M-A flag football on top in PAL Bay

Monday, the Bears faced their biggest test to date: hosting Nor Cal power Carlmont essentially for the Bay Division title, despite each team having one game to go.

And the game played out like many would have expected a game of such importance to unfold — a game that not only went down to the wire, but into overtime.

And when M-A’s Mo Rhai Balinton stepped in front of the game-tying extra point in the first overtime period, the Bears celebrated the biggest win in program history, far surpassing the other two, as they beat the Scots 19-18.

“If you go at the … queens, you best not miss,” M-A head coach Jason Knowles said. “I didn’t know if we had the playbook to stop them. [Carlmont] has no weaknesses.”

There was another historical first in M-A’s win: the Bears were the first team from the PAL to beat Carlmont, which had been a perfect 27-0 against PAL competition since 2023.

“Crazy,” is how Carlmont head coach Oscar Fabic described the game.

“Obviously, it hurts,” he said. “You can see how much it meant to them.”

In the end, the defense for M-A (5-0 PAL Bay, 11-2 overall) was just a little bit better than that of Carlmont (4-1, 11-3). In the first half, it was the Scots’ defense in control, holding the Bears to just 58 yards of offense as Carlmont built a 12-0 by halftime.

In the second half, the script flipped. M-A quarterback Mae Kunihiro got hot and the Bears defense kept the Scots out of the end zone as M-A tied the score with less than seven minute to play in regulation.

M-A opened overtime with the ball, getting four downs from the 20-yard line.

In flag football, first downs are every 20 yards, so there would be no chance for a fresh set of downs.

Kunihiro ran for nine yards on the first play of overtime and thew incomplete on second down to set up third-and-goal from the 11. She took the shotgun snap and had plenty of time to throw. With the Carlmont pass rush closing in, Kunihiro fired a laser to the back of the end zone to find Elise Koo, who gathered it to give the Bears an 18-12 lead.

M-A went for a one-point conversion and got it, with Ryland Caelius making a catch off a tip.

Carlmont then got its shot and converted, when Lauren Greene found Sam Tow for a 10-yard scoring strike. The Scots elected to go for the tie and, with Greene under heavy pressure, she threw the ball toward the end zone, where Mo Rhai Balinton picked off the pass to preserve the win and set off a wild celebration.

“Our defense has been money all year,” Knowles said.

The Bears’ defense needed to be strong to rally for the win. They took a big gut punch early in the first quarter, as Carlmont forced M-A to punt on its first possession.

Moments later, the Bears found themselves trailing 6-0. Scots punt returner Eliza Dennebaum, a freshman call-up from the junior-varsity squad, fielded the ball at her own 20 and went 60 yards the other way for a touchdown with 7:14 left in the opening quarter.

The Scots forced the Bears to punt on their next possession before going back to work, using a pair of big plays to go up two touchdowns. Greene hit Tow on a crossing pattern over the middle for a 29-yard gain down to the M-A 21-yard line. The two hooked up again on the next play, with Tow hauling in a 21-yard scoring strike to go up 12-0 at halftime.

In the second half, the M-A offense finally got rolling. After completing just 6 of 12 passes for 46 yards in the first half, Kunihiro didn’t seem to miss in the second half as she completed 16 of 23 attempts for 130 yards in regulation and was 1 for 2 for 11 yards in overtime.

“We saw a couple of chinks in their armor,” Knowles said. “It was kind of dink and dunk.”

The Bears got the ball first in the second and marched down the field for their first score, going 76 yards on 12 plays. It culminated with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kunihiro to Bailee van Loben Sels, to cut the Carlmont lead in half.

M-A then forced the Scots to punt to end the third quarter, starting the fourth at its own 25. Kunihiro completed five passes on the drive, eventually facing fourth-and-goal from the Scots’ 5-yard line.

Kunihiro took the snap and handed the ball off to Rhai Balinton on a sweep left. It became a race to the goal line and Rhai Balinton and Carlmont defender Ameena Mohammed converged at the same time.

Mohammed seemed to pull the flag before Rhai Balinton crossed the goal line, but the goal line referee was right on the line and called it a touchdown to tie the game at 12-all.

“I didn’t think she got in,” Knowles said.

Added Fabic: “The refs have a tough job. … We control only what we can control.”

There was still six minutes and change left in regulation and the Bears seemed back in business with an interception at their own 19.

The Carlmont defense held firm, however, and forced a punt, catching a break on a shanked punt and the Scots taking over at the Bears’ 37-yard line with 13 seconds left and a timeout left.

An 18-yard completion from Greene to Tow took the ball down to the M-A 19 when the Scots called their final timeout.

On the last play of regulation, Greene and Tow hooked up again, but Tow was stopped two yards short of the goal line to set up overtime. Tow finished with six catches for 113 yards and two scores.

“It feels amazing,” Knowles said. “It’s a credit to these girls.”

Despite the loss, Fabic was equally impressed with the way his team played.

“We told them what we tell them since Day 1: We’re so proud of them when they put their hearts and souls into the game.”

editor's note: this story has been edited. This was not the first OT game in PAL history.