Cougars crush Live Oak Acorns 52-17

For the 3rd year in a row, the Half Moon Bay Cougars are heading to the CCS Championship game, following a convincing 52-17 win over the Live Oak Acorns. Both teams entered the game ready to win, but as usual, whatever a competitor threw at the Cougars, just give Half Moon Bay some time and they always make it work.

The game started off strong for the Cougars, who scored the 20 answered points heading into the middle of the 2nd quarter. #8 Gavin Tomberlin threw a perfect screen pass to #27 Hayden Von Almen, who then weaved his way 31 yards into the endzone. #21 Chase Hofmann then had 2 rushing touchdowns, on drives that the Cougars stuck to their grinding ground attack. Defensively, the Cougars held strong against the Acorns, keeping them to only 2 drives that netted only 9 plays total.

However, the Acorns immediately came back and scored on an 80 yard touchdown pass, and began to rely heavily on the passing attack. Along with a field goal, and another 83 yard touchdown score on the 2nd play of the 2nd half, it looked like the Acorns would pull themselves back into this game, as the score stood at 23-17.

The defense began to tighten up, allowing a decent play by the Acorns here and there, but not letting them back into their red zone for the remainder of the game along with allowing only 7 more completed passes.

#8 Gavin Tomberlin ran an option play and found a seam for a 23 yard touchdown run, with #21 Chase Hofmann scoring a 2 point conversion, to bring the score to 31-17, and then the floodgates opened. Chase then ran for a 64 yard touchdown on a 4th and 1 play, #26 Jake Quosig had a 12 yard touchdown run after taking on almost all of the run plays in the drive, and #12 Tristan Hofmann had the final score of the game, taking the ball on a counter run for a 11 yard touchdown run.

Huge play upfront by the offensive line was key for the game. The Live Oak defense was not only completely selling out to stop the run, you do not get to the semifinal game without having a stout defense. “Hat on a Hat, all the way to the whistle” is what coaches want their offensive line to do on every play. #53 Ricky Camacho, #56 Gerardo Penaloza, #52 Zach Henry, #57 Aaron Baird, and #58 Kellan Royce dominated the line of scrimmage and helped keep the momentum going for the Cougars.

Here is the video recap: http://www.hudl.com/v/28N2iJ

The Rocky Perry Players of the Game:

Offense:  The entire offense

Defense: #27, Senior Safety, Hayden Von Almen

ST: #11, Senior Kicker, Dylan Williams

Scout: #56, Senior Lineman, Gerardo Penaloza

This week's Community Cougars are the previous CCS Champions (teams of 2005, 2015, and 2016). Thank you for laying the foundation of success and thank you for your constant support.
 

For the 2017 CCS Division 3 Open Championship game, the Cougars will again face their biggest rival, the Terra Nova Tigers. Having just faced each other 4 weeks ago for the annual Skull Game, where the Cougars won 45-7, this should prove to be a great match-up though. The Tigers were the last team to beat the Cougars, happening in the 2016 season in the Skull Game. The game Time and Location is still to be determined, so make sure to check the HMB Football website (hmbfootball.org) to see where and when this game will take place. Go Cougars!