Big plays carry M-A

But the M-A offense stalled out, the Toreadores found their footing and with just over eight minutes left in the first half, M-A found itself in a battle, tied at 7-all.

But three touchdowns over a 61-second span that bridged the second and third quarters allowed the Bears to finally relax and they cruised to a 35-7 win in Atherton Friday night.

“Love the finish,” said M-A head coach Chris Saunders. “Survive and advance.”

Monterey (6-5) tied the score at 7-all following an eight-play, 73-yard drive that was aided by a defensive pass interference call with 8:33 left in the first half. The teams then exchanged punts before M-A (7-4) put together the go-ahead scoring drive. The Bears took over at their own 47 and after converting a fourth-and-inches with a reverse toss to Angelo Marin, Eschelman had his second big completion to Roeder, who hauled in an over-the-shoulder, 37-yard completion down to the 5-yard line. After a sack, Eschelman found Marin on a fade to the left corner of the end zone to put the Bears up 14-7 with 21 seconds left in the half.

“We came out hot and then hit a lull,” Saunders said of his team’s offensive struggles.

But the Bears weren’t done. On Monterey’s next play from scrimmage, M-A’s William Roberts picked off a pass near midfield and bolted the other way for a pick-6 to put the Bears up 21-7 with seven seconds left in the half.

M-A received the second-half kickoff and starting on its own 33, went backward on the first play, with Teddy Dacy, who was setting up for a double pass, was taken down for a 3-yard loss. Two plays later from the 36, Eschelman dropped back and lofted a high pass to the middle of the field for Marin, who won a jump ball with the Monterey defender and when he went down, Marin cruised into the end zone for a 64-yard score, their fourth of the night, just 40 seconds into the third quarter.

“Big momentum plays create not only points … the sideline feels it,” Saunders said.

Eschelman completed 9 of 15 passes for 198 yards and the three touchdowns. Roeder caught five balls for 106 yards and Marin had only the two catches — both for touchdowns and 73 yards.

The M-A defense, meanwhile, regained its composure and shut down Monterey for the rest of the game. After the Dores scoring drive, they managed only 36 yards the rest of the game. They had 104 yards of offense at halftime, but only 37 in the second half, finishing with 141 for the game

“We made a couple of adjustments and challenged our guys (at halftime),” Saunders said.

The three quick scores allowed M-A to milk the clock for the rest of the second half. While the Bears had only 95 rushing yards, thanks in large part to four Monterey sacks and a snap that went over Dacey’s head, it was a vast improvement over the 19 yards they had at halftime.

In the second half, they threw the ball only three times, relying on a bevy of running backs to pound the Dores into submission. They relied heavily on Monty Turner, who had only three carries for 5 yards in the first half. But in the second, he carried the ball six times for 42 yards, including the Bears’ final score of the night when he bulled his way into the end zone from 4 yards out with 3:35 left in the third quarter.

After that, both teams pretty much emptied their benches. While Turner finished with a team-high 47 yards rushing, third-string back Torin Baker had 35 yards on six carries.

The final big play for M-A came when senior backup kicker Aliyah Calvillo Figueroa was called on to punt in the fourth quarter.

She failed to line up the normal 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, which was at the 25, despite Saunders’ pleas for her to back up. The snap was then a little low, forcing Calvillo Figueroa to cradle it to her stomach.

But not only did she the punt off cleanly, it was a pretty good boot. The ball was downed at the Monterey 38 — good for a 37-yard punt.

“That was the first punt of her career,” Saunders said. “She flipped the field for us a little bit. I was ecstatic. She did a good job.”

Up next for the Bears is a road trip to top-seeded Wilcox (9-2). The Chargers cruised past eighth-seeded Santa Teresa, 36-3. The Bears and Chargers met Nov. 1, with Wilcox holding on for a 19-14 win.