HMB wins on late TD October 17, 2015, 05:00 AM By Terry Bernal, Daily Journal
For all the late fireworks in Friday’s back-and-forth battle between Half Moon Bay and Menlo, the Cougars won the day with a good, old-fashioned smash mouth drive.
Half Moon Bay (2-0 PAL Ocean, 6-0 overall) claimed the upper hand in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division with a thrilling 22-19 victory over Menlo (1-1, 5-1) in a battle of unbeatens.
But after the two teams combined for 10 turnovers — five apiece — the Cougars ultimately took over when Menlo turned the ball over on downs at the Half Moon Bay 32-yard line. Then senior running back Matt Spigelman — facing the first time the Cougars have had their backs up against the wall this season — put the team on his shoulders and bulled Half Moon Bay to victory.
“Every single week we’ve been ahead, so that was a good test for us,” Spigelman said.
Spigelman rushed for 135 yards on 19 carries, and it was the 135th yard that proved the most critical, as the senior capped a 13-play, 68-yard drive with a 1-yard blast into the end zone to put Half Moon Bay ahead 22-19 with 33 seconds remaining in the game.
“I thought it would be a tough game,” Half Moon Bay head coach Keith Holden said. “I didn’t think there’d be so many turnovers. We both tend to protect the ball pretty well.”
What was incredible was not just the total of 10 turnovers, but that 10 different players came up with them. Menlo linebacker Charlie Roth produced one that, at the time, was the clincher. With the Knights leading 19-15 in the fourth quarter, the senior produced a clean pick of Half Moon Bay senior quarterback Gavin Tomberlin and returned it across midfield to the Half Moon Bay 38-yard line.
Menlo simply could not move the ball against the stingy Cougars defense though. Half Moon Bay yielded just 52 yards rushing throughout, all of which were gained by Menlo running back Charlie Ferguson. The junior was the only Knights player to rush the ball in the game.
And after Menlo failed to gain so much as a first down, turning the ball over on downs, Half Moon Bay saddled up for the big finish.
“We absolutely should have converted at the end on that third down, and again on that fourth down,” Menlo head coach Mark Newton said.
Tomberlin threw four interceptions on the night, but when it came down to crunch time, the sophomore bull’s-eyed the biggest pass of his varsity career. The Cougars advanced the ball into the red zone when Spigelman juked for a 16-yard run to the Menlo 20-yard line. But after a pair of short runs by Spigelman, the Cougars got popped with a false start penalty to end up back at the 20 for fourth-and-10.
Half Moon Bay, sensing Menlo would drop its secondary into the end zone, turned to a 15-yard slant pattern to senior receiver Pablo Gutierrez. Tomberlin threaded the needle to his favorite receiver for a 14-yard pickup to the Menlo 6-yard line.
“He can do that,” Holden said of Tomberlin’s precision. “I see that in practice all the time.”
Spigelman almost got into the end zone on the following play, dashing off tackle towards apparent daylight; but Ferguson, Menlo’s middle linebacker, got ahold of Spigelman’s jersey and in a display of will and strength, dragged his opposite number long enough to allow for Menlo to stack the run at the 1-yard line.
“Our defense was stellar all night long,” Newton said.
But on the ensuing play, the right-side line of Joshua Kruckewitt and Sean Baird, along with center Kurt Katzenberger, led the way as Spigelman blasted in for the winning score.
The game opened in Half Moon Bay’s favor. After a back-and-forth of four possessions without a score, the Cougars staged a five-play, 73-yard drive with a prolific burst from Spigelman, when he busted a 55-yard touchdown run on his first carry of the night. The Knights then converted a two-point conversion to go up 8-0 with 2:35 reamining in the first quarter.
Menlo survived one of four interceptions on the following drive, and got the ball back via a Half Moon Bay punt at the 50-yard line. Morehead — who, despite his erratic night, was 19-of-35 passing for 269 yards — had completions of 23, 13 and 5 yards before Ferguson powered in for a score. But Menlo failed to convert a two-point try to trail 8-6.
Half Moon Bay answered right back. Tomberlin had a big 27-yard throw on third down to Gutierrez to sustain the drive. Then two plays later, the quarterback took a play-action sweep for the fake draw play to end all fake draw plays and dashed past the Menlo defense before anyone was the wiser for a 41-yard score, giving the Cougars a 15-6 lead.
The first half ended with a pair of turnovers, one by each team. The second half opened with another pair, one by each again.
But, at the last, after Half Moon Bay took the lead inside the last minute, it was Menlo’s final interception throw that proved the death knell to the Knights’ undeafeated season.
“You can’t have four turnovers against a really, really good team that controls the ball that well,” Newton said.
Menlo did drive downfield to make a run at it. Taking over at its own 38-yard, Mackenzie completed consecutive passes of 23 and 14 yards to the Cougars’ 25. But two plays later, on a desperation pass into the end zone with 10 seconds remaining, Gutierrez nabbed the final pick to all but end it.
Entering into play, Half Moon Bay had allowed just 13 points through five games. Menlo better than doubled that total.
“We’ve finally been challenged and came up in a tough time,” Holden said.
