CSM smacks unbeaten CCSF, 44-17, for Bay 6 title; to defend state crown, host playoff opener Nov. 25

SAN MATEO -- College of San Mateo is set to defend its state (and mythical national) community college football titles after running past state top-ranked City College of San Francisco, 44-17, to retain the Bay 6 League championship Saturday afternoon before a near capacity crowd of more than 4,000 at College Heights Stadium.

Anthony Grigsby threw a pair of first quarter TD bombs, 72 and 61 yards, respectively -- to Fidel Pitts and Jeremiah Patterson -- to give the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead they never relinquished.

CSM(9-1) will host a first round state playoff game at noon Saturday, Nov. 25 – with the expected opponent to be Valley League champion Modesto JC (7-3). CCSF (9-1) expects to get the at-large berth at NorCal League winner American River College (9-1 ), when official pairings are announced on Monday.

The Bulldogs have, therefore, already faced – and defeated – the other teams in the NorCal bracket. During the non-league season, in September, San Mateo won at Modesto, 37-20, and gave ARC its only loss, 24-23, at CSM.

Against CCSF on Saturday, the Bulldogs fell behind early, 10-0, before running off 28 unanswered points to take firm control, 28-10, after three quarters of play -- putting an end to the Rams' state (national division) leading 10-game winning streak.

After CCSF backup quarterback Jack Miller, completed his team's only successful TD drive with a fourth quarter 4-yard toss to Hassan Mahasin to close the gap to 28-17, CSM responded to double the advantage at 34-17 on a 34-yard scoring run by Nate Sanchez, the game rushing leader with 61 yards on 14 carries.

"We knew they were going to come out with emotion in the first quarter," said CSM coach Tim Tulloch. "We just kept playing ball."

The San Mateo defense put an end to any lingering Rams comeback thoughts with final period pass interceptions by Pau Reed, Ezra Funa, and Ja'ir Smith. CSM turned those into points, including a 28-yard field goal by Bay 7 scoring leader Caleb Ojeda.

Grigsby completed 19 of 29 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns (including a second score to Patterson) -- and ran for two TD's. That included three yards for the game's final touchdown.

San Mateo had 409 yards of offense and thwarted any San Francisco threats with six sacks and other defensive stops, including picking off four passes. CCSF netted 27 yards rushing.

Cyrus Durham had four solo tackles, including a pair of sacks. Reed had six tackles (four solo).

CSM outscored its Bay 6 opponents, 294-41 -- point averages of 58.3 to 8.2. San Francisco was the only team to score more than once on the Bulldogs.