Mills football falls to Monta Vista

Monta Vista simply ran out the clock and celebrated the victory Friday night in Millbrae.

After a 49-0 blowout loss to Aptos to open the season last week, Mills head coach Kevin Thorson was glad to see his team make some progress, but was mostly disappointed and frustrated not to get a better result in Week 2.

“We had chances and we made mistakes,” Thorson said. “It was a better effort (than Week 1), but it wasn’t a complete effort.”

If there are football gods, they were on Monta Vista’s sideline because the stat sheet said the Matadors should have won this game going away. Junior running back Greyson Mobley — at 6-foot, 190 pounds — was the star of the show, rumbling for 286 yards on the ground on 33 carries, scoring three times.

If that wasn’t enough, he was doing 50-yard wind sprints after the game.

“He was solid,” Thorson said of Mobley “That’s what he needs to do.”

Overall, Monta Vista out-gained Mills 407 to 87 and ran 57 plays to just 27 for the Vikings.

Mobley rushed for 104 yards on 10 carries — in the first quarter — as the Matadors racked up 207 yards of offense in the first half, running 34 plays in the process.

Mills, at halftime, had run 10 plays and Fonzy Ortega was the offense, rushing for 73 yards.

Ortega had a strong effort, finishing with 104 yards rushing on 19 carries and scored all three of the Vikings’ touchdowns.

And yet, the game was tied at 14-all at the half. But when the Vikings lost lineman Conner Foreman late in the second quarter, it was a sign of things to come. After some effective running from Ortega in the first half, it dried up in the second. In addition to losing Foreman, disorganization, cramps and lack of concentration also factored into the Vikings’ struggles over the final two quarters.

“I think when we lost Conner, that was a huge difference,” Thorson said.

Meanwhile, the Vikings defense could not slow Mobley. After Monta Vista forced Mills to punt on the first possession of the third quarter, the Matadors took over and marched 52 yards on seven plays, the key being a 20-yard sweep from Aakash Parashar that took the ball down to the Mills 14. Three plays later, Mobley bulled his way into the end zone from 2 yards out to put the Matadors up 20-14.

Mills punted on its next possession and Monta Vista, again, marched in for the score. The Matadors needed just six plays to cover 81 yards, getting runs of 12, 15 and 34 yards before Mobley, again, scored, this time from 10 yards out and the Matadors led 26-14.

The only stat in which Mills won was the turnover battle as the Matadors’ second fumble of the night set up the Vikings final score, with Ortega going in from 15 yards out to cap a 5-play, 32-yard drive.

The Vikings got the ball back one more time, but they could do nothing with it.

“We couldn’t execute,” Thorson said.

After a scoreless first quarter that saw Monta Vista run 20 plays to just three for Mills, the Matadors opened the scoring in the second when quarterback Priyansh Modi found Ronit Ramchandani with a 9-yard touchdown pass for a 6-0 lead.

Mills answered right back. On first-and-15 from the Monta Vista 49-yard line, Ortega took a handoff and appeared stuffed in the backfield.

Instead, he bounced it to the outside and took off down the left sideline, shrugging off a couple tackles and bulling his way into the end zone for a 49-yard touchdown. He then kick the extra point for a 7-6 lead.

Mills upped its advantage to 14-6 when the Vikings recovered the Matadors’ first fumble of the game at the Monta Vista 10-yard line. Three plays later, Ortega swept right and went into the end zone from 8 yards out.

But Monta Vista came back on its next drive, going 63 yards on six plays, with Mobley going in from a yard out. A 2-point conversion tied the game at 14 going into halftime.

“Hopefully by the time we get to [Lake Division play], we’ll be better,” Thorson said.