San Mateo – It took a last minute pass interception by Amari Roberson for College of San Mateo to secure a 3C2A state football title defense berth at Riverside City College next Saturday, holding off visiting American River College, 30-27.
So, the 2023 championship game will be a rematch of the 2022 finale, won by the Bulldogs, 55-0, at College Heights Stadium. This time it will be on SoCal turf, however. The two teams will match 11-1 records.
CSM also had to go through American River to reach the 2022 finals, winning 30-5 for that region crown.
ARC, the No. 2 NorCal seed (behind the Bulldogs), finished with a 10-2 record, the only setbacks coming in narrow losses to San Mateo. CSM led their September non-league game, 24-10 with 3:18 left and survived, 24-23.
This time the Bulldogs appeared in control, 30-13, entering the final quarter – but did not score again. American River took advantage of a major penalty and two CSM turnovers to get right back into it – scoring the first two times, but not at the end.
San Mateo had defeated Modesto JC, 41-19, in their first round playoff game -- which had no turnovers at all. In contrast, the Northern California finale, in wet weather, featured four key turnovers, three by the Bulldogs.
The Beavers took advantage, until finally being stopped with their only major miscue, with 47 seconds left.
CSM quarterback Anthony Grigsby had thrown his third touchdown pass of the game, 33 yards to Jeremiah Patterson, with 49 seconds left in the third quarter for the 30-13 lead.
American River went a quick 3-and-out on its ensuing possession, thanks to a pair of sacks by defensive lineman Ezra Funa, to force a punt.
But then the tide turned. San Mateo also punted, on first possession of the fourth quarter.
American River took advantage of personal foul penalty against the Bulldogs on the next play and got the ball to the CSM 36. ARC quarterback Kenneth Lueth escaped from another sack with a 12-yard run and then threw a 23-yard pass to Robert Freeman to set -up the Beavers at the one for a TD plunge by Joshua Moore that made it 30-20 with 10:06 to go.
San Mateo got only two plays after that kickoff. Josh Tremain intercepted Grigsby, setting up the Beavers again on the CSM 36. It took just two passes by Lueth to reach the end zone, the TD coming on a 20-yard connection with Freeman. And it was 30-27 with 8:35 left.
This time the Bulldogs got a 22-yard kickoff return by Nate Sanchez to get set for a time consuming drive from their own 20. With Sancez primarily running the ball, CSM reached the Beavers 30. There the wet ball got punched away by ARC defender Michael Chavez -- who also recovered the fumble on this own 25, with 5:54 still to play.
Lueth then began an 11-play drive, which included a fourth down pass that put the Beavers in scoring position at the San Mateo 26 with just under three minutes left. After running more clock, Lueth threw into the end zone on third down from the 23. Roberson darted in front of the intended receiver and picked the ball with 47 seconds on the clock. CSM ended it with kneel downs.
The game had started in similar fashion. American River punted on its first possession, following a sack by Cyrus Durham and Max Dickson. Grigsby marched the Bulldogs 57 yards to the ARC eight -- but then was intercepted in the end zone by Desmin Hatfield-Ruston.
American River finally completed an 11-play drive to take its only lead on the second play of the second period on a 2-yard run by Elias Brown (who was also the intended target on the potential game winner at the end). A missed conversion kick left it at 6-0.
CSM sent the Beavers in the other direction on their next possession, forcing a punt attempt in the end zone. The ball slipped through the hands of kicker Andres Prieto, who recovered the ball but was sacked by Fynn Williams to give the Bulldogs a safety.
That finally got the scoring directed towards San Mateo. Grigsby took the Bulldogs 94 yards on the ensuing series, throwing a 16-yard TD to Fidel Pitts to put his team into the lead for good at 9-6 (with Caleb Ojeda's extra point kick).
Holding the Beavers without a first down on their next series, CSM took over for another scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard toss from Grigsby to Terence Loville for a 16-6 halftime lead.
American River scored first after the break, however. Lueth completed a 45-yard drive with a 10-yard TD pass to Freeman, narrowing the margin to 16-13. San Mateo came right back with a 75-yard drive, keyed by a 53-yard pass play from Grigsby to Loville. Sanchez got the score with a 1-yard TD plunge on a direct snap to make it 23-13 with 5:37 left in the third period.
CSM again held the Beavers to minus yards on their next possession. Grigsby then took CSM 76 yards for the eventual winning points on the 33-yard connection with Patterson.
Grigsby completed 14 of 22 passes for 294 yards, which was more than the 238 yards of total offense by American River. He has now thrown for 3,291 yards and 33 touchdowns this season – with a 181.6 collegiate passing efficiency rating (leading Northern California's National Division).
Sanchez rushed for 98 yards on 23 carries, while ARC netted only 45 yards on the ground.
Loville had four pass receptions for 94 yards and Pitts had five for 75.
The CSM defense recorded six QB sacks, led by Funa with 2 1/2.
--Riverside led throughout most of its SoCal finale with Ventura, where the host Pirates saw their final scoring threat end with a Tigers pass interception in the end zone with eight seconds remaining.
