Mills football holds off Matadors for third victory in a row

“Three in a row is officially a streak,” said Mills head coach Rick Angelini as Mills (3-1 PAL Lake, 3-3 overall) won for the third week in a row. “In the beginning of the year, we said, ‘Let’s put a competitive product on the field.’ … Now it’s the belief that we should win.”

A 52-yard scoring strike from Justin Kang to Mousa Arigat with just under nine minutes left to play turned out to be the difference in the game. Facing second-and-10 from his own 48, Kang took the snap and dropped back. He scrambled to his right, directing traffic before unleashing a long pass down the right sideline.

Arigat made the catch at about the 20-yard line between two defenders, slipped past both of them and went into the end zone.

A Kang sneak on the extra-point was short and the Vikings led 20-14.

Monta Vista had three more cracks at it — two of which ended in fumbles recovered by Mills.

The Mills offense managed only 216 yards, but still managed to score a pair of touchdowns. Roldofo Carvalho returned a kickoff for a score and the defense did the rest.

While Monta Vista (1-3, 2-4) racked up 335 yards of offense, including 267 on the ground, the Vikings employed a bend-but-don’t-break strategy and it worked out.

Monta Vista had five first-half possessions. The Matadors scored on their first drive and then went punt, punt, turnover-on-downs, turnover-on-downs twice in Mills territory.

The second half was similar to the first as the Vikings held Monta Vista to a touchdown, two turnovers-on-downs and two fumbles.

Additionally, the Vikings came up with five sacks for minus-30 yards.

“We’ve relied pretty heavily on our defense all year,” Angelini said. “And they’ve come through.”

When Monta Vista did manage to score, Mills answered right away.

After Mills turned the ball over on downs to start the game, Monta Vista drove 61 yards on eight plays as the Matadors spread double-wing, deception offense gave Mills trouble early. Hamza Moharram capped the drive with a one-yard dive.

The PAT was blocked, however, and the Matadors settled for a 6-0 lead.

It was short-lived, however, as the Vikings answered on the ensuing kickoff. Carvalho fielded the kick at his 36 and after facing resistance going straight ahead, Carvalho bounced it left and bolted down the left sideline for a 64-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, his third of the season.

Ulisses Huerta’s extra-point gave Mills a 7-6 lead, one the Vikings would no relinquish.

Carvalho would end up with 108 return yards on the night.

Neither team mustered much offensively the rest of the first half, although the Vikings did put together its best drive of the game early in the second quarter. After a Monta Vista punt, Mills took over at its own 44. On first down, Kang found Kareem Mosa on seam route for a 45-yard gain down to the Matadors’ 11. Facing third-and-goal at the 5, Kang took the shotgun snap, avoided a would-be tackler in the backfield and scampered around the left side and into the end zone for a 14-6 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the second quarter.

Mills kept Monta Vista running back Greyson Mobley, who led all of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League in rushing in 2021, in check in the first half, holding him to just 47 yards.

But he was always a ticking time bomb, set to explode at any time.

In the second half, Mobley came alive. The Matadors took the second-half kickoff and promptly went on their longest drive of the night. Starting at their own 25, they moved the ball to the Mills 27 before the Mills defense stiffened and forced them to turn the ball over downs.

Monta Vista came up with an interception and then Mobley exploded, going 51 yards on an inside reverse handoff for the touchdown. His 2-point conversion tied the game at 14-all with just over 10 minutes to play.

Mobley finished the game with 188 yards on 19 carries.

But Mills answered right back. After an incompletion, Kang found Arigat for the game-winning score.

Kang would end up 8-for-15 for a career-high 166 yards and a touchdown against two interceptions.

“We passed more [tonight] than we have all this year,” Angelini said.

Kang also led the team in rushing with 45 yards as the Vikings finished with just 216 yards of offense.

But it was enough to get the job down Friday night.

“That was fun and exciting football,” Angelini said. “I’m so proud of those guys. They’ve bought in to the concept of what we want this program to be.”