SHP shuts down Burlingame for CCS DIV title

“When you play Burlingame, they do such a good job coaching and playing their style of game. It wasn’t always going to be clear sailing,” said SHP head coach Mark Grieb, who guided the Gators to their second title and in four years and their seventh in school history.

“I guess I expected them to give us a hard time.”

Which is exactly what the Panthers did. They held SHP (7-6) in relative check, but 208 rushing yards the Gators and one more big play than Burlingame (8-5) proved to be the difference.

And all three of those momentum-swinging plays came in less than two minutes late in the third quarter. Trailing 7-3 at halftime, the Burlingame defense forced a SHP punt to start the second half. On the Panthers’ first possession, they faced a fourth-and-1 at their own 38 and lined up in the “wildcat” with do-everything Cole Hardtke lined up to take the snap.

Burlingame had run a similar play in a similar spot in the the second quarter and it resulted in a first-and-goal.

But this time, disaster struck. Hardtke bobbled and ultimately fumbled the snap, which was scooped up by SHP senior lineman Aseli Fangupo, who went 35 yards the other way for a touchdown and a 14-3 Gators’ lead with just over three minutes left in the quarter.

“The last time we were in a section final, [Fangupo] was a freshman and had a fumble recovery and couldn’t quite get it in,” Grieb said. “this one he got in.”

But Burlingame responded. After a 25-yard kickoff return by Jake Flood gave the Panthers good field position at their own 40, they needed just two plays to answer SHP’s big play.

After a 16-yard run from Lucas Kirk, Burlingame quarterback Luke Levitt hit Flood on a seam route and he took it 44 yards to the house and the Panthers were back within four, 14-10, with 2:19 left in the period.

It was the highlight of the game for the senior Levitt, whose 181 passing yards was his second-best output of the season as he connected on 15 of 29 passes

But the Gators responded with another haymaker, needing one less play to do so. Starting the ensuing possession on 37, SHP’s Sasha Bamdad took a handoff left on a jet sweep. He seemed dead to rights when a Burlingame defender knifed his way into the backfield and got his hands on Bamdad, but the junior shrugged off the tackle attempt and with a wall of blockers in front of him, went 67 yards untouched to put the Gators up 21-10 with 1:58 left in the third.

“Those are the plays that are the difference,” said Burlingame head coach John Philipopoulos.

While those plays factored into the decision, like any football game, it wasn’t decided on just those three plays. There were moments throughout the game that swung momentum back and forth.

After SHP running back Maxime Morelle bulled his into the end zone from 7 yards out to cap a 55-yard, eight-scoring drive on their Gators’ first possession of the game, Burlingame looked poised to answer.

The Panthers, starting on their own 34, marched down the field, avoiding a near interception along the way, before they eventually faced a fourth-and-1 at the SHP 5-yard line. Hardtke, in a foreshadowing of things to come, lined up in the “wildcat,” took the snap and burrowed his way four yards for a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line.

But a false start penalty moved the Panthers back 5 yards, followed by a 1-yard loss. On second-and-goal from the 7, Timote Fangupo got the first of his two sacks for an 8-yard loss. A screen pass took the ball back to the SHP 6-yard line and Burlingame had to settle for a 23-yard Dylan Rossen field goal to get the Panthers on the scoreboard.

“A huge stop on the goal line,” Grieb said. “It’s a different game if we don’t stop them (there).”

For Philipopoulos, it was a repeat of a season-long nightmare.

“We had an opportunity to put 7 on the board and we didn’t finish that drive,” Philipopoulos said. “In many ways, it was a microcosm of our season. We just had a couple self-inflicted wounds. … We played a role in our own demise.”

Despite that, the Burlingame defense kept the Panthers in the game as SHP’s ensuing drive stalled out at the Panthers’ 18-yard line and a 35-yard field goal attempt was wide left and the teams went into halftime with the Gators leading 7-3.

“We were extremely optimistic at halftime,” Philipopoulos said. “We went toe-to-toe with them. … They outweigh us across the board (on the offensive and defensive lines). … We had the feeling we could do this.”

And it wasn’t all great for SHP, either. With a chance to ice the game in the fourth quarter, the Gators fumbled the ball away at the Burlingame 24 to give the Panthers hope.

But the SHP defense was just as good, if not better, than Burlingame’s. The Gators forced a punt on the drive after the fumble, forced the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs and then stopped Burlingame at the 5-yard line as time expired.

SHP held the Panthers to just 89 yards rushing, quite an achievement considering Burlingame had rushed for a combined 440 yards in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The Gators also added five sacks — two from Timote Fangupo, and one each from Aseli Fangupo, Cole Staley and Chase Smith.

“I thought our defense played outstanding,” Grieb said.

While the Gators will go about preparing for a Northern California regional bowl game, the Panthers will turn in their gear Monday. But Philipopoulos is content knowing that his team gave its all this season.

“We punched above our weight class,” Philipopoulos said. “I’m as proud of these guys as any guys I’ve ever coached.”