Cap goes back-to-back

And by night’s end, Iosia was dancing to the music. Between plays, during plays. It didn’t matter. The junior pass rusher was living in the moment, celebrating a Cap program coming full circle to arrive as a bona fide Peninsula Athletic League power.

The Mustangs (4-0 PAL De Anza, 8-1 overall) rallied for a physical 21-7 victory over Burlingame on a chilly San Bruno night, and in doing so clinched no less that a share of the PAL De Anza Division championship. Cap can wrap up the division crown outright next week in the regular-season finale against a second-place King’s Academy team currently one game back in the standings.

It marks the second straight league title for the Mustangs, who claimed a co-championship in the lower PAL Ocean Division last season.

“This means everything to us,” Cap quarterback Bobby Gomez said. “We’ve worked since January. We’ve been here 6 in the morning, 7 in the morning, coming in lifting before school. Last year we came off winning league. Their excuse for us winning league was we ... weren’t in a good league, a Mickey Mouse win. I’m just waiting to hear what they have to say this year about us.”

Doing so meant delivering against a hungry Burlingame team that was playing for a share of the PAL De Anza title. The Panthers (3-2, 6-3) entered the night trailing Cap by one game in the standings. And quarterback Luke Levitt came out poised to deliver, completing five of his first six passes, and finishing the game 9-of-14 for 156 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

“Luke played great,” Burlingame head coach John Philipopoulos said. “It was a very courageous effort on his part. He’s a competitor. He’s fiery, he’s feisty, and he wants to win as much as anybody in this league. And that showed tonight.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Cap struck quickly in the second. A short field was set up by a strong defensive stand after Burlingame took over at its own 4-yard line on an interception by safety Luke Dimech. A first-down tackle for a loss by Cap lineman Daniel Suli started a three-and-out, with the Panthers punting out of their own end zone.

Two plays later, Gomez connected with Cameron Chin for a 12-yard pass, with the tackle of Chin drawing a yellow flag for a horse collar, moving it into the red zone. On the next play, Gomez rolled right and threw against his body back — showcasing his athleticism by getting some serious cheddar on the throw — to hit Brody Farrugia in the middle of the field for a 14-yard scoring strike, staking Cap to a 7-0 lead.

It was the start of a big first half for Gomez, who finished 12-of-16 passing for 206 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He threw for 183 yards in the first half.

“He’s a good quarterback, and that’s something you’ve got to hold onto when you have one,” Cap head coach Jay Oca said. “You’ve got to utilize their skillset when you have a good quarterback. We’re using it. And he’s very comfortable throwing the football.”

But Levitt had the Panthers struck right back. Burlingame’s QB scrambled for pickups of 8 and 12 yards reach midfield. Then Levitt opened it up, finding a wide open Jake Flood on a post pattern over the middle, leaving the senior receiver streaking to the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown, tying the game 7-7.

“That play, it’s designed for one of our other guys,” Levitt said. “But I had seen their safeties were coming up ... so, when we broke the huddle, I told our outside receiver: ‘Hey, make it deeper. I think we’ve got this here.’”

The Mustangs had one more score in them before the half. A good kickoff return by Elias Qura put Cap at its own 48. It set up another quick three-play drive, with Issa Keishk taking a sweep around the left side and exploding like lightning up the sideline for a 43-yard touchdown run, swing Cap back ahead 14-7.

Cap’s defense began putting its stamp on the game from there. Burlingame took over at its own 31, but a sack by defensive tackle Mafi Folau on second down helped force a three-and-out.

Cap went back on the offensive with 2:41 to go in the half, and began relying heavily on running back Lucas Zayac. The senior ran gains of 18 and 12 yards, and two short passes moved the Mustangs into scoring position. But the Mustangs settled for a 35-yard field goal try that failed short, sending it to halftime with Cap up by a touchdown.

But Burlingame’s first two possessions of the second half were mired in penalties and stifled by Cap. Thanks to a Burlingame holding penalty on the first play of the half, and the second play resulting in a sack by Suli and a 15-yard personal foul penalty by Burlingame, the Panthers faced first-and-35.

They’d eventually punt from the original line of scrimmage, but would get a glimmer of hope a few plays later when Flood intercepted a Gomez pass at the Panthers’ 27. Burlingame moved it across midfield, but had to roll the dice on fourth-and-1 from Cap’s 41. The Mustangs came up with the stop, as safety Dylan Murray and linebacker Javon Oca converged to drop Dimech for no gain and a turnover on downs.

Cap faced a similar quandary three plays later on third-and-9 from its own 41. But wide receiver Will Hafer came through with a perilous route over the middle. The senior got lit up as a 16-yard spiral hit him in the hands, but Hafer somehow managed to soldier the hit and hold on for a first down.

“It’s dangerous,” Gomez said. “They loaded the box inside, they had safeties over the middle. I knew it was coming. But Will’s tough. He’s a tough kid. Amazing receiver. Amazing group of guys we’ve got here.”

The Mustangs moved the sticks twice more before going to the razzle-dazzle, running a double pass through senior wide receiver Brody Farrugia. Gomez swung a backward pass to Farrugia, who showed off his arm by connecting with junior Travis Ciardella for a 26-yard touchdown pass, giving the Mustangs a two-score lead.

Levitt and Burlingame looked to fire back again, as the senior QB completed passes of 11, 21 and 5 yards to move it to the Mustangs’ 25. But on third-and-5, Levitt tried to force a pass to Flood, who had a defender on his back. The ball hit the receiver in the helmet, popped into the air, and landed in the hands of Hafer, the safety, to all but seal the win for Cap.

“I think anytime it gets into crunch time, and you’re trying to throw the ball to your top receiver, and one of the best receivers in the league, I guess it’s usually not a bad thing,” Philipopoulos said. “And ... I think Capuchino deserves credit for making a play when they needed to.”

“Their defender made a good play,” Levitt said. “I really think their guy was all over him on his back, so he didn’t have time to adjust.”

It seemed like the one play the officials weren’t willing to throw a flag. Both teams incurred penalties throughout to the tune of Burlingame’s seven penalties for 58 yards — including one of the Panthers’ assistant coaches getting ejected — while Cap committed 11 penalties for 111 1/2 yards.

“Geez, those penalties,” Oca said. “We’re a physical group. We’re a rambunctious group. And so we’re just going to have to work on that. There’s a fine line between being physical and a penalty. You can call it either way sometimes. ... But too many tonight, and we’ve got to clean it up.”

The more definitive numbers were total offensive yards, as Cap outgained Burlingame 443-214 on the night.

The De Anza Division championship marks the fifth all-time PAL title for Cap, and the first in an “A” league. Prior to last year’s “B” league title in the Ocean Division, the Mustangs won “C” league championships in the Lake Division in 2010, ’11 and ’15.

“It means everything,” Iosia said. “Our coaches asked the best of us this week, and we gave it to them. Because if we win this game, we’ll probably win league forever.”