A game beyond belief turns M-A into heroic CCS champions

The Menlo-Atherton football team more than made up for a lackluster start with an incredible finish, scoring 19 points in a 5-minute span of the fourth quarter to pull out a 33-28 victory over Wilcox in the Central Coast Section Open Division I championship game Friday at Independence High.

It was the second CCS Open title for M-A (11-2) in the last three years.

The Bears trailed 21-0 early in the second quarter and were still on the short end of a 28-14 count in the fourth quarter when the comeback got in gear.

And talk about your unlikely scenarios.

Freshman Matt MacLeod, playing his first varsity game, replaced Jack Alexander at quarterback late in the third quarter and helped lead the comeback.

“Come on in kid, get your feet wet, it’s just like a frosh-soph game except it’s for the CCS championship.’’

MacLeod completed 9 of 16 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

The M-A defense, which was gouged early by the Wilcox ground attack, came up with seven turnovers — four interceptions and three fumble recoveries — with four of those turnovers occurring in the fourth quarter.

The initial fumble recovery of the fourth quarter gave M-A the ball at the Wilcox 22. MacLeod hit Jake Wong with a 20-yard completion and then Deston Hawkins bulled his way in from the 2 to cut the Wilcox lead to 28-21.

Two plays later Wilcox fumbled again and M-A came up with the ball on the Wilcox 45. MacLeod completed three short passes to Jake Wang and Joey Olshausen before scrambling out of the pocket away from pressure and lofting a pass to Justin Anderson, who made the catch around the 15 and swerved his way through the Wilcox secondary and into the end zone.

“For a freshman he stepped up very big,’’ Anderson said of MacLeod. “When I caught it at first I was just thinking first down. But then I saw the grass and just wanted to make a play.’’

The PAT, however, was blocked, and M-A still trailed, 28-27 with 6:07 to go.

Then Wilcox (12-1), perhaps due to the fumbles on the two previous possessions, went to the air and threw three consecutive incomplete passes, using up only 26 seconds of clock. A 17-yard punt return by Anderson gave M-A the ball at the Wilcox 31.

A 15-yard completion to Wang produced a first down and two runs by Jaeden Barker resulted in another first down at the 7. On the next play M-A gave the Wilcox defense a new look by putting Franklin in motion before handing off to Barker who ran into the end zone for an apparent touchdown.

But a holding penalty brought the ball back to the 17. On the next play Franklin went in motion again from his left wideout position and received a pitch back from MacLeod. Franklin slipped on the wet grass but maintained his balance before reversing his field back to the left and making his way through the broken field into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown and M-A’s first lead of the game.

It was the first time all season that play, the stretch pitch, had been used.

“It feels so great, I’ve never had a feeling like this one before,’’ Franklin said. “It’s so amazing to help my team get the win.’’

“Troy is a special football player,’’ M-A coach Adhir Ravipati said. “He showed why everybody is so high on him.’’

With just over three minutes left Wilcox was forced to throw and Anderson, M-A’s lockdown corner, came up with his second interception of the game.

The Chargers got the ball back one more time in the final minute with no timeouts left, and on the first play a pass down the right sideline intended for Paul Rosa was intercepted by freshman Jalen Moss.

A freshman quarterback, a freshman cornerback, a sophomore wide receiver running for the winning score. The future looks bright for M-A. So does the present. The Bears will learn on Sunday their opponent and destination in the state playoffs.

The first half was all Wilcox. M-A fumbled on the first play of the game and Wilcox recovered at the M-A 19. Four plays later the Chargers took a 7-0 lead on Rosa’s 6-yard run.

After an M-A punt, Wilcox took over on its own 4 and proceeded to drive 96 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Gabe Herrera scored his second touchdown on the second play of the second quarter to make it 21-0. At that point Wilcox had outgained the Bears 158-2.

M-A came to life on a 31-yard run by De’Marshaun Payton and a 44-yard touchdown run by Barker. And then linebacker Daniel Heimuli, who has narrowed his list of college suitors to four Pac-12 schools and Alabama, came up with an interception that set up Alexander’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Franklin.

“If Nick Saban thinks you’re a good football player, you’re a good football player,’’ Ravipati said.

Wilcox struck again before halftime when Rosa caught a 41-yard touchdown pass.