HALF MOON BAY – On one of those nights that characterizes this coast-side community, with a thickening fog settling over the pumpkins patches with Halloween looming, Half Moon Bay struck the first big blow of the Peninsula Athletic League football season.
In a Bay Division opener between teams ranked among the Bay Area News Group’s Top 25, the No. 19 Cougars used a fourth-quarter touchdown and a late defensive stand to beat No. 7 Menlo-Atherton, 22-21, on Friday night.
“It kind of validates what we’re all about,” Half Moon Bay coach Keith Holden said. “It’s not perfect and sometimes it’s ugly, but we’re scrappy and we’re going to play hard. It validates our blue-collar work ethic.”
M-A (2-3), playing without University of Oregon-bound receiver Jurrion Dickey, out indefinitely with an unspecified injury, had first-and-goal at the Half Moon Bay 6-yard line with 1:35 left. However, three penalties and an 18-yard sack by blitzing Ayden Courtney took the Bears out of the range of gifted field-goal kicker Dash Franklin. A fourth-down heave by Billy Johnson was knocked down at the goal-line by Dio Lucido with eight seconds left.
Half Moon Bay (5-0) won with a power running game despite a size disadvantage. P.J. Modena, hampered by a torn meniscus he injured playing baseball last spring, rushed for 131 yards on 24 carries and scored two touchdowns. He had to be removed from the game in the second quarter because of the pain, but on the Cougars’ decisive drive – one that took 17 plays to cover 54 yards – Modena carried 13 times, often while dragging defenders for extra yards.
Twice he converted on fourth down, and the Cougars were content to pick up two or three yards per play because the math added up to keep the chains moving, being willing to use all four tries.
“P.J.’s a monster,” quarterback Liam Harrington said. “He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s strong. He does not care. He will put his head down and run through anyone. It’s awesome. And we love him for it.”
But on fourth-and-goal from the 4, Holden’s calculations called for the first pass in the series and the play quickly fell apart because of Menlo-Atherton’s pressure. Flushed to his left and trying to bide time before being knocked out of bounds, Harrington floated the ball to the back corner of a crowded end zone and into the hands of Owen Miller for the go-ahead touchdown with 7:50 left.
“It was just a reaction play,” Harrington said. “It was meant for our backside tight end, but the play was kind of busted and I just found a soft spot,”
Miller said. “We’ve been playing with each other for a really long time, we’ve got pretty good chemistry, So, he’s scrambling. I’ll try to find a spot and he’ll try to find me … And it’s a touchdown – six points.”
Said M-A coach Chris Saunders, “We had it defended, we had it sniffed out. We’ve got to stay in coverage. That’s been one of our Achilles heels. Against Del Oro (a 42-13 loss), we gave up 35 points on broken plays.”
M-A was set to rely on running back Sherrod Smith, who got the team back in the game earlier with a 78-yard touchdown run in which he bolted through the line seemingly before Half Moon Bay even knew he had the ball. That led to 21 unanswered points after the Bears trailed 15-0.
But Smith, who finished with 154 yards on 17 carries and scored two touchdowns, was stripped of the ball and Half Moon Bay’s Connor Heath recovered, leading to a 27-yard field-goal try in an effort to clinch. But the low kick was blocked by Johno Price, giving M-A one last chance with 3:47 left, only for the Cougars to hold.
“It took everything that we had,” said Modena, who has rushed for 782 yards this season. “That’s Cougar Pride for us. That’s what this team and this community is all about. I’ve been playing with these guys for seven years, since Pop Warner. We need each other. We push ‘til we can’t no more.”
M-A coach Chris Saunders said he changed to a more run-oriented gameplan in Dickey’s absence, but it was clear the Bears missed him. So did Half Moon Bay.
“I was disappointed,” said Harrington, a two-way player. “I really wanted him to play. We don’t get to play against guys like that every day. If he were to play, that would have been awesome. We were expecting him to play. We wanted that challenge.”
