It’s not often that you see Panther fighting Bearcats, but when you do it’s at the annual Little Big Game between Burlingame and San Mateo. The Panthers proved they were the better cat on this day as they dominated the visiting San Mateo Bearcats, 41-13, Saturday afternoon to retain “The Paw” for the third consecutive year.
“It feels amazing, I’m so proud of the kids, of the school, the community, the fans," said Burlingame coach John Philipopoulos. "It’s just a great day to be a Burlingame Panther."
San Mateo (5-5, 4-1 PAL Lake) could not handle the four-man rushing attack that Burlingame (5-5, 2-3 PAL Bay) brought Saturday morning. The Panthers racked up 330 yards rushing behind Joseph Mahe, Manase Palu, Keone Keahi, and Miguel Andrade.
Fullback Joseph Mahe led this four-headed monster with 163 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, and a receiving touchdown.
“[Mahe] came out running hard. Throughout the game he kept telling me, ‘give me the ball, coach, give me the ball’," Philipopoulos said. "So we kept feeding him up the middle and it worked to our benefit."
Momentum was in Burlingame’s favor all game. Its first touchdown came with 6:54 left in the first quarter. Mahe accounted for 59 of the Panthers’ 60 yards on this scoring drive, and he punched it in from two yards for the first score of the game, 6-0.
The Burlingame offense got back to work on their next drive, which featured many overpowering runs by Mahe. The drive ended on a 14-yard touchdown run by Keahi, and the Panthers increased their lead to 13-0.
As hard as San Mateo tried to get things going offensively in the first quarter, Burlingame’s defense shut them down, forcing two three-and-outs. The Bearcats’ did not convert a first down until the last play of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, however, San Mateo showed signs of life. In the beginning of the quarter the Bearcats were threatening at the Burlingame 26-yard line, but a holding penalty set them back to the 36-yard line and they were eventually forced to punt.
Burlingame took over after the punt at their own 8-yard line. After a flashy 28-yard run by quarterback Kevin Navas, he completed a pass to wide receiver Evan Struck for a 52-yard touchdown, making it 20-0.
After the half, Mahe came out running once again. The fullback caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Navas with 4:00 left in the third to make it 27-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, standout San Mateo kick returner Larry Campbell returned it for 90 yards down to the Burlingame 8-yard line. Quarterback Tyler Sanft then found Cristian Zarco in the end zone for the Bearcats’ first score of the game, 27-7.
Two more rushing touchdowns were scored by the Panthers in the fourth quarter. Mahe scored his third touchdown on the first play of the fourth, and Andrade scored his first touchdown of the day on a 1-yard run with 7:13 remaining, pushing the lead to 41-7.
As the clock approached zero seconds, Philipopoulos was drenched with ice water by his players, but San Mateo scored with one second left to prolong the celebration on the Burlingame sideline.
The Panthers captured their 49th win in Little Big Game history since the rivalry started in 1927. Burlingame moves on to the CCS tournament and will play this week.
“Beastmode. That’s all I can say. One hundred and ten percent. That’s how we did it today, and that’s how we’ll do it in CCS,” said Mahe.
