Capuchino flag football head coach Andre Kelley cited a slew of new players, coupled with a slew of new rules, as to why he did not schedule a preseason game ahead of Wednesday’s Peninsula Athletic League opener against San Mateo.
“I figured with so many new faces and so many new rules, it was better for us to just practice,” Kelley said prior to Wednesday’s game. “We’ll find out (how good we are).”
While the Mustangs may have a number of first-year varsity players, Kelley has a pretty good core group of players who are entering their second and third seasons playing the sport.
And that core looked pretty good against the Bearcats. Senior quarterback Kaitlyn Staff completed 13 of 20 passes for 196 yards and two scores, while the Mustangs’ defense pitched a shutout, limiting San Mateo to just 143 yards of offense.
“I’m surprised, to be honest with you,” Kelley said after the game. “I had low expectations with so many new players. Having practicing and no scrimmage might have helped.”
For San Mateo (0-1 PAL Bay, 2-2 overall) it was a disappointing showing after winning back-to-back games, including a 19-18 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral last week that saw quarterback Kayla Lichaa combine for 208 yards of total offense — 160 passing and 48 rushing.
She was even better on the ground Wednesday against Capuchino (1-0 PAL Bay, 1-0 overall), rushing for 94 yards on 16 carries. But the Capuchino defense shut down the Bearcats’ passing game, limiting them to just 44 yards on 9 of 17 completions.
“Our team was in our heads too much and they let is snowball,” said San Mateo head coach David Williams. “They just didn’t execute like they were supposed to. That’s on me to get them better prepared.”
Kelley employed a 2-deep zone with two safeties patrolling the defensive secondary to try and keep San Mateo’s aerial attack under wraps. Additionally, cornerbacks Madison Chau and Dana Motroni did a good job of pressuring Lichaa and forcing her to run instead of throwing the ball. Chau ended up with a sack and both she and Motroni added a tackle for loss.
Kelley was pleased to see Chau, a junior, playing at a high level again.
“She was a big factor the first year (in 2023), but she couldn’t play last year because of a knee injury,” Kelley said.
Capuchino did have some opening-game sloppiness — the Mustangs committed seven penalties for 50 yards. But only one of those came after halftime.
Despite serving as the back up to Avery Motroni the last two years, Staff was the unquestioned starter coming into 2025. But she did get plenty of experience last season as she played a majority of the year after Avery Motroni went down with injury.
That experience paid off Wednesday.
Recommended for you
So did a veteran receiving corps of Lily Thomas and Alana Koenig, along with Darla Rancatore. Thomas, who finished with four catches for 70 yards and a score, made a couple big plays. Rancatore led the Mustangs with six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown, while Koenig grabbed three passes for 34 yards and adding a pair of interceptions on defense.
San Mateo opened with the first possession of the game, but it was a short one. On the fourth play, Koenig stepped in front of a Lichaa pass for an interception. Capuchino proceeded to go on a long, sloppy drive. Starting from their own 36, the Mustangs ran six plays in moving the ball down to the San Mateo 24.
But they also committed four penalties on the drive, including one that negated a 50-yard score on a Staff-to-Rancatore strike. But Capuchino had to settle for a 35-yard gain because of a penalty.
The drive stalled and the Mustangs punted, as did the Bearcats on their ensuing drive.
Capuchino had the ball to start the second quarter and this time the Mustangs cashed in. The big play was a 42-yard catch-and-run from Thomas on a play that saw her wrestle away an interception from Lichaa and run down to the 1-yard line.
A sack from Destina Zhou pushed the Mustangs back to the San Mateo 8-yard line. The Bearcats dodged a bullet when an apparent Capuchino touchdown was called back because of a penalty.
Eventually, Staff found Rancatore for an 11-score and a 6-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
San Mateo turned the ball over on downs on their next possession and the Mustangs went back to work. Starting from the San Mateo 39, Capuchino needed just five plays to find the end zone. Koenig managed to keep her concentration on the ball, even as a San Mateo defender bolted in front of her for an interception attempt. Instead, Koenig hauled it for a 10-yard gain.
Three plays later, Thomas used her strength to step in front of a Bearcats defender and wrestled the ball away again for a 9-yard score and 12-0 Capuchino lead at halftime.
Neither team could mount much offense in the second half. San Mateo’s Lulu Bertolina thwarted Capuchino’s first drive of the third quarter with an interception, but Capuchino returned the favor on Koenig’s second pick of the game in the fourth quarter.
With just over two minutes left to play, the San Mateo offense finally clicked into gear a little bit as the Bearcats marched from their own 13 down to the Capuchino 5-yard line before they ran out of time.
“That’s our normal offense,” Williams said, as the Bearcats did a good job of mixing the run and pass on their final drive.
“Defensively, we played pretty good,” Williams continued. “Our offense wasn’t clicking today.”
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.