M-A claims CCS Division III football title

“I knew obviously playoffs was always on the table, even at 0-4 the way our league dynamics (work),” Saunders said. “When we were at tough moments in the season, we talked about that we are playing for much more than just the next game. ... And I’m really glad we made the playoffs, because I think the playoffs have allowed us to become the team we’re capable of being.”

Senior quarterback Teddy Dacey was at the forefront of the Bears showing they are indeed capable of greatness. It’s been an up-and-down season for Dacey, but the unassuming 5-11, 175-pounder showed out with his finest all-around game of the season Saturday at Kathleen MacDonald High School.

Dacey was 15-of-24 passing for 202 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing 10 times for a season-best 68 yards and another score.

“Give him the football and watch him go,” Saunders said. “He is the real deal and I feel very lucky to coach him.”

Perhaps Dacey’s most critical pass of the night came on the game’s first play from scrimmage, when he hit sophomore Kyle Gabriel on a 15-yard out route toward the M-A sideline. Not only was it the play that put the Bears’ first scoring drive in motion — a 10-play, 80-yard march, capped by an 8-yard Dacey run on a trick-play sweep with him lined up at the wide out position — but the initial pass allowed M-A to breathe a quick sigh of relief and settle into its pro-style game plan.

“That’s what happens every game,” Dacey said. “Before the first snap, everyone, even me, I’m shaking before the first snap. But once we get rolling, our offense is tough to stop.”

M-A used a 21-yard scoring strike from Dacey to senior Matthew Kwon on a wheel route early in the second quarter, and special teams barrage — with a fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff, setting up a 29-yard field goal by senior Anthony Perez — to go up 17-0.

After San Mateo scored just before halftime on a 9-yard quarterback keeper by senior Lukas Fitzgerald, the Bears upped the lead to 24-7 with 4:45 to play in the third quarter on a 44-yard rainmaker pearl from Dacey to junior Zachary Sokol.

Three plays later, No. 8-seed San Mateo (9-4) was faced with its most monumental crossroads of the season when Fitzgerald — the heart and soul of the Bearcats’ read option offense — scrambled 7 yards toward the M-A sideline, only to hit the turf with a knee injury. As the senior lay motionless on the turf, the San Mateo sideline was deathly silent, only to offer a stunned round of applause when Fitzgerald was helped off the field minutes later. The senior would not return to the field.

“For him to go all this route, and just to have basic football injuries and to be out at that point, it sucks,” San Mateo head coach Jeff Scheller said. “And everyone knows it kind of limits our playbook at some point. But I’m really proud of them, how they played.”

The Bearcats turned to senior Tyce Copus to take over under center. The team’s third-string quarterback — senior backup Roman Toki was already out of action due to injury — Copus hadn’t taken a snap all season.

Copus emerged to capitalize on some late defensive substitutions by M-A and brought the Bearcats back from the abyss. The senior totaled nine carries for 48 yards and a touchdown.

“It’s tough,” Scheller said. “I have to say, these guys never quit, and it showed at the end. Even when we have Tyce, who is technically our third-string quarterback ... it just shows the grit that they have.”

M-A took over on a punt after the Fitzgerald injury, and added one more score on a 7-yard pass from Dacey to Kwon with 7:40 to play.

But the Bearcats struck right back, returning a kickoff just shy of midfield, and sophomore TJ Johnson racing into the red zone with a 54-yard carry. Two plays later, senior Jovani Hernandez Cruz scored on a 1-yard dive into the end zone. San Mateo then recovered an onside kick midway through the fourth quarter, and three plays later Copus exploited daylight through the middle of the line to score a 34-yard touchdown.

“It was great,” San Mateo junior lineman Eric Pahulu said. “He did his job, executed the plays — his little shifty moves and he was gone.”

M-A’s biggest moment of the game came midway through the third quarter with the game still hanging in the balance.

On the Bears’ first possession of the second half, a Dacey pass on third-and-3 from the M-A 42 fell incomplete. With a 10-point advantage, M-A opted to go for it on fourth down, and Dacey threw a screen pass to senior running back Evailmalo Ama. A San Mateo defender read the play and was closing on Ama when he caught the ball well behind the line of scrimmage, but the longtime rugby player juked around the tackle and made his way to the sideline for a 10-yard pickup to move the chains.

“Their whole team sniffed it out, but I just had to keep my distance,” Ama said. “I seen him, and — I play rugby, so in the open field I know I can make that happen.”

Ama finished with 90 total yards, including 11 carries for 72 yards, and two catches for 18.

“We just didn’t want to give them the ball back, to be honest,” Saunders said. “We’ve gone on fourth a lot throughout the year. So, it really wasn’t a question, whether or not to go on fourth. It felt like that was a situation that fit the mold for us. And, Eva slipped a tackle and made a big play when we needed it the most.”

For San Mateo, the season culminates in the program’s first CCS appearance since 2003, when the Bearcats won the CCS Division III crown led by one of the greatest running backs in San Mateo County history, Toke Kefu, uncle of San Mateo’s current lineman Pahulu.

“We’re feeling sad,” Pahulu said. “But the last time we were in CCS was in ’03. ... All the older boys, they’re all proud of us. They came to every game.”

With the title win, M-A now advances to the CIF Division 4-A playoffs. The Bears will host the Northern California Division 4-A regional championship game Saturday at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to the state championship game.

Former M-A head coach Adhir Ravipati will headline the CIF regional playoffs, as his CCS Open Division champion Riordan Crusaders play for the Nor Cal Division 1-AA crown Friday night at Folsom. Kickoff is 7 p.m.

Also in the Nor Cal field is CCS Division I champion Serra. The Padres will travel to St. Mary’s-Stockton for the Division 2-AA regional final Friday at 7:30 p.m.