CSM national champs; players honored

So less than a week after CSM dismantled previously undefeated Mt. San Antonio College, 43-11 to win the state title, the Bulldogs (12-1) were named community college national champions by JCgridiron.com, which has been ranking community college programs and naming national champions for 20 years.

Technically, the Bulldogs are co-national champions, sharing the title with Hutchinson-Kansas, which went 11-1 and won the National Junior College Athletic Association title.

The NJCAA is the major community college association outside of California.

It’s the second time in three years that CSM has been named national champs, earning the honor for the first time after winning the 3C2A championship in 2022.

“The final rankings are always exciting for us to wait and see,” Tulloch said. “When you win the state of California (championship), which arguably has the best community college football (in the country), and beat the No. 1 team (in Mt. SAC), it’s exciting to see how it shakes out.

“Being recognized nationally is neat. It’s a tribute to a lot of hard work.”

The national championship announcement Thursday came on the heels of the All-American teams and all-state teams being named. In another testament to the season CSM just completed, Bulldogs won the highest honors: running back Lolo Mataele was named All-America Offensive Player of the Year, while defensive lineman John Gayer was named All-America Defensive Player of the Year.

Tulloch was named All-America Coach of the Year — which he quickly shares with his coaching staff.

“I didn’t know that these (types of honors) were an actual thing,” Mataele said. “I think my head space was … just winning state. Whatever accolades came after it was great.”

Brad Hoiseth, publisher of JC Gridiron.com, said a big factor in CSM’s favor was that not only that the Bulldogs beat Mt. SAC, it was how they did. Hoiseth had the Mounties the No. 1 team in the country ahead of last week’s championship game.

And then CSM completely shut them down. The Mounties were held to a total of 65 yards of offense and had the ball for less than 18 minutes.

“There is no way you can wish for it (a national title) or hope for it,” Tulloch said. “It’s rooted in old-school values and old-school hard work is a core value. We believe we’re going to outwork people.”

Offensive Player of the Year: RB Lolo Mataele

It was only fitting that it was Mataele and Gayer who led the way, as both will leave CSM having left their mark on the program.

Both found their way to The Hilltop after high school following various levels of adversity. Mataele, an East Palo Alto native who moved to Patterson in the Central Valley before high school, said he was in talks with U.C. Davis when a family tragedy stopped the recruiting process. When it started up again, those conversations with four-year schools cooled.

But CSM was not a bad second option.

“Growing up, I knew what CSM was,” Mataele said. “I had an offer on the table (out of Patterson High School), preferred walk-on (status). But I think I’m better than preferred walk-on.

“I took a chance on myself and came to the best program in the nation.”

Mataele saw playing time as a freshman last season, but nagging injury and others in front of him on the depth chart made him even more hungry for the 2024 season.

“(Last season) didn’t go the way I wanted,” Mataele said. “For my second year, I had to make sure I got my body right.”

He certainly accomplished that as he made a consistent climb throughout the season as the coaching staff was judicious with his usage during the regular season, knowing that they needed Mataele as fresh as possible for the playoffs.

“When you’re a running back, the game can wear on you,” Tulloch said. “In the games we could, we scaled down his touches (during the regular season). Because in the biggest of games, we knew we had to lean on him.”

As far Mataele was concerned, he was built for that, as he rushed for more than 1,500 yards his senior season at Patterson.

“I got a workload at Patterson,” Mataele said. “Toward the end of my senior season, we were down to one running back. (I was) just a workhorse.”

That workhorse mentality was on full display in the playoffs. In the Northern California title game, a 27-22 win over Modesto, he had 29 carries for 147 yards and three touchdowns. In the state championship game, he had a season-high 35 carries for 166 yards and two more scores.

Overall, Mataele finished with 1,351 yards on 233 carries, averaging 103.9 yards per game and 5.8 yards per carry. His 22 touchdowns not only led the state, but set a new CSM single-season scoring record, eclipsing the 13 scored by George Nafauhu in 2013.

“He runs well, he breaks tackles. He runs over people, he runs around people,” Tulloch said.

Defensive Player of the Year: DL John Gayer

CSM already has a well-established pipeline to the Sacramento region, as former Bulldogs players and coaches make up a tree that has deep roots and a wide canopy.

But are the Bulldogs now making inroads to Southern California? Sophomore defensive lineman John Gayer is a So Cal product, by way of Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks. He appeared on a Division I trajectory out of high school if not for a confluence of events. He lost his junior year to a right ACL tear and his senior year was the COVID season, which limited him to just a handful of games.

“I only had five varsity high school games. … In high school, I didn’t really get much film,” Gayer said.

But Gayer still wanted to play in college and started looking at community colleges around the state. He said he wanted to get away from home to get the full college experience.

Turns out his high school coach knew just the place. Joe McNab, who coached football for 41 years at Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks, is a South City native and a 1976 graduate of Serra, who then played two years at CSM.

“He kind of mentioned CSM to me,” Gayer said.

Gayer grayshirted his first year at CSM in 2021 and became a rotational player, seeing time in the Bulldogs’ 2022 state championship win, a 55-0 whitewashing of Riverside — making Gayer a rare, two-time state champion.

But the last week of spring camp in 2023, Gayer suffered an ACL tear to his left knee, forcing him out for the season.

“The first few hours was disbelief. I was thinking, ‘Am I ever going to play again?’” Gayer said. “As I got into the locker room and changed out of my pads, I decided I could medical redshirt. It’s not over. After that … the injury kind of gave me new motivation.”

But Tulloch wanted to make sure that Gayer was involved with the team just as much as he was going through rehab on his knee. To that end, the coaching staff took Gayer under its wing.

“(Defensive coordinator Hansen) Sekona said, ‘Let’s not just burn his time strictly in rehab.’ Coach Sekona put him to work,” Tulloch said. “Instead of just standing on the sideline, Gayer was going to play the part of like a graduate assistant coach. He learned the game from a coach’s lens for a year as he was rehabbing.”

Gayer said he had a better understanding of not just his position, but the game itself and it certainly translated to the field this season. Gayer set a new single-season sack record with 15 1/2, bettering the mark set in 1993 by John Langridge, who had 12 1/2 sacks 31 years ago.

Gayer also tied for the team-lead in tackles with Ezra Funa, another So Cal transplant and Mater Dei product, who both had 53 stops.

“I’m honored to be selected for that award,” Gayer said. “Me being so focused on the day to day, it feels like the grind paid off. The little things every day really added up.”

The Bulldogs had two others named to the All-America list — linebacker Malaki Te’o and punter Tashi Dorje.

Te’o, a sophomore out of Mater Dei, was third on the team in tackles with 49 and three sacks. He was part of a defense that gave up an average of 226 yards and just 12.2 points per game this season.

Dorje, a sophomore punter from Liberty-Brentwood, averaged 42 yard per punt, with 22 of his 44 punts being downed inside the 20-yard line.

CSM has seven named to all-state team

The Bulldogs had three offensive players, two defensive players and two special teams players earned Region I all-state honors.

Offense: Simon Mapa (so. TE, Aragon); Soa Takeifonga (so. OL, Grant-Sacramento); Dominic Ingrassia (fr. QB, San Marin-Novato).

Defense: Ezra Funa (so, DL, Mater Dei-Anaheim); Kalen Woods (so., DB, Fremont-Oakland).

Special teams: Hassan Mahasin (so. kick returner, Serra); Dieter Kelly (fr. kicker, Orange Lutheran-Irvine).