Half Moon Bay stuns Panthers in first round of CCS

“Lot of fun — at times,” Half Moon Bay head coach Keith Holden said with a smile. “It helped that we went fast. That helped us gain momentum.”

The win was the first in CCS for Half Moon Bay since the 2017 season. They will be on the road at top-seeded Branham in a Division IV semifinal game next week. The Bruins escaped with a 35-34 win over No. 8 Christopher.

Half Moon Bay (8-3) known for its triple-option misdirection, instead leaned on pace to get back into the game. That and Burlingame (6-5) penalties. After Haba’s touchdown increased Burlingame’s lead to three touchdowns, the Panthers were flagged for a pair of dead ball, unsportsmanlike penalties and the ensuing kickoff came from the Panthers’ own 12-yard which helped set up Half Moon Bay’s first score.

Following a 37-yard return from Paxton Holden, Half Moon Bay started its first drive of the second half at the Burlingame 29-yard line and three plays later were in the end zone on a 15-yard Holden run midway through the third quarter.

The Cougars defense then made its presence felt by forcing Burlingame to punt on its next possession and Half Moon Bay went to work using a hurry-up offense and bludgeoning runs from fullback Joedoln Flores.

After carrying the ball just three times for 11 yards in the first half, the Cougars went to Flores often in the second half and the Burlingame defense simply could not stop the bruising back. Flores would run for 125 yards on 17 carries in the final two quarters, scoring a pair of touchdowns. He finished the game with 136 yards rushing on 20 carries.

Was there a concerted effort to get Flores more touches in the second half? Coach Holden said not necessarily.

“That’s all based on reads,” Coach Holden said. “He’s the perfect back for our offense. He won’t get arm-tackled.”

HMB started its next drive on its own 29 and started going hurry-up. Flores had back-to-back runs of 7 yards, but the Cougars took a step backward when Paxton Holden was thrown for a 2-yard loss.

But an offsides call against Burlingame gave HMB five free yards and when a 15-yard penalty was tacked onto the end of another 7-yard Flores run, the Cougars were suddenly at the Panthers’ 27.

Not even a holding penalty could slow down the Cougars, who followed that with a 9-yard run from Paxton Holden, 10 from Flores, eight on a pitch to Brandon Melo and capped by Flores bulling his way into the end zone from 7 yards out. That, coupled with a run from Paxton Holden for a 2-point conversion, and the Cougars were down just 21-14 with 26 left in the third.

Paxton Holden also went over the 100-yard mark rushing, finishing with 107 yards on 16 carries.

Burlingame was, once again, forced to punt and once again, the Cougars marched down the field. Lining up and running right at the Panthers, Flores became the workhorse. Starting at their own 43, HMB needed just seven plays to hit pay dirt again — the big play being a 30-yard blast from Flores that set up his 1-yard plunge.

The Cougars went for 2 and the lead and they got it with Flores converting for a 22-21 HMB lead with 9:45 left in the game.

Burlingame punted again and the Cougars had one last drive in them, with Flores capping his night with a 25-yard burst right up the gut for a touchdown and a 29-21 lead with 1:21 left to play.

“When you go fast, you don’t give [the defense] time to adjust,” Coach Holden said. “I saw one of their kids looked tired and I said, ‘Let’s go.’”

Then it was up to the Cougars defense to make one last stand, which they did — by the skin of their teeth. Burlingame quarterback Nick Armstrong connected with Dylan Black for a 31-yard completion to the HMB 19. Armstrong then found Haba in the flat for 16 yards down to the Cougars’ 3-yard line.

But HMB stuffed a pair of runs and after Armstrong spiked the ball with just under 5 seconds to play, Burlingame faced fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line. Armstrong took the snap and looked to throw the ball, before just throwing it up for grabs where it was intercepted by HMB’s Lane Miller at the goal line to seal the Cougars’ win.

While the Cougars dominated the second half, it was Burlingame that controlled the first two quarters. After the Panthers stopped a fake-punt run short of the first down on the Cougars’ first possession of the game, Burlingame wasted little time in taking a 7-0 lead. Starting at midfield, the Panthers needed six plays to find the end zone, benefitting from a personal foul penalty against the Cougars, with Armstrong hooking up with Danny O’Sullivan for a 17-yard touchdown.

An interception from Burlingame’s Mark O’Grady at the Cougars’ 39-yard line set up the Panthers’ second touchdown as they marched 61 yards on nine plays, with Evars going into the end zone from 2-yards out to put the Panthers up 14-0, a lead they would hold at halftime.

Despite being held scoreless, Half Moon Bay was moving the ball and Coach Holden said he told his team at halftime to just stick with the game plan.

“I told them at halftime that we weren’t that far off,” Coach Holden said.