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California Community College Athletic Association

CSM TOPPLES STATE CHAMP CCSF, 24-21, IN 80-YEAR OLD RIVALRY TAKES OVER 1ST PLACE IN BAY 6 FOOTBALL

Keenan Smith ran 36 yards for the winning touchdown with 4:01 remaining as College of San Mateo upset defending state champion City College of San Francisco, 24-21, Saturday at College Heights Stadium to take over undisputed first place in the Bay 6 League at 3-0.

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October 29, 2016

COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO SPORTS NEWS                October 29, 2016             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Fred Baer       baerf@smccd.edu            mobile/txt: 650.483.3733

 

CSM TOPPLES STATE CHAMP CCSF, 24-21, IN 80-YEAR OLD RIVALRY

TAKES OVER 1ST PLACE IN BAY 6 FOOTBALL

 

SAN MATEO – Keenan Smith ran 36 yards for the winning touchdown with 4:01 remaining as College of San Mateo upset defending state champion City College of San Francisco, 24-21, Saturday at College Heights Stadium to take over undisputed first place in the Bay 6 League at 3-0.

 

CCSF had a final opportunity, marching from its own 28 to the CSM 38 when Colt Doughty registered his third sack of the game on Rams quarterback Lavell McCullers on fourth down. San Mateo took over at the 41 with 1:22 left and ended it with a trio of kneel downs. Doughty, a 6-2, 230-pound freshman linebacker out of Los Gatos High School, had ten tackles (seven solo) and his first three sacks of the season to lead a Bulldogs defense that repeatedly stymied San Francisco in the red zone.

 

No. 6 state ranked CCSF fell to 2-1 and 5-3 overall. With a third straight win – all in league play – No. 15 CSM moved to 5-3 overall with two league games remaining: playing at No. 7 Santa Rosa next Saturday and then hosting No. 13 Diablo Valley in the Nov. 12 league finale. (Those two colleges, which have already lost only to CCSF in league, met late Saturday evening in Santa Rosa.)

 

San Mateo had led throughout most of Saturday's epic 80-year-old Bay Area rivalry series. Joey Wood completed an 8-play, 53-yard drive for the only first quarter score with 5:11 remaining in the period. CCSF managed to tie it briefly at 7-7 with 3:07 left in the half on a 40-yard pass from McCullers to Erik Phillip. But the Bulldogs came right back for a 14-7 mid-game lead on Bobby Calmeyn's 5-yard pass to Tasi Teu to complete a 10-play, 78-yard drive.

 

CSM extended the margin to 17-7 less than three minutes into the third quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Cesar Silva at the end of a 61-yard drive.  

 

Things changed quickly during 20-seconds of action in the fourth quarter. CCSF used eight plays to go 56 yards following a CSM punt and a 15-yard penalty against the Bulldogs – closing to 14-17 on a 3-yard run by McCullers with 10:09 left in the game.  On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Smith had the ball punched loose by CCSF's Michael Lawson on the Bulldogs 41. Michael Lawson picked it up for the Rams and ran to the end zone for a 21-17 CCSF advantage with 9:50 remaining.

 

After an exchange of punts, San Mateo took over on its own 47 with 6:03 left and needed just three plays to score the winning tally on Smith's 36-yard run – the longest rushing play of the game.  He finished with 62 yards on 12 carries.

 

CCSF's Namane Modise was the game's top rusher with 178yards on 29 carries. But CSM kept the league's top rusher out of the end zone.

 

San Mateo's Larry Owens relished his first win over the Rams in 18 tries during two tenures as head coach. He was more pleased in saying, "We're 3 and 0 in the Bay 6. That's where we needed to be. We've matured as a team."

 

CSM's most recent wins over San Francisco came in 2013 and also in 2009 – the year the Bulldogs reached the state finals under then head coach Bret Pollack (currently on the staff as assistant coach).

 

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE – LOOKING BACK 80 YEARS AND 50 YEARS: CSM won the first game in the 80-year-old rivalry, 7-0, in 1936. Fifty years ago CCSF won the 1966 game 40-13, led by O.J. Simpson -- who set national JC records that season of 1,365 yards rushing and 27 touchdowns.