NO. 2 SEED CSM TO HOST CHABOT IN STATE FOOTBALL OPENER

Contact: Fred Baer, baerf@smccd.edu

No. 2 seed College of San Mateo will play host to No. 3 Chabot College of Hayward in a California Community College Athletic Association state football playoff opener on Saturday (Nov. 21) at 12 noon in the Bulldog Bowl at College Heights Stadium.

CSM held onto the No. 2 position in the Northern California Football Association power rankings despite a hard fought 42-24 loss to No. 1 City College of San Francisco in Saturday's Bay 6 title-decider. The game was witnessed by more than 3,000 College Heights spectators and a large live web audience (on baosn.tv, where the game is archived.) San Mateo finished with a 7-3 overall record and 3-2 in the Bay 6 League, tied for second with Diablo Valley and Santa Rosa. Chabot (8-2, 5-0) won the Valley League title.

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: No. 1 seed CCSF (9-1, 5-0 Bay 6) will host NorCal League co-champion Butte (6-4, 4-1), the No. 4 seed, in Saturday's other Northern California semifinal, the San Francisco Community College Bowl, at 1 p.m. The winners will play the following week (Nov. 28) for the Northern California championship and the right to host the state title game on Dec. 12. So there is the potential of a CSM-CCSF rematch on Nov. 28.

San Mateo gained the No. 2 seed -- ahead of the champions of the other conferences -- in recognition of the extremely tough schedule the Bulldogs played this season. They defeated both of the NorCal League co-champs American River and Butte. 

CCSF came into the weekend ranked No. 1 in the state and San Mateo No. 3. The two colleges produced a football battle emblematic of their lofty ranks. There were only two turnovers in the game – both pass interceptions in the end zone by CCSF. They made a huge difference.

--Ramiah Marshall had a CSM record day, returning kicks and punts for 279 yards. But it wasn't quite enough.

CSM's opening 69-yard drive to the Rams 10 failed to produce a score. Dru Brown's pass into the end zone was deflected and intercepted by San Francisco's Deanta Fortenberry, who returned it 35 yards. Aided by 20 yards in penalties, CCSF's ensuing drive resulted in a 13-yard TD pass from Anthony Gordon to Antoine Porter.

San Mateo responded with a 75-yard drive to tie it at 7 on a 46-yard scoring burst by running back Keenan Smith. He rushed for 169 yards on the day. CSM had a chance to take the lead after Marshall returned a punt 55 yards to the San Francisco 21. But the Bulldogs then turned the ball over on downs.

CCSF took the lead for good on a 17-yard pass from Gordon to Porter with 7:19 left in the half, although the two teams continued to trade scores. Smith ripped off a 70-yard run to the ten, but the Bulldogs couldn't quite punch it into the end zone. They settled for 23-yard field goal by Jose Elizondo, to close to 14-10.

An 11-yard scoring toss from Gordon to Thomas Buntenbah made it 21-10 with 2:36 left in the half. The Bulldogs needed just 26 seconds to respond, however, on a pair of Brown passes. He hit Miles Willis for 38 yards and then connected with Chikwado Nzerem for a 37-yard tally to narrow the gap to 21-17. That is  where it stood at the intermission.

The third quarter made the difference. The Rams scored at the beginning of the period – on a 26-yard Gordon to Porter connection -- and near the end -- on a 2-yard Gordon toss to Andrew Vollert.

Marshall's 57-yard punt return at the beginning of the fourth quarter made it 35-24. But that was the last San Mateo score.

San Francisco scored once more, on Gordon's sixth TD pass of the game -- 70 yards to Buntenbah, with 7:47 left.

MARSHALL SETS RECORD, LEADS STATE: Marshall, a 5-7, 150-pound freshman slotback out of San Leandro High, had 151 yards on punt returns and 128 on kickoff returns. The 279-yard total broke the CSM record of 188 return yards by Leonard Morris, set in 1987. Including nine yards rushing, Marshall's game all-purpose running total was 288.

--Smith had 181 all-purpose yards in the game. So the two Bulldogs had a phenomenal 469 total yards!

--Marshall finished regular season play as the top punt AND kickoff returner among all National (state championship division) players in California -- and No. 2 in each category when American Division players are included. He averaged 20.7 yards on punt returns and 40.7 on kickoff returns (including a 98 yarder).

The overall leaders among the state's 69 teams were just a hair better. Vanel Dossous of Mt. San Jacinto averaged 20.9 on punt returns and Santa Barbara's Elijah Cunningham averaged 40.8 on kickoff returns. Neither player had combined totals approaching Marshall's numbers. 

Marshall finished the regular season as CSM's rushing leader, with 496 yards, added 108 receiving yards, and total 1158 all-purpose yards, an average of 115.8 per game. He also appears in San Mateo's passing stats, completing one of his two attempts for 27 yards.

STATE'S BEST RUSHING & MOST EFFICIENT PASSING TEAM: With three 400-yard rushers, CSM leads the state in team rushing by a large margin, averaging 256.1 yards per game – and 6.0 yards per rush. Smith has 439 yards and Isiah Williams 429, followed by Joey Wood with 384. 

CSM is also the most efficient passing team in the state, with a 17.6 average yards per completion. Brown has nearly all of the Bulldogs passing statistics, completing 83 of 157 attempts for 1454 yards and 14 touchdowns. San Mateo also has the best yards per attempt average among National Division teams, 9.3 (No. 3 overall).