Terra Nova downs Capuchino in key PAL Ocean football battle

The Tigers’ red-zone defense was the difference. Capuchino (2-1, 4-3) moved the ball into the red zone four times, but had just one score to show for it on a touchdown pass from AJ Rich to Charlie Sanchez with 1:03 remaining in regulation.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t ugly,” Terra Nova head coach Jason Piccolotti said. “We played solid football, we held them defensively, and I’m happy with these guys. These guys play hard every week.”

Fueled by a yeoman’s effort by Cap quarterback AJ Rich — the senior accounted for 188 total yards, including 15 carries for 136 yards rushing — the Mustangs outgained Terra Nova 354-260 in total yards. But a devastating Cap fumble late in the first half proved the difference on the scoreboard.

Terra Nova went up early, wasting no time going to the ground with a nine-play, 58-yard scoring drive. A big 21-yard, third-down run by Tigers quarterback Mason Mini into the red zone set up a 1-yard scoring blast by Zach Perez to stake the black-and-yellow to a 7-0 lead.

But Cap missed two golden opportunities to get on the board. At the start of the second quarter, the Mustangs whiffed on a 25-yard field goal try. Then after forcing a three-and-out, the Mustangs took the ball back and advanced it to the Terra Nova 21. Rich followed with an elusive quarterback keeper, using a second effort to gallop inside the 5-yard line only to have the ball stripped by Damian Brenner and see it recovered by Terra Nova’s Caleb Catalano at the 1-yard line.

“That changes the dynamic of the game,” Capuchino head coach Jay Oca said. “So, those are just things we’ve got to work on. In a perfect world, we hope that we run the ball and we pound it in, and it’s perfect. They know what we’re doing, they’ve got us dialed in, and we’re trying to move around, move away from certain things, and we didn’t punch it in.”

Terra Nova defensive end Frank Ward performed like a field marshal, normalizing the game despite Cap’s consistent bag of tricks on offense. The Mustangs ran an array of trick plays, including a double pass and two hook-and-ladders. Some worked, some didn’t. But even when they did, Ward and the Tigers kept them in check and never let the momentum sway from Terra Nova.

Ward credited defensive coach George Rush with dissecting Cap’s trick plays so Terra Nova was surprised by nothing.

“With Coach Rush at practice, a hell of a defensive coordinator, he knows his stuff,” Ward said. “We watch film every day at practice, so we know what they’re running. So, every week in practice we stay disciplined, all the trick passes, we’re on that. So, we’re not going to let that get to us. And as long as we stay disciplined, we’re going to do pretty good.”

Mini and running back Mateo Corona paced the Terra Nova offense. Mini gained 98 total yards, including five rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown. Corona carried 15 times for 93 yards.

But, while Mini didn’t throw his first pass until two minutes before halftime, once he did, it was highlight-reel time.

“It wasn’t designed,” Piccolotti said of Mini’s emergence late in the first half. “But it turned out that way and it worked.”

After Terra Nova recovered at its own 1-yard line, Corona opened with ground gainers of 8 and 12 yards. Then Mini connected with Dylan Uter over the middle for a 12-yard pickup. It was his first of three straight passes, the third a gorgeous 38-yard loft to Ronin Sargent to advance to the Capuchino 15.

But the most impressive of Mini’s three throws was the one that didn’t get caught, a majestic loft up the left side that gave the receiver plenty of time to run under it. The throw was right on the mark, and the completion was only denied by a pass interference penalty on the Cap cornerback, giving Terra Nova 15 yards on the penalty to move the sticks for the third straight play.

Two rushes by Mini put the Tigers in the end zone — a 14-yard pick where the senior nearly hurdled a defender, followed by a 1-yard sneak, to make it 14-0.

Two Terra Nova punts inside the Cap 5 by Corona in the second half forced the Mustangs to face long fields. The second one pinned Cap to its 1-yard line with 3:20 to play. But the Mustangs flipped the field, going 99 yards on 13 plays to score with just over a minute left.

And after Cap had already recovered an onside kick to open the second half, nearly everyone at Reyna Field knew what was coming — despite the Mustangs missing their point-after try — as they attempted to stun the Tigers after making it a one-score game.

“We still had an opportunity,” Oca said. “That’s what we do is onside kick. … When we got out of the half, we got an onside kick, we get the ball on the 40-yard line and we try to punch it in, and we don’t get it in. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. … Last week we had a battle, and it came down to the last play; and same thing the week before; and same thing today — it just didn’t go our way.”

With the win, Terra Nova remains one of two unbeaten teams in the PAL Ocean Division. The other is the Bearcats of San Mateo (2-0, 4-2), who host Carlmont Friday night.