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Turner Baty and Russell Perkins were having a short discussion regarding certain aspects of Menlo-Atherton’s 21-20 PAL Bay Division victory over host South San Francisco on Friday night.
Perhaps they were talking about a certain pass route, or perhaps another play that might have worked. Whatever they said, it was accomplished in a positive manner. Perkins’ parting words: “No worries.”
Baty had a slight disagreement with the worry part.
“These games are scary,” the Bears’ junior quarterback said after M-A clinched at least a tie for the division title. “We can only handle these games once in a while. But it was a great game and we held on.”
M-A (4-0, 7-2) already had assured itself of a berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs and now the Bears, who won their fourth straight, have a chance to win the division title outright when they meet visiting Woodside in the regular- season finale next Saturday at 2 p.m.
“That’s always our biggest game of the year,” Baty said. “We know each other pretty well. We all went to the same middle schools. We’re friends but also each others’ biggest rivals. With championship implications on the line, it’s going to be a special, special game.”
The Bears began the season in disarray, losing head coach Bob Sykes (resigning for family reasons) just before the final nonleague game of the year. They won anyway and they’ve kept winning.
“We’re a close knit group and we got together and told ourselves that could either inspire us or hinder us,” Baty said. “Coach Phillip is amazing. He’s a great mentor.”
That would be Phillip Brown, who was beginning his second season as an assistant coach with M-A when he suddenly found himself in charge. Baty said he was the perfect person to take over in such a difficult circumstance.
“He keeps me cool, calm and collected,” he said. “He’s just a great coach and a great guy.”
The Bears held on to Friday night’s victory by the length of a freshly cut sliver of grass. South San Francisco decided on a two-point conversion try after scoring to make it 21-20 with 1:47 remaining to play.
Nikko Campana followed 330-pound fullback Mike English on the two-point try. For a few precious moments, it appeared as though South City pulled off the upset. All that stood between defeat and victory was that short blade of grass.
When David McLaughlin fell on the onside kick moments later, the game appeared to be in safe hands.
ell, almost. M-A drove the ball to the Warriors’ nine-yard line and Baty was going to take a knee to seal it. The ball never got to him, with South San Francisco recovering, converting one fourth-down play before a Bears’ blitz led to a sack on the game’s final play.
Thankfully, those worrisome thoughts drifted into a happy dream instead of a nightmare.
“We do not enjoy these close games,” Baty said. “I guess they might be good for us when it comes time for playoffs.”
The Bears looked disorganized on their first two possessions, accumulating a total of a minus one yard and facing a 7-0 deficit. The Bears incurred a five-yard penalty before theu snapped the ball once, and Baty misfired on his first three pass attempts.
Senior linebacker Viliami Talakai recorded a sack that helped stop a South San Francisco drive and led to good field position. Baty connected with his receivers and M-A turned things around.
On M-A’s first touchdown, Baty just threw the ball down the middle of the field and let Perkins run under it for a 27-yard scoring play.
After the Warriors took a 14-7 edge, Will Preston appeared to have raced 89 yards on the ensuing kickoff, only to have a penalty bring it all the way back to M-A’s own 18-yard line.
The Bears caught a break when Chris Gow recovered a South San Francisco fumble. Sam Knapp and Baty connected on a 32-yard pass to the Warriors’ two-yard line. Preston got his touchdown on the next play.
Preston also made a couple of tackles in the Warriors’ backfield that helped M-A regain possession of the ball and set up a nicely executed double handoff play (Baty to Vaughn Smith) that allowed Rod Nash to slice through the defense for the 43-yard go-ahead score.
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