San Mateo advances to fourth straight 3C2A Football Championship game after downing Modesto

SAN MATEO - It will be a fourth straight trip to the 3C2A state football championship game for defending state (and mythical national) champion College of San Mateo after a convincing 38-7 Northern California Football Conference title victory over visiting rival Modesto JC on Saturday afternoon at College Heights Stadium. That ended a NorCal National Division 7-game win streak for the Valley League champion Pirates (9-3) – that had started after a September non-league loss to CSM.

The Bulldogs (11-1) will take on a new foe in “perfect” Golden West College (12-0), which is tentatively slated to host the championship showdown at its sister campus, Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium in Costa Mesa, Saturday, Dec. 13, at 12 noon.

Top SoCal seed Golden West completed its first 12-0 campaign with an also convincing 33-15 win over No. 2 seed (and Orange County neighbor) Saddleback College in the Southern California Football Association championship game -- at home in Huntington Beach on Saturday.

CSM ran up 38 unanswered points on Modesto Saturday before the Pirates finally got into the end zone in the fourth quarter, when many Bulldogs reserves saw action.

San Mateo began a series of six consecutive scoring drives with its second possession, quickly driving 60 yards in four plays, highlighted by a 46-yard touchdown run by Kai Hamilton on his only rushing attempt. CSM, as usual, had a host of ball carriers, 14 total.

CSM occupied 8 1/2 minutes of the second quarter with its next possession, a 96-yard drive (after a Pirates punt). It finished with a 10-yard TD pass from Luke Alexander to John Stowers. Although he is a running back, Central Michigan commit Stowers just caught a pair of passes (for 28 yards) on the day. Alexander threw effectively, only when needed, completing 8-of-11 attempts for 119 yards.

San Mateo let the Pirates have three plays with the ball before taking it back on their own 31 with 3:13 left in the half, after a punt. CSM took it quickly downfield, keyed by a pair of Alexander passes – 20 yards to Jason Auzenne and 18 yards to Stowers. That set it up on the MJC 11 for Ali Collier to haul the ball into the end zone on two carries – and it was 31-0, nine seconds before the intermission. 

Collier was the top San Mateo rusher on the day with 57 yards on nine carries. CSM rolled for 274 yards on the ground – with 43 time-consuming carries -- while limiting the Pirates to 138 yards (on 19 tries). Dominick Gonzales had 50 yards on nine carries and workhorse Matakhi DeMoss had 43 yards on 11 trips for the Bulldogs 

CSM coach Tim Tulloch likes the “middle eight minutes” and the Bulldogs used that period -– last four minutes before halftime and four after -– to take control on Saturday.

Coming out of the break, the Bulldogs had the first possession, starting on their own 30. It took only six plays for San Mateo to reach the endzone, on a 29-yard scoring romp by Bruce Uperesa. CSM had a solid 28-0 lead with 11:52 left in the third quarter.

 Modesto responded with a 47-yard drive that sputtered against the CSM defense and ended with a blocked field goal attempt by star Bulldogs defensive back RJ Whitten. San Mateo took over on the 32 and marched to the Pirates' 17, where state-leading field goal kicker Dieter Kelly booted a 35-yard field goal to make it 31-0 with 2:04 left in the quarter 

Modesto, forced again to punt on its next possession, saw CSM’s Jalen Arnold catch the ball on his own 17-yard line and weave 73 yards to pay dirt and a decisive 38-0 lead during the final minute of the third quarter. 

Returning All-America placekicker Kelly had four PAT kicks, in addition to his field goal, where he leads the state with 18 successful kicks.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs' state-leading defense completely stymied Modesto for three quarters. CSM leads all 66 CCC teams in defense – 13.0 points per game and 204.6 total yards per game.

Modesto’s only score came on a fourth-quarter 8-yard touchdown pass from DayDay Tafoya to Dezjour Malone. Tafoya completed 14-of-29 passes for 162 yards, with one picked off by CSM’s Beaux Sauve.  MJC’s Bryson Davis had 74 yards on 11 carries to lead all rushers.

RECENT NORCAL FINALS: This was CSM’s sixth straight season in the NorCal finals and the fourth consecutive year facing Modesto in the playoffs. San Mateo started its NorCal finals “run” -- defeating Modesto in the 2019 championship game (before losing to Riverside in the state title game that year).

COVID interrupted the 2020 season. CSM lost the 2021 NorCal title game to City College of San Francisco (which went onto win the state title). The Bulldogs then began their current 4-year run of north championships. That included San Mateo’s state titles in 2022 and 2024.

Beginning in 2017, CSM has fashioned a 6-1 record in NorCal title game appearances.

(Fred Baer, College of San Mateo Athletics)