumped a defender to haul in a 14-yard score, giving the Bears a 14-7 lead with 2:10 to go in the opening quarter.

“Just like Wilcox (in the Central Coast Section Open Division I championship game) last week ... they were coming back and scoring, and we just had to stay composed, stay on assignments and do everything right,” Franklin said. “And get the ‘dub.’”

The Bears upped the lead to 20-7 midway through the second quarter on a 5-yard rush by Deston Hawkins. But in the second half, Eureka rallied back to tie it, scoring midway through the third quarter on a 13-yard pass from quarterback Cruz Montana to Isley Tulmau.

Then in the fourth quarter, the Loggers nearly took the lead with 8:31 to play when Montana scored on a 7-yard bootleg to tie it 20-20; but the ensuing point-after try sailed wide to keep the score deadlocked.

And Franklin and the Bears, again, answered right back.

“When it was tied up 20-20, we had a play; we’ve been practicing some stuff with him at running back,” Ravipati said. “And we said just toss the ball to him, let’s not even throw it to him. And he made the play. He showed why he’s such a highly recruited player.”

This time, Franklin took a pitch and swept around the left side 70 yards for a touchdown. M-A didn’t exactly get to celebrate the go-ahead score, though, as on the play senior Daniel Heimuli hit the turf and stayed there for several minutes, as the M-A trainer attended to his knee.

Heimuli returned on the next defensive series, but at the time the entire M-A sideline was holding its breath with the fate of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Defensive Player of the Year seemingly up in the air.

“It was a big downside for us,” Franklin said. “He’s a big part of our defense. He plays offense for us too. He’s just a big player to this team, and he’s a captain also. We all look up to him.”

Heimuli and the M-A defense tempered three more Eureka possessions. The Loggers’ biggest threat came with just over two minutes to play when Weir danced for a 10-yard pickup to the Bears’ 23-yard line.

M-A’s secondary — led by senior safety Malik Johnson — went on lockdown from there. Cruz chucked two straight incomplete passes, then on third down a Eureka rush got knocked backward two yards by Johnson. On fourth down, Montana looked to the end zone, but a receiver covered by sophomore cornerback Skyler Thomas was overthrown, turning the ball over on downs, all but sealing M-A’s victory.

It was not easy keeping Eureka’s dynamic fly offense in check, especially with its ability to hide the ball so well with endless play-action looks and misdirects.

“We were just trying to teach our guys to play your keys, get your eyes in the right place,” Ravipati said. “They got us definitely a couple of times, but overall we got the stops when we needed to and we did it up here on a road trip, a hostile environment, it’s raining on a mud field. People were saying all of a sudden we couldn’t play on grass or something. So, I’m really proud of our team and the effort they put together.”

The Bears also won the Nor Cal title in 2016, but fell short of the state tournament last season after getting eliminated in the 2017 CCS Open Division I semifinals.

“Especially after last year .. coming off such a successful year, it just hurt,” M-A senior Joe Posthauer said. “So this, this feels like redemption. We’re back where we were. We need to finish this now.”

The Bears now advance to the Championship Bowl next Saturday, Dec. 15, and will host Southern California champion Lincoln-San Diego at 6 p.m.