Bears dominate Gators

“We went through it (in that first month),” said M-A head coach Chris Saunders. “But we came together and they believed. … Every practice, things got better… Really proud of them.”

Third-seeded M-A (6-6) beat No. 7 Sacred Heart Prep (6-6) with strong performances on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Bears wracked up 334 yards of offense. On defense, M-A employed a bend-don’t-break philosophy as the Gators managed 282 yards of offense. But the Bears came up with three turnovers — a Zachary Sokol interception and a pair of Matei Tau fumble recoveries — that led to a pair of M-A touchdowns.

“Defense got takeaways and that was the backbreaker,” Saunders said.

That and a clinical performance from M-A senior quarterback Teddy Dacey, who was efficient and deadly. He complete 13 of 16 passes, three of which went for touchdowns, as he finished with 214 yards passing.

“Dawg. He’s a dawg,” Saunders said of Dacey. “That’s what he does. … Almost 100% of the time the ball goes where it should go.”

Just as important was Dacey spreading his passes around. Eight Bears had at least one catch. Monte Turner had the most yards, catching one pass for 40 yards. Jamarlo Jackson added one reception, a 24-yard score, while Matthew Kwon hauled in a team-high three passes for 31 yards and a score.

“That’s a big part of our [offense],” Saunders said. “We don’t focus (on just one player).”

Add in 97 yards and touchdown on 13 carries from Eva Ama and the offense was taken care of for the Bears.

After forcing the Gators to punt on the first possession of the game, the Bears went to work. M-A marched 78 yards on 11 plays, converting a fourth down along the way and helped by a defensive holding call that gave them a first down at SHP 32.

Two plays later, Dacey laid a perfect pass on the hands of a wide open Daniel Jackson on a seam pass for a 24-yard strike and a 7-0 lead.

SHP answered, however, going 82 yards on 12 plays. The Gators caught a break when Nate Fox somehow came down with a Maxime Morrelle fullback pass at the 5-yard line on a jump ball. Two plays later, Andrew Shen bulled his way into the end zone from 3 yards out to tie the game at 7-all.

M-A responded by scoring on its second straight possession. Starting at their own 20, the Bears got an 18-yard completion to Jackson, with a roughing the passer penalty tacked on. Dacey then found Leif Wentz for 18 yards.

It looked like the Gators may have stopped the drive when Jason Moran dragged down Dacey for a sack, but SHP was called for a late hit to keep the drive alive. On the next play, Ama got great blocking and weaved his way 22 yards nearly untouched to put the Bears up 14-7.

Sokol’s interception on an SHP flea-flicker play set up the Bears’ third score of the half, as Dacey hooked up with Lucca Keighery for a 19-yard score to put the Bears up 20-7 at halftime.

An Anthony Perez 30-yard field goal capped the first drive of the third quarter to put the Bears up 23-7, but SHP answered with a touchdown on its first drive of the second half, going 71 yards on 12 plays. The Gators took advantage of a defensive pass interference and personal foul penalty against M-A and Morrelle capped the drive with a 3-yard plunge and the Gators were down just nine, 23-14.

It would be the Gators’ last score of the night.

M-A scored on its fifth straight possession, with Dacey finding Kwon for a 13-yard score on a beautifully designed play to go up 30-14. Tau then put the exclamation point on the game when he scooped up an SHP fumble and returned it 70 yards for a score with just over 90 seconds left in the game.

Up next for M-A is a meeting with eighth-seeded San Mateo (9-3) in the Division III championship game next weekend. The Bearcats advanced to their first CCS title game since winning the 2003 Division III crown with a 40-36 win over No. 4 Live Oak.