SAN MATEO — The fanfare was louder, the crowd was larger and the buzz had started weeks ago, but at the end of the 92nd Little Big Game, it was the same old story.
The San Mateo Bearcats entered the county’s oldest rivalry with their best team in over a decade but couldn’t snap their skid against the Burlingame Panthers, losing 22-10 to mark a tenth consecutive defeat at the hands of their longtime foe, undone by seven first-half penalties and a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. By the time the clock hit zero and the teams went through their handshakes, it was the same scene as usual, with The Paw being presented to Burlingame and a mix of long faces and tears on the Bearcat side.
Having lost just once all year and entering play Saturday allowing just 10.6 points per game, San Mateo (8-2) looked to be in great shape early in the third quarter after a Kevin Pelaez interception, the third turnover forced by the Bearcat defense, set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Luke Bergstrom to Michael Vendel to give the hosts a 10-7 lead. Four minutes later, the Panthers finally cracked the code, using outside runs by sophomore Elijah La Guardia to open up the middle for Lucas Meredith, who found a seam to rip off a 42-yard touchdown run. A holding flag on the next possession led to a three-and-out, one of four for San Mateo on the day, setting the Panthers up to strike again. Burlingame (5-5) wasted no time to do so, with sophomore Charlie Koch’s first career catch going for a 39-yard touchdown.
While Koch and La Guardia were just getting their first taste of the rivalry, the Bearcats’ best chance to snap a decade-long streak was right in front of them on Saturday. Six of their offensive starters, including Bergstrom and Vendel, were seniors, and eight of the starters on defense were playing in their final Little Big Game.
“We couldn’t execute,” said a visibly upset Pelaez, who had a team-high 10 tackles in addition to his interception. “We let our emotions get the best of us.”
Those emotions were a positive in the third, when the Bearcats were firing up their packed stands after taking the lead, but they had done more harm than good early on as Burlingame profited repeatedly off flags to take a 7-3 lead into the break. A Bergstrom interception in the final minute of the first quarter set San Mateo up at the Panther 20, and they would get down to the 3 before an illegal shift penalty forced the Bearcats to settle for a 23-yard Olle Mandorf field goal. They would have great field position again early in the second as the Panthers went for it on fourth down at their own 35 and would get stopped as Spencer Unga wrapped Meredith up, but laundry would take them to the wrong side of midfield. Holding wiped out what would have been a 16-yard Dane Anderson pickup, and an unsportsmanlike flag on the next play set up a second-and-30, ultimately leading to a punt.
“We’ve got to clean those up if we want to go far,” San Mateo head coach Jeff Scheller said of the penalties. “Third-and-long in any offense is tough. Putting us in that position doesn’t really help.”
Gains of 10 and 12 by La Guardia and a 31-yard pass from Jordan Malashus to Taylor Kaufman put Burlingame on the edge of the red zone, and Meredith made a beeline for the pylon for a go-ahead 20-yard score.
“He’s going to be a special player for us for the next couple years,” head coach John Philipopoulos said of La Guardia, who ran 15 times for 83 yards and took some of the pressure off of Meredith. “He’s been working really hard in practice and he’s got a great attitude, which is infectious.”
Flags would again haunt the Bearcats on their next drive, even after they reached the Burlingame 20 with a 17-yard pass to Vendel and 39-yard pickup by Lucas Castillo on a screen. A hold would wipe out what would have been another substantial gain for Anderson, and on third-and-11, Kaufman intercepted a Bergstrom pass at the 4.
A 27-yard completion from Jordan Malashus to Devon Malashus, a combination that’s been great for the Panthers the last two years, followed by a 28-yard pass to Kaufman put Burlingame in the red zone, but they’d fail to score before halftime, leaving the window open for San Mateo. Pelaez’s interception to start the third and an 11-yard scramble by Bergstrom on third-and-7 led to Vendel’s touchdown reception, but the Panthers seized control from there. Meredith, who fumbled at the goal line on Burlingame’s opening possession, delivered the go-ahead touchdown with 3:23 left in the quarter, and a holding flag on San Mateo wiped out a five-yard Castillo reception, turning what would have been an attainable fourth-and-1 into a third-and-20. The ensuing punt put Burlingame at the 39, and Koch, who was called up from the JV roster just a week ago, made his first career catch to open up a two-score lead.
“The reality is we probably should have called him up a long time ago,” Philipopoulos said of Koch, who showed he was ready for the moment. “Our JV was having success and he was one of their top players so we really didn’t want to interfere with that. As we got later in the season, we wanted to make sure he had gotten a couple games under his belt before we make a playoff run.
Koch’s first catch was one of eight completions Jordan Malashus had on the day, racking up 169 yards in the process over the course of 15 attempts.
“Luckily the safety bit. Sitting duck right there,” Koch explained. “Compared to those other guys, I know I have to put in more work. I’m 150 (pounds), six-foot.”
Though his touchdown came with 1:26 left in the third, it sucked the remaining life out of the home crowd. The Panthers made lemons out of lemonade on the extra point, with holder Wyatt McGovern running in a botched snap for two, and the Bearcats would never get inside the 35 over the final quarter and change. Yet another personal foul would force them to go three-and-out, and after Burlingame ran four minutes off the clock, they’d get stopped on fourth-and-2 in Panther territory to seal the game, with Taylor Clark swallowing Bergstrom shy of the marker. Meredith and La Guardia took turns chewing up yardage to finish the game from there, with Meredith nearly scoring a third touchdown before finally being stopped on a 17-yard carry that would get the first down to run out the clock. In all, the junior ran 18 times for 130 yards, finding the end zone twice to make his early mistakes a distant memory.
“You’ve got to love the sport,” he said. “It pushes you harder. Run mean, run fast, run low.”
The 430 yards Burlingame finished with were the most San Mateo had allowed on the year, and it was slightly more than double the Bearcats’ 213, helping to erase a 3-1 deficit in turnovers.
