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| Cougars fall to San Mateo, 34-21 By Mark Foyer [ markf@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 2:09 PM PST Half Moon Bay High School football players thought they had San Mateo quarterback Mitch Labbie sacked. That would have forced San Mateo to punt, down 14-0 late in the first quarter with the host Cougars riding all that momentum. But Labbie escaped, finding Tu’u Liu in the middle of the field, good for 28 yards and a first down. From that point on, San Mateo made all the big plays and Half Moon Bay suffered as a result. The Bearcats would score on that drive, and three times in the second quarter, winning 34-21 in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean division football game Friday. There was more bad news for Half Moon Bay as running back Dominic Sena left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury. At that point, he had rushed for 158 yards on 20 carries, and scored Half Moon Bay’s first touchdown of the night. His status for Friday’s game at Burlingame is unknown. The only good news for the Cougars came an hour after San Mateo left. Burlingame fell to Menlo School, 21-14. The Cougars (4-1 in league play, 6-2 overall) hold half-a-game lead on both San Mateo and Burlingame. Half Moon Bay can still win the league title and get the league’s automatic spot to the playoffs if it beats Burlingame Friday and San Mateo loses one of its final two games. That was little consolation to Half Moon Bay after the loss. It all went south with Labbie’s escape. “Their biggest yards were made on broken plays,” said coach Matt Ballard. “You can’t coach that. You can’t scheme that.” From that point on, nearly all the breaks went San Mateo’s way. Even when something went bad for San Mateo, it turned out good. Three plays after Labbie’s big play, David Rango fumbled as he was headed to the end zone. Teammate RJ Asucion fell on the ball, putting San Mateo on the scoreboard. Half Moon Bay’s first three drives in the second quarter ended with turnovers. San Mateo’s three drives in the second quarter ended with scores. “We ended up beating ourselves, giving them big plays and turning the ball over,” running back/linebacker Josh Dunne said. It was during the Cougars’ second drive of the second quarter that Sena came out of the game. He spent the second half with an ice pack on his shoulder. “Dominic going out was a big one,” Dunne said. “We just needed to recover from that and we weren’t able to do that.” Sena missed the Oct. 2 game against El Camino with an injury. Half Moon Bay won 34-23. “We are more than Dominic Sena,” Ballard said. “Obviously, losing him was not what we wanted.” The frosh-soph team won, 26-20. The Cougars rushed for 302 yards and four scores. Wesley Walters rushed for 190 yards, and put the game out of reach with a 90-yard scoring run. Brian Martinez rushed for 80 yards and two scores. Patrick Meyers also scored. Defensively, he knocked away two passes to preserve the win. Joseph Lowman led the defense with seven tackles and blocked a PAT. |