Half Moon Bay holds on for ‘W’ in OT over Burlingame

That was not necessarily the case when the teams met Friday night in Burlingame. They looked to be in midseason form. Burlingame got on the board first, but Half Moon Bay countered with 22 unanswered points.

The Panthers then rallied from a 15-points deficit in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime, where Half Moon Bay running back Ronin McCauley plunged into the end zone from a yard out to give the Cougars a wild 35-32 win.

“Two quality football teams, slugging it out,” said Half Moon Bay head coach Keith Holden. “It’s a fun game to play (against Burlingame).”

The game was one of momentum swings, with HMB (1-0) controlling the first half, while Burlingame (0-1) had the better of it in the second half.

But no matter if it’s the first game of the season or the last, mistakes ultimately decided the game. The Panthers fumbled the ball away twice and the Cougars blocked a punt that resulted in a HMB touchdown for a 29-14 lead with 4:02 left.

“Too many self-inflicting wounds,” said Burlingame head coach John Philipopoulos. “I told the kids we played well enough to win. … But the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is going to win.”

Philipopoulos was happy to see his team show some resiliency. After the Cougars took a 15-point lead following the blocked punt, the Panthers rallied back on the arm of quarterback Nick Armstrong. Starting from his own 28 with 3:56 left in the fourth quarter, Armstrong hit younger brother Will Armstrong for a nine-yard gain on fourth-and-5 to keep the drive the alive. They later connected on passes of 20 and nine yards before Jacob Jajeh capped the drive with a 14-yard catch-and-run and the Panthers were down 29-21 with 1:20 left in regulation.

The Panthers were immediately back in business when they recovered an onside kick and the Armstrong brothers hooked up again for a 41-yard gain down to the HMB 9-yard line.

“Nick played really well,” Philipopoulos said. “He had some big plays today.”

Nick Armstrong accounted for 211 yards of offense. He was the game’s leading rusher with 78 yards — including a 31-yard scamper early in the second half. He also completed 11 of 21 passes for 133 yards.

Hayden Haba got the Panthers to within a 2-point conversion when he scored from a yard out. He then converted the 2-point conversion and the game was tied at 29-all with 47 left in the regulation.

Burlingame got the ball first in overtime, but were held to a 23-yard Dylan Rossen field goal for a 32-29 lead.

HMB then took over at the 10 for its overtime possession and McCauley punched it into the end zone on third down from a yard out to give the Cougars the 35-32 victory.

“I was thinking, we’ve gone over our two-minute drill, our four-minute drill (in practice),” Holden said. “But the one thing we didn’t? Overtime.”

It was dramatic end to a game that saw both teams control the game. Burlingame came out flying to start the game, forcing the Cougars to go three-and-out on the first possession of the game.

The Panthers took over and promptly drove 64 yards on 11 plays, with Nick Armstrong going around right end for a 16-yard score.

HMB answered right back with sophomore quarterback Paxson Holden finding his legs. He guided the Cougars on a 10-play, 55-yard drive that culminated with a McCauley touchdown from yard out. Paxson Holden then found Luke Pimentel on a pass for a 2-point conversion and an 8-7 lead.

Paxton Holden, making his varsity start, was solid. He rushed for 54 yards and threw for 105.

That score swung the momentum to the HMB sideline. After forcing a Burlingame punt on its next possession, the Cougars scored on their second straight possession. Starting at their own 33, the Cougars marched 67 yards on 14 plays, taking more than eight-and-a-half minutes off the clock to lead 15-7 with 2:14 left in the first half.

Plenty of time for HMB to find pay dirt once again. After Burlingame picked up an initial first down, the Panthers fumbled it away on a botched exchange, with Matthew Hamor recovering it for HMB.

The Cougars had the ball and 46 seconds and needed three plays to get into the end zone for the third time in the opening half. The backbreaker was a double pass that saw Paxson Holden throw a swing pass to Brandon Melo behind the line of scrimmage. Melo then found a wide open Will Wimsett for a 26-yard scoring strike and a 22-7 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the tables turned. The Burlingame defense got much stiffer in the second half and the Panthers’ offense outscored HMB 22-7 in the second half.

Despite the loss, Philipopoulos believes his team got a lot out of the game.

“I do feel it is the type of loss that makes us better,” Philipopoulos said.