In the News: South City Moves into CCS DV Final

 

 

By Nathan Mollat Daily Journal staff

 

Nov 18, 2023

The South City football was seemingly on the doorstep of the end zone all night long during the third-seeded Warriors’ Central Coast Section Division V semifinal game against No. 7 Leland Friday night in South San Francisco.

 

The first three times the Warriors were knocking on the door, the Leland defense refused to answer, limiting South City to only a field goal.

 

The fourth time, however, the Warriors finally broke through. South City drove 62 yards on 11 plays, with Elijah Fields churning, twisting and clawing his way into the end zone from a yard out on fourth-and-goal with 10 seconds left, as South City rallied from a 9-0 deficit to beat the Chargers 11-9.

“We figured we’d eventually put one in,” said South City head coach Kolone Pua. “I knew if we could get down there, we would score.”

 

The win sends South City into its first CCS championship game since Mike Tenerowicz guided the Warriors to the 1989 Division II North championship.

 

That was 34 years ago.

 

“It means a lot to us,” Fields said.

 

South City will take on No. 4 Santa Teresa in the Division V championship game either next Friday or Saturday. The Saints knocked off top-seeded Woodside, 27-20, in the other semifinal game Friday night in Woodside.

 

And after spending all night running the ball, South City turned to sophomore quarterback Anthony Howell, who was called up from the junior varsity squad after Week 3, to guide the game-winning drive.

 

Howell had attempted just one pass all game long prior to the final drive, and that play was nullified by a defensive holding call. But after The Warriors recorded a safety to cut Leland’s lead to 9-5, Pua decided to go to the air.

 

“We asked him if he was ready to throw,” Pua said. “He was unsure because he had taken a hit earlier and his ribs were hurting.

 

“We just said, ‘Give it to No. 7 and let him go.’”

 

Howell followed his coach’s directions to a T. With a little more than two-and-a-half minutes to play, Howell hooked up with Darren Miller for gains of 12, 15, 14 and 8 yards, as the Warriors moved from their 38 to the Leland 12.

 

An 4-yard run from Marcus Mercurio picked up a first down and a 6-yard carry from Fields took the ball to 2. An offsides penalty brought the ball to 1-yard line before Fields all but willed himself into the end zone for the 11-9 lead.

The score capped a gutsy performance all the way around for the Warriors. Their offense did next to nothing in the opening two quarters and they can thank the defense for even keeping them in the game.

 

Things got off a bad start for South City (10-2) as the Warriors had minus-5 yards on their first drive and were forced to punt. But in the wet, windy and rainy conditions, the punter couldn’t handle the snap and was brought down for a 20-yard loss with Leland taking over at the South City 15-yard line for its first possession of the game.

 

The Chargers, too, struggled with the slippery ball and eventually settled for a 35-yard field goal from Luke Whitson for a 3-0 lead.

 

The Warriors punted on their second possession and Leland (4-8) proceeded to embark on a 13-play, 69-yard drive that culminated in a Jacob Gibson quarterback sneak from a yard out on the second play of the second quarter to put Leland up 9-0.

 

South City had its first real chance to score on its next drive. Starting from their own 40, the Warriors marched down the field, eventually earning a first-and-goal at the Chargers’ 4-yard line.

 

But the Warriors were denied when they fumbled the ball away to Leland. But the South City defense held firm, as it did all night. After giving up 107 yards in the first half, the Warriors held the Chargers to just 2 yards in the second half and held them to just one first down over the final two quarters. The Warriors sacked Gibson six times in the game, led by Mercurio who had a pair and a Darius DeGuzman-DeAsis sack for a safety.

 

 

South City’s offense, on the other, was limited to just 37 yards in the first two quarters.

“The first half, we were in sleep mode,” said Fields, who also recorded a sack. “In the second half, we woke up. We got it together.”

 

Indeed they did. Fields, who had 41 yards rushing in the first half, finished with 109 yards on 23 carries as South City finished the game with 199 yards of offense — 140 rushing and 59 Miller receiving yards.

 

After getting just two first downs in the first half, South City had four on its first drive of the second half. For the second time, the Warriors drove inside the Chargers’ 10-yard line, making their way to the 5 before settling for a 27-yard Ernesto Navarrete field goal to get the Warriors on the board.

 

Leland was turned the ball over downs on its next possession, with a sack giving the ball to the Warriors near midfield. They embarked on a 13-play drive, moving the ball down to inside the 1-yard line.

 

Again, the Warriors came up empty. Facing a fourth-and-goal inches from the goal line, they were called for a false start to move them back to 6, where they failed to convert, turning the ball over on down to the Chargers at their own 2-yard line.

 

Again, the South City defense gave its offense a chance. The Chargers avoided a safety on first down and fumbled the snap on second, surging out of the end zone to prevent another potential safety.

 

After a 2-yard gain, the Chargers lined up to go on fourth-and-long, but it seemed their intention was to take a safety — which they did when DeGuzman-DeAsis rode Gibson out of the back of the end zone with 2:46 to play and set up the dramatic finish for the Warriors.

 

“They came out (in the second half) and did what they had to do,” Pua said.