From 0-4 to league champs: Sequoia has just enough to beat San Mateo in OT
SAN MATEO – For eight long seconds, the wind whipped sheets of light rain over San Mateo High’s MaryAnn Johnson Memorial Field as 22 football players sought an answer that would decide a league championship.
Finally, a signal from the line judge broke the silence. Sequoia had broken the goal line.
A collective scream erupted from the Sequoia bench as the Ravens players and coaches bounded onto the field. They hugged and tackled one another. Some just collapsed in boundless emotion.
Jordan Crockett’s one-yard plunge in overtime gave Sequoia a 13-7 victory and at least a share of the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division title, ensuring the Ravens will own their first league championship since 2010.
Despite an 0-4 start, Sequoia (5-4 overall, 4-0 league) has bounced back to come within a victory on Friday against intra-district rival Carlmont to win the league outright. San Mateo is waiting (7-2, 4-1) for a chance to tear off a portion of the league banner if the Ravens fail.
When Sequoia’s celebration subsided, first-year head coach Frank Mems, a Sequoia graduate who played at NCAA Division III Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, finally had his say as his team gathered in front of him.
“It was going to be a dogfight,” Mems told his players. “We knew what it was going to come down to. We’re the only ones not surprised we’re here.”
Sequoia was dialed in to stop the San Mateo triple-option flexbone attack that averaged 331 yards on the ground. If safeties Marco Baisch and Nolan Fausto could fire down the alleys on each play, the Ravens might have a chance to cut off the flanks and shore up the inside runs as well.
“We’ve struggled with offenses like this,” Mems said. “Upon me getting the position, we knew we were going to play these run-heavy teams this fall. Let’s really come up with a plan that will work against it. That’s why our safeties had to be disciplined. When they see it, they have to shoot it and not second guess it.”
Behind quarterback Cameron Palma, San Mateo can run inside or outside, but this time got neither. San Mateo totaled 136 yards on 42 carries and was held to 158 offensive yards altogether.
E.J. Fitzgerald, the main inside threat who came in with 824 yards rushing, was held to 41, largely because Sequoia defensive tackles Lesoni Olive and Aedan Macias refused to be moved on the line, plugging the gaps and allowing linebackers and safeties to make plays.
Olive sensed the Bearcats getting frustrated and could hear it in their voices, he said. With each stuffed run, the Ravens gained confidence.
San Mateo took a 7-0 second-quarter lead on a four-yard run by Palma, but the Bearcats didn’t come close again until overtime. With each team getting the ball at the 10-yard line, San Mateo opened with possession and immediately faced fourth-and-goal from the 1. Palma tried a sneak off a quick snap, but inside linebackers Mosese Tangitau and Justin Schernig blocked his path and the rest of the Sequoia defense swarmed in to pushed the QB backward.
“I thought we were in,” San Mateo coach Jeff Scheller said. “I thought the ball was over, but we’re not in the NFL, with cameras and all that stuff.”
Scheller bypassed a field-goal try though he did send Yianni Fitzerald out for a 48-yard attempt at the end of regulation for a kick that was accurate but short. Scheller felt the Bearcats would need to match Sequoia touchdown for touchdown, and he was right.
Crockett gained 127 yards on 30 carries and had both Sequoia scores. Despite missing the first four games – all losses in his absence — Crockett has 739 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. Needless to say, Sequoia relies heavily on him.
Crockett’s 16-yard TD run on fourth-and-3 in the third quarter was one such instance. San Mateo was shutting down the inside, but Crockett’s position coach dared him to defy it.
“I don’t care if it’s not there,” the coach said. “I need you to be who you are and what you’ve worked for.”
The ball was snapped prematurely, causing quarterback Shawn Royer to bobble it and shove it in Crockett’s hands with the running back at a near dead stop. Crockett banged into the line, then spun to his left into open field, tying the game.
“I believe that with the best teams, you’ve got to go through something to get something,” Crockett said. “That’s what I told the team at the beginning of the game. ‘They bleed like we bleed, they work like we work, they run like we run, and they hit like we hit. It’s all about what shapes you.’ And what shaped us was going through this adversity together.”