Game of the Week: Battle for the Bay

This year — the two teams meet at Sacred Heart Prep 2 p.m. Saturday — is the most advantageous position SHP (3-0 PAL Bay, 7-1 overall) has been in since 2014. Grieb’s Gators are currently alone atop the PAL Bay standings. M-A has one league loss, having dropped its Bay Division opener to Half Moon Bay, a team SHP knocked off the following week. But with Half Moon Bay falling to 2-2 in PAL Bay play with a loss to Burlingame last week, there is now laser clarity at the top of the standings, with SHP essentially playing for the league title outright.

“It definitely shakes things up,” Grieb said of HMB’s loss to Burlingame. “I think had Half Moon Bay won that game, kind of depending how this game went, there was a chance for some teams in a tie for the lead. But if you’re thinking of the standings — and we obviously want to win league, that’s a goal of ours — but we also want to win every game we play. So, it doesn’t really change anything from that perspective.”

M-A (3-1, 5-3) is in a position to control its own destiny. While a Bears victory could only put head coach Chris Saunders’ team in position to share a Bay Division title — keep in mind, SHP still has one league game remaining next week in its official Valpo Bowl rivalry game with Menlo School — an M-A win over SHP would give the Bears the hammer in eventual Central Coast Section playoff seeding, a high road they have been navigating toward in playing the toughest schedule of any public school in San Mateo County.

“It’s a second chance and you don’t those chances very often,” Saunders said. “So that’s been part of our messaging this week. … It’s exciting.”

It’s no surprise the Bears, riding a streak of four straight PAL Bay Division championships, are contending for a league crown. What is surprising is they are doing so with a flourishing ground game. For all the deserved buzz around wide receiver Jurrion Dickey — a senior transfer from Valley Christian and a five-star commit to University of Oregon — he hasn’t played since Week 4 in M-A’s last non-league game against Wilcox.

Since then, senior running back Sherrod Smith has been carrying much of the load at the skill positions. He’s averaging over 100 yards per game and 8.5 yards per carry, including last week’s 24-14 win over Menlo when he carried 20 times for 139 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. Adding to the backfield depth, hammering fullback Jordan Masuisui logged his first 100-yard rushing performance last week.

“We’ve been blocking a little more and controlling the ball,” Saunders said. “And obviously our running backs have come alive.”

M-A, with 2,641 total yards of offense this season, has balanced the attack with 1,412 passing yards and 1,229 rushing yards on the year. The parity has been made possible by a fast and physical offensive line, featuring M-A’s not so secret weapon in 6-7 senior left tackle Soane Faasolo, a three-star commit to University of Washington, along with senior right tackle David Tangilanu.

SHP’s task will be contending with the Bears up front. But this year’s defensive line for the Gators — headlined by 6-3 senior defensive tackle RJ Stephens — is the best group Grieb has had during his head coaching tenure.

“We have a great group,” Grieb said. “When you look at the group, really both sides of the ball, this is the best line we’ve had since I’ve been here. I don’t say that lightly because we’ve had some really good groups. … This group is just really strong top to bottom across the ball, and we have some depth too. … We’ve done a good job of establishing the line of scrimmage and not getting pushed off the ball. And it’s really a tribute to them.”

On offense, SHP should be at full strength after seeing its backfield decimated by injuries three weeks ago in a key 17-7 win over Half Moon Bay. Rushing leader Andrew Latu — the senior is averaging 5.8 yards per carry with a team-high 543 rushing yards — has totaled just 10 carries through the last three games, eight of those coming last week as he got his feet back on the ground in a 26-7 win over Aragon.

“Latu is slated to play,” Grieb said. “He played last week. That went really well. This is one of those games where, as a coach, you don’t really have to say a lot about trying to get the players motivated. They’re motivated.”

While Dickey is surely the top receiver among PAL Bay Division rosters, the best performing receiver in Bay Division games is arguably SHP senior Carter Shaw. The two-way standout, and son of Stanford head coach David Shaw, was having a somewhat modest season until two weeks ago. After the Oct. 8 win over Half Moon Bay, he had just nine receptions on the year, albeit four of them for touchdowns. Over the past two weeks, he’s doubled his catch total, being targeted for six catches against Burlingame and three more against Aragon.

Shaw now has 303 receiving yards, averaging 16.8 yards per catch, with five touchdowns.

“I think we’ve just kind of been growing in confidence in our pass game, and Carter has been growing in confidence, and we’ve been able to target him a little bit more,” Grieb said.

“Obviously the targets are one thing, but he’s also done a great job blocking,” Grieb said. “He’s really become a complete player.”