San Mateo takes down Terra Nova

The San Mateo football team doesn’t run Herman Boone’s veer offense. The Bearcats employ the triple option, but like the veer, just give it time.

San Mateo ran its offense to near perfection Friday night in its meeting with Terra Nova. The Bearcats certainly would have liked to score more — they had their chances. But the Bearcats’ option proved to be too much for the host Tigers, who could not slow San Mateo all night as the Bearcats pulled away for a 26-14 win to take control of the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division with a perfect 4-0 mark.

“We decided to go to this (option offense) five years ago,” said San Mateo head coach Jeff Scheller. “This (kind of performance) is what we hoped for.”

It wasn’t just the offense that enabled San Mateo (4-0 PAL Ocean, 6-2 overall) to hand Terra Nova (3-1, 6-2) its first Ocean Division loss of the season. The Bearcats’ defense played one of its best games of the season, as well. They held the Tigers to just 45 yards of offense in the first half and just 234 for the game.

“Defense came out with a lot of energy,” said San Mateo quarterback G.C. Selvitella. “This is probably our best defensive performance (of the year).”

With the Bearcats defense bottling up Terra Nova running back Mateo Corona, who finished with just 40 yards rushing, and limiting quarterback Mason Mini 185 of total offense, it enabled the Bearcats offense to play a little looser.

And once San Mateo took a 6-0 lead, the option offense is a great one to grind down the clock.

“This offense, when you’re up (on the scoreboard), there is no better offense,” Selvitella said.

In order to reach that level, however, an option offense needs an option quarterback who can read defenses consistently. Selvitella, in his fourth year in the offense and third year as a varsity starter, knows the Bearcats’ offense forward, backward and upside down.

“My freshman and sophomore years, I was really paying attention to the reads,” Selvitella said. “Now it’s on instinct.”

Despite racking up 386 yards of offense — 356 of which were on the ground — San Mateo led only 6-0 at halftime. The Bearcats forced Terra Nova to punt on its opening possession after picking up a pair of first downs.

The Bearcats started their first drive on their own 44 and proceeded to march 56 yards on 10 plays, taking 4 minutes, 41 seconds off the clock. Gabe Buenrostro capped the drive by taking an option pitch to the right and jogging into the end zone without a defender in sight for a 6-0 lead.

A fumble ended San Mateo’s next drive and the Bearcats turned the ball over on downs at the Tigers’ 22 before ending the half by missing a 37-yard field goal attempt.

San Mateo received the second-half kickoff and were in danger of going three-and-out. But on third-and-6 from his 26, Selvitella dropped back and arced a long pass downfield where Cameron Palma made an over-the-shoulder grab for a 30-yard gain. Six plays later, the Bearcats doubled their lead to 12-0 when Selvitella weaved his way into the end zone from 14 yards out midway through the third quarter.

“If we don’t get that (completion), we have to punt,” Scheller said. “Who knows what happens after that.”

After a quiet first half, the Tigers finally found their rhythm in the third quarter. On their first drive of the second half, the Tigers moved right down the field, going 87 yards on 11 plays, with Corona going in from 2 yards out to cut the San Mateo lead to 12-7.

But San Mateo answered right back. After softening the middle of the Terra Nova defense in the first half, Bearcats fullback Daniel Feletoa finally got some running room in the second half. Needing a solid drive following Terra Nova’s score, the Bearcats provided one, with Feletoa going the final 33 yards on a dive up the middle that he took to the house.

It was his only touchdown of the night, one that saw him rush for 163 yards on 22 carries.

Feletoa certainly has the bloodlines to be good. His cousin is San Mateo legend Toke Kefu, who led the Bearcats to their last Central Coast Section title in 2003.

“Daniel was a pleasant surprise,” Scheller said. “He has that rugby background. He has that ability to make people miss.”

Terra Nova did not go quietly, however, answering right back. A Mini-to-Steven Dalton completion picked up 46 yards and four plays later, Mini spun out of a tackle and went 19 yards to close to 19-14 with 5:11 to play.

But it was four dropped passes that really cost Terra Nova, all of which could have resulted in big plays.

“We probably lose this game if they make those catches,” Scheller said.

San Mateo recovered a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff and Selvitella put the final nail in the Tigers’ coffin, capping a eight-play, 77-yard drive with a 29-yard scoring scamper with 2:09 to play.

A kneel down on the final play cost Selvitella a yard and he finished with 99 on 16 carries.

“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t think we’d be at this point,” Scheller said. “But I told [the team] after the game, they’re just getting better every day.”