One yard.
Varsity football (6-5) was only one yard short of the end zone in the final moments of its game against Half Moon Bay High School (8-3), and one yard short of advancing to the next round of the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs.
Instead, the Panthers fell in their first CCS playoff game, ending their season with a 29-21 loss on Friday, Nov. 14. Despite jumping out to a 21-0 lead early in the third quarter, they ultimately gave up 29 unanswered points to the Cougars in the second half.
Following their loss to San Mateo High School (8-3) in the annual Little Big Game the week before, the Panthers strove to move past it as they entered the playoffs. They also carried the memory of their overtime loss to the Cougars earlier in the season, using it as more motivation to push them towards victory and dominated the first half of this game.
“When we got this matchup, it was like a dream,” senior running back Hayden Haba said. “It kind of just sucks. It ended up this way, but going into the game, it was all about getting revenge on these guys.”
The Panthers scored a touchdown on their first drive and added another three minutes before halftime. At the beginning of the third quarter, they padded their lead with another touchdown and kept the Cougars trailing 21-0.
“No. 52 Tai went down on the first play, and it was dirty… as soon as they did that, we all kind of just rallied and said, we’ll do it for him. And honestly, that’s what it’s kind of been like the whole year, doing it for each other,” Haba said. “And I think that’s why we came out swinging.”
Then, the Panthers’ performance took a turn for the worse. Half Moon Bay answered with two touchdowns in the third quarter and added another early in the fourth, overtaking the Panthers with a 22-21 lead after a two-point conversion. With less than two minutes left, the Cougars scored one last touchdown, taking a seven point lead.
However, the game wasn’t over until the clock struck zero. On their last drive, Burlingame came within one yard of the endzone with a chance to make it to overtime, and just barely missed the touchdown.
“We were coming into a CCS game and having an opportunity to avenge a loss, we were pretty excited about that opportunity, and I think it showed early, and we just weren’t able to hold on,” head coach John Philipopoulos said.
Haba said he attributes the Panthers’ second-half struggles to the Cougars’ strong performance on both sides of the ball, which took the Panthers out of rhythm.
“That’s what Half Moon Bay does when they get the ball and they feel like they have momentum and get a lead, they just try to run it down your throat,” Haba said. “And then that momentum carries over the offensive side of the ball, and then one sack, one way, or one stop, kind of just turns into three, and then all of a sudden you’re three and out, and you’re punting it back to them.”
According to Haba, Half Moon Bay’s No. 9, in particular, challenged the Panthers’ rushing defense, especially after they switched their defensive formation.
“Going into the game, we were going to go with a five man front. One of our five men went down, so we switched to a four three, and it didn’t work as well,” Haba said.
Junior Mark O’Grady said penalties on the Panthers’ side played a large part in giving the Cougars room to score and come back.
“It was just mentality, coming out soft, and stupid mistakes again, but these penalties just piled on and we kept giving them free points and lost the game,” O’Grady said.
In his postgame speech, Philipopoulos addressed the team’s abundance of penalties.
“We made a lot of mistakes that were not forced mistakes,” Philipopoulos said. “They were mistakes that we brought on ourselves by maybe getting too excited and not being able to control our own emotions and letting that get away from us.”
The loss brought a bittersweet end to the high school football careers of all the seniors, which heightened emotions when the clock finally struck zero.
“Football has meant everything to me, and that’s why you see all these emotions come out when the game’s over,” Haba said. “But I think I’ll have to think about it when I get home as for the season. Six and five, we’re just another good Burlingame team, just another chapter in the book.”
