College of San Mateo gets another shot at City College of San Francisco

Tulloch has proven prophetic as the Bulldogs will travel to CCSF Saturday to face the Rams in the California Community College Northern California championship game.

Kickoff is scheduled for noon.

“(That game three weeks ago) was a heck of a football game,” Tulloch said. “They made more plays than we did. The critical thing for us is to execute at a high level.”

CSM, ranked No. 4 in the state and No. 2 in Nor Cal in the final regular-season rankings, is the defending Northern California champion, having advanced to the 2019 state title game, falling 31-14 to Riverside. The Bulldogs put themselves in a position to return to the finals by beating Fresno 31-14 in the Nor Cal semis last week.

It was the second time the Bulldogs have beaten Fresno this season, having topped the Rams 38-27 in Week 4. CSM quarterback Luke Bottari — who is 23-2 as the Bulldogs starter after going 20-7 during his final two seasons at Serra — had one of his best games of the season against Fresno last week. He threw a season-high 33 passes, connecting on a season-best 26 for 276 yards — which was the second-best game of the season, behind the 293 yards he had against Laney.

Bottari also threw for four touchdowns, the second time he’s done that this season. It also set a new single-season touchdown record for CSM.

The defense, after giving up a season-high to City in the regular-season finale, returned to its stingy ways. The Bulldogs may have given up more than 300 yards of offense, but the better number was reflected on the scoreboard, as they held Fresno to just two touchdowns.

Despite the strong showing, Tulloch needs his team to be more consistent with its execution on both sides of the ball.

“We did (execute at a high level) in spurts,” Tulloch said of the performance against Fresno. “But we need to do it more consistently for four quarters.”

San Francisco — the No. 1-ranked team in the state — enters the Nor Cal final on an 11-game winning streak after beating American River 35-17 in the other Nor Cal semifinal game. The Rams beat the Beavers 51-14, also in Week 4.

American River led 10-7 after the first quarter, but a pair of second-quarter touchdowns — including one just before halftime — gave San Francisco control of the game. The City defense also had a strong showing, holding the Beavers to under 300 yards of offense (290) and punctuating the victory with a D’Andre Greeley 49-yard pick-6.

This marks the second time in two seasons the Bulldogs will face playoff opponents that are teams they played during the regular season. In 2019, CSM beat both Fresno and Modesto in the regular season and playoffs.

“When you’re playing in (Nor Cal) championship games … usually we’re going to see teams that we saw in the regular season,” Tulloch said. “We have an incredibly tough schedule, which prepares you for postseason.”

This season, CSM will be looking to avenge a loss instead of duplicating a win when the Bulldogs face San Francisco. The first meeting between the teams, which ended with a Rams interception just outside the red zone with under a minute to play, proved that there is not a lot that separates the two teams.

“Some of it (the game strategy) becomes chess,” Tulloch said. “It’s going to come down to which team can make the corrections and adjustments from the first game. … Whichever team does it best and executes the plan the best, (will win).”