A slate of largely unassuming matchups made for a week of thrilling games around the Central Coast Section, with rivals playing spoiler and league title races taking turns for the unexpected.
The PAL’s rivalry slate was as fun as always, and two of the games on the league’s south end came down to the wire.
Sacred Heart Prep beat Menlo in the Valparaiso Bowl, 25-24. Brad Yaffe connected with Kyle Cody on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 53 seconds remaining and hit Garrett Gavello for the game-winning two-point conversion.
While SHP’s playoff hopes rose with the win, Sequoia put a serious dent in rival Carlmont’s playoff chances, beating the Scots 13-7 in overtime. Carlmont’s game-winning field goal try at the end of regulation hit the crossbar, and after a Sequoia defensive stop to start OT, David Tukalau found paydirt to end the game.
Stunners in the MTAL
While the final MTAL football games will be played over the coming week, the league’s final season won’t be forgotten anytime soon. While it was mostly former SCCAL teams deciding the races, Soledad earned the title outright with a 35-0 win over Stevenson and Scotts Valley’s shocking 7-6 defeat at the hands of San Lorenzo Valley.
In the Coastal Division, St. Francis SCP seemed to be well on its way to an outright title and a perfect league record, but Santa Cruz’s defense proved to be a buzzsaw on Friday as the Cardinals stunned the Sharks, 21-14. A win over rival Harbor (1-8, 0-5) would give Santa Cruz an outright league title that few would have expected at the outset of the season.
Lethal ground attack
Lincoln put up a season-high 55 points in Friday’s win over Leigh with one plan and one plan only: run. The Lions threw the ball just twice and accounted for all eight of their touchdowns on the ground.
Mustangs end losing streak in style
Capuchino entered Friday’s Battle of the Strip against Mills having lost six straight after a 2-0 start to the season. The Mustangs didn’t just end their skid, they stomped it out, smothered the remaining embers of defeat and distanced themselves from that streak as much as possible, beating the Vikings 62-0. The craziest part? Capuchino only led 3-0 after the first quarter, and Mills had fared better against common opponents.
Do or die
Playing Terra Nova is always special for Pacifica native John Philipopoulos, but when his Burlingame team takes the field on Thursday, it’ll be with a lot on the line. A win would give the Panthers the fourth and final automatic playoff berth from the PAL Bay Division, while a loss would likely spell the end of their season.
Unbeaten watch
All three of the section’s undefeated teams hardly broke a sweat in maintaining their perfect records. Milpitas finished the regular season at 10-0 with a 45-7 win over Homestead, and Gilroy did the same with a 42-6 win at North Monterey County. Half Moon Bay took down rival Terra Nova 45-7 to improve to 9-0, with a Friday afternoon trip to Sacred Heart Prep remaining as the only thing standing between the Cougars and a perfect regular season.
