College of San Mateo clinches third straight Bay 6 title; Hosts rival City College of San Francisco in finale

SAN MATEO - College of San Mateo clinched at least a tie for a third straight Bay 6 football title with a 31-17 victory at Chabot College in Hayward Saturday night. CSM’s record 3-year, 14-game, league winning streak will be on the line in Saturday’s 1 p.m. playoff-deciding regular season showdown with second place City College of San Francisco at College Heights Stadium.

NATIONAL TV: The game will be televised nationally by ELEVEN SPORTS USA, which includes many cable systems such as  DirecTV (channel 623), ATT U-Verse (1665), Verizon Fios (597), RCN (571); also, Google fiber (251). It will also be webcast live on baosn.tv.

PLAYOFF SITUATION: State No. 5 ranked San Mateo is 4-0 in league, 7-2 overall this year. No. 6 CCSF and No. 7 Laney share second place at 3-1 (7-2). Although the Bulldogs would still own a share of the title with a loss, both CCSF and Laney are in line to advance to the state playoffs ahead of San Mateo, in a tiebreaker. Each has one additional non-conference win. CSM gave Laney its lone league loss, 27-18. Three league champions and one at-large team advance to the north’s state regionals.

RECORD RUN THROUGH TOUGHEST LEAGUE: San Mateo has compiled 5-0 Bay 6 records each of the last two seasons in the state’s top conference -- also winning last season's Northern California title. The last league loss was to CCSF, 42-24, in the 2015 regular season finale. The Bay 6 had three teams ranked among the top seven in the state last week and two more (Chabot and Santa Rosa) in the top 15. No team has won more games in the 5-year history of the Bay 6 league than CSM, which is 21-3. 

Against Chabot, Shawn (Kamalii) Akina passed for a pair of touchdowns to Elijah Harper and caught a 14-yard TD pass from all-purpose back Jalen Lampley. 

The San Mateo defense, stingiest in Northern California, let Chabot score first on a 42 yard pass from Chayce Akaka to Traveon Auzenne, following 25 minutes of defensive stops on both sides. Then the Bulldogs responded with 24 unanswered points and to assume control by the end of the third quarter. .

Lampley, already the area’s best all-around player, executed a trick play before halftime, taking the ball from Akina and then throwing the scoring pass to the quarterback to make the score 7-7. After the break Akina connected with Harper with TD throws of 35 and 46 yards. Avery Runner completed a 72-yard CSM scoring drive with a 1-yard run. And Cesar Silva kicked his league-leading tenth field goal.

Lampley, who averages 16.0 yards per touch in the four “other” categories (rushing, receiving, kickoff and punt returns), now possesses a 273.8 passer efficiency rating (completing 1-of-2 passes for a TD). He ranks No. 3 in the state in kickoff returns (35.3 average) and No. 5 in punt returns (14.6), leading the Bay 6 in both categories. San Mateo had 394 yards  of offense, with Akina passing for 182 yards.

Andre Neal intercepted his league leading fifth pass for the Bulldogs, who have 15 thefts as a team (No. 6 in the state). San Mateo also has recovered 10 opponents fumbles. The Bulldogs have allowed only 12.4 points per game, leading Northern California (ahead of Butte, 17.1) and No. 2 overall in the state. Their passing defense (136.6 yards per game) has the same rankings. CSM leads the league in fewest total yards allowed, 274.1 per game (No. 7 in the state).

Offensively CSM leads Northern California (No. 2 in the state) in red zone scoring percentage, 81 per cent. Give additional credit in that category to league-leading kicker Cesar Silva, who has 10 field goals (with a long of 44) and 63 kicking points.

CCSF THREAT: The Bulldogs will be tested Saturday by CCSF quarterback Jack Newman, who has passed for 2855 yards (317.2 yards per game) with a 181.4 passer rating. He leads Northern California in those categories (No. 2 in the state). San Mateo can be encouraged, however, that Newman has been sacked 48 times and lost 253 yards on the ground. CCSF running back DeShawn Collins is averaging 100.4 yards per game.

*Clinched title 

(Fred Baer, College of San Mateo Athletics)