M-A wins a defensive slugfest

Mills head coach Erik Anderson said he noticed the impact on the other side of the country, where last season, states like Georgia, changed their rules to the ones being used in the Central Coast Section this year.

“Two years ago, the state of Georgia state championship game, the final score was 52-48,” Anderson said. “Last year, using the same rules we’re using this year, the final was 8-nothing.

“When you have two, evenly matched team, you’re going to get low-scoring games.”

Which is precisely what happened when Mills hosted Menlo-Atherton in the Vikings only home game this season and Senior Night. There were two touchdowns scored — only one on offense. But the Bears did just enough to hold on for a 9-6 win in a battle of Bay Division powers.

“That was an absolute dogfight,” said M-A head coach Jason Knowles, who like Anderson, believed Wednesday’s game under the lights in Millbrae would be a tight, low-scoring affair.

“Mills is so good,” Knowles continued. “They’re so well coached. Whoever made the fewest mistakes was going to win the game.”

And in the end, it wasn’t a typical mistake that cost Mills (0-1 PAL Bay, 3-1 overall) the game. Both teams came up with three interceptions and both committed drive-killing penalties.

No. The biggest mistake might have been the Mills quarterback holding on to the ball too long and Bears rusher Samantha Ruiz pulling the flag in the end zone for a safety, putting M-A (2-0, 8-1) up 9-0 on the final play of the third quarter.

“That was the big play. … That gave us the ball at the 30. It gave us an extra possession and a chance to run clock,” Knowles said. “I thought we’d get two scores. I thought two scores would be enough.

“I didn’t think a safety would have been one of them.”

And neither on them coming on offense, either.

The Mills offense struggled all game, but the Vikings’ defense kept them in the game. Amaya Moore, who had two of Mills’ three interceptions, thwarted one drive late in the fourth with an interception at at her own 5-yard line.

It was short-lived, however, as Ruiz got the safety three plays later.

But Moore gave her team another shot as she came up with her second pick two plays after the safety, setting Mills up at the M-A 25 and this time the Vikings cashed in.

After a pair of 3-yard rushes, quarterback Alyssa Peñas rolled to her right and rifled her best pass of the night, finding Lucy Esquivel down the right sideline, hitting her in stride for a 19-yard scoring strike with nine minutes to play.

The Vikings failed on the conversion, but they were going to need another score, anyway, to win.

And Mills had one last chance. The Vikings defense held the Bears to a punt on their ensuing drive and Mills took over at its own 30. But as had been the case for most of the night, the Vikings struggled to move the ball and found themselves facing a fourth-and-10. Mills ran a go route up the left sideline, but Lina Vaka’s pass to Moore was just a little long and Mills turned the ball over on downs with just under two minutes to play.

“It would have been nice to connect on that,” Anderson said. “It was there.”

M-A proceeded to run out the clock, picking up a crucial first down on a 21-yard, Mae Kunihiro-to-Aisley Burch catch and run on third-and-15.

“It all came together at the end,” Knowles said.

It was an interesting end to a game that looked like it might be one filled with fireworks as M-A needed just three plays to take a 7-0 lead. Mills had the opening possession and faced third-and-4 at its own 16. Peñas dropped back to pass and lofted a ball to Alexis Ivankov.

But the ball was a little high, Ivankov couldn’t make a clean catch and M-A defender Juliana Pandolfo came swooping in to make the bobbling interception and returning it 15 yards for the score. Kunihiro then hit Ryland Caelius with a conversion pass to put the Bears up 7-0.

And it stayed that way to the end of the half, with the Bears making a goal-line stand late in the second quarter.

Mills embarked on the longest drive of the game after Esquivel came up with the Vikings’ first interception of the night with just over three minutes left in the second quarter.

Starting at the M-A 39, Mills marched down to the 6-yard on six plays and had first-and-goal. But four incomplete passes later, M-A took over downs at ran out the clock to lead 7-0 at halftime.

Combined, the teams managed just 274 yards of offense — 156 for M-A and 118 for Mills. Kunihiro completed 10 of 15 passes for 91 yards and rushed for 55 on nine carries. Elise Koo was the Bears’ leading receiver, catching three balls for 35.

Esquivel caught four passes for a game-high 42 yards for Mills, while Ivankov was the Vikings’ leading rusher, finishing with 22 yards on four carries. She also caught a pass for 9 more yards.

“I anticipated a low-scoring game,” Knowles said. “I don’t think either one of us had been tested yet.”