by Geoff Lepper
Through equal parts luck and skill, the Menlo-Atherton Bears control that most famous of sports cliches: their own destiny. The Bears' 37-6 romp over Carlmont on Friday night at Terremere Field, combined with Burlingame's concurrent loss to Mills, means that M-A heads into the final week of Peninsula Athletic League games alone in second place.
To get back to the Central Coast Section playoffs by virtue of clinching one of the top two spots in the PAL, M-A (7-2, 6-2 in the PAL) must simply win its final game, scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
Against unbeaten PAL leader Woodside (9-0, 8-0). At Woodside.
"We're going to come out fired up," said M-A quarterback Matt Boettcher, who threw for 166 yards and three touchdowns against Carlmont. "Woodside's our rival . . . We were basically treating this game as a tune-up for next week."
As Bear safety Mike Campodonico summed it up: "It's the biggest game of the year."
If M-A is to reappear in the CCS playoffs after a one-year layoff, the Bears will have to stop Woodside's wingback attack.
"If we put points on the board, we shut down the running back and we shut down (Woodside star wide receiver) Charles Perry, we've got it," Campodonico explained. "That's all there is to it."
Concerning the first part, at least, M-A proved again on Friday that they have the goods. Though Carlmont--0-9 on the season--was obviously an overwhelmed opponent, the Bears' offensive display was still impressive, showing they could score with the big play or the sustained drive.
M-A marched smartly downfield on its opening possession and scored on a simple nine-yard corner route, Boettcher to Terence Brown, to go up, 7-0.
When the Scots stayed in the game and refused to roll over as many winless clubs do, scoring a TD in the second quarter to make it 7-6, the Bears stuck to their game plan of going deep.
Four plays later, Boettcher hit Eldridge Thomas for a 60-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Thomas made the play happen by breaking free of an arm tackle with a nifty spin move as he caught the ball at the Carlmont 40-yard line.
"They were playing us close (in coverages) a lot of the time," Boettcher explained, "and we just tried to take advantage of it."
M-A's defense then forced a fumble out of Scots quarterback Ben Julianel at his own 7-yard line, where Boettcher hooked up with Thomas for a second TD, this one 38 seconds before halftime.
Boettcher had a simple answer for what the Bears would try to do offensively against Woodside: "Just run the same stuff as tonight."
M-A closed the formalities in the third quarter. Thomas gathered in the kickoff opening the second half at his own 12-yard line, took off to his right and handed off to a streaking James Julian, who was not even close to being touched on his jaunt to the end zone.
Running back John Aitken finished up by bulling over a 2-yard TD run on the Bears' next drive.
"We could have played better," Boettcher said. "I could have played better. I made some mistakes in the second half."
M-A may clinch a CCS berth even before they take the field Saturday. Both Burlingame and Mills, tied for third with 5-3 records in the PAL, have their final games at 11 a.m. Saturday morning, and if both teams lose, then the Bears will finish second regardless of their success or failure against Woodside.
Not that anybody at M-A is planning to back into the postseason.
"Come Saturday, there's going to be a new sheriff in town," one M-A assistant coach told the Bears. "And it's going to be us."
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