Sacred Heart Prep took the lead against the first-place Menlo-Atherton Bears in the last minutes of the fourth quarter to win Saturday’s game 14-7.
The setback ended M-A’s four-game winning streak and moves the Gators into a first-place tie with the Bears in the PAL-Bay Division.
Sacred Heart Prep (7-1 overall, 3-1 PAL-Bay) needs a victory next week against Half Moon Bay to remain in a first-place tie. The Gators will be rooting for M-A next week as the Bears (5-3, 3-1) take on another one-loss team Terra Nova (4-4, 2-1). SHP owns the tiebreaker over M-A but Terra Nova would take the tiebreaker over the Gators. Terra Nova fell to Aragon 32-31 on Friday night on a late touchdown pass.
“It was a tough game and the last touchdown was crucial for us,” Gators coach Peter Lavorato said. “M-A is a team of great athletes who are all very well-coached, and I feel like the game could have gone either way.”
Locked in a 7-7 struggle, the game began to turn when the Gators regained possession after a a punt by M-A with eight minutes left in the fourth.
Aided by the inspired running of Chris Lee, the Gators moved to the M-A 37-yard line, setting up a 23-yard run by quarterback Kevin Donahoe (77 yards rushing) that moved Sacred Heart Prep ever closer to the goal line.
“Our quarterback was just phenomenal this game,” Gator running back Ryan Gaertner said. “He held the team together and did a great job in getting us our win.”
The march ended when Donahoe lobbed a short pass to wide receiver Rex Shannon for a seven-yard touchdown with just under five minutes left in the game, breaking the tie and eventually giving the Gators the victory.
“It was a really good game,” SHP running back Daniel Thaure said. “Menlo-Atherton really stuck it to us and the battle was tough. In the end, our defense and our offense just worked through it all and came out in the lead.”
The game started sluggishly as neither team managed to score in the first quarter. However, things got moving after Sacred Heart Prep defensive back Nick Salzman intercepted a pass to set up the first score, a 2-yard run by Lee to make it 7-0 with 1:45 left in the first half. That's the way the half ended.
But M-A, which advanced to the CCS Division I title game last season, would not go quietly. An impressive 20-yard catch by wide receiver Evan Perkins aided a third-quarter Bears' drive. Running back Talaiasi (Tasi) Teu’s shovel pass out of the wildcat offense to Marcus Hill for a 9-yard touchdown tied the game 7-7 with 55.3 seconds left in first half.
“I honestly felt like this was the best game we played all year,” Gaertner said. “Even though we didn’t rack up many points, our line just punched so many open holes for us to use.”
The loss was tough for Teu, who ran for a career-high 129 yards the week before against Half Moon Bay, but was held to 11 yards on 10 carries against the Gators.
“Both teams came out very physical,” Teu said. “I feel like we wanted the win more, but things just didn’t go our way and some of our plays didn’t work out.”
Said Lavorato: “We could work a little on the discipline of the defensive and offensive lines, but I think as long as we keep doing what we’re doing we’ll be fine."
