As dusk fell and the rain misted onto their helmets, the Mission High Bears sprinted toward each other and embraced in the middle of the field, hooting and hollering, jumping with joy and cheering in unison.
“We’re going to the Turkey Bowl! We’re going to the Turkey Bowl!”
One year after being upset in the semifinals of the Academic Athletic Association playoffs, Mission overpowered the Lowell High School Cardinals 42-24 Thursday night at Kezar Stadium to earn a spot in the championship game, affectionately nicknamed the Turkey Bowl.
“I’m feeling relieved,” said senior quarterback Davon Hargraves, who rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 85 yards and a touchdown against Lowell. “I feel like the monkey’s off our back from last year, because we should have won last year.”
His relief was well justified. In a high-scoring game, it appeared that the Bears, who led just 28-24 late in the third quarter, might succumb to last year’s fate.
Though the Bears were coming off a 20-0 win over the Cardinals last week, for most of the game they couldn’t seem to figure out Lowell’s new and surprising offensive strategy.
Lowell’s offensive revolved almost entirely around junior quarterback Michael McCarthy, who took the snap from the shotgun position and either barreled up the middle or slashed off-tackle.
It didn’t help that the Bears were playing without their star defensive lineman, senior captain Darius Grays, who suffered a knee injury against Lowell last week.
“They came up with a different look and it worked really well for them,” Mission coach Joe Albano said. “It’s the battle of the line of scrimmage. We finally won enough battles to get it.”
Lowell dominated in the third quarter, maintaining possession of the ball for nearly the entire 15 minutes and coming within four points of Mission off a touchdown and two-point conversion by McCarthy.
It looked as if the Cardinals might have a chance to pull ahead when they blocked a Bears punt and recovered the ball at Mission’s 30-yard line with only minutes remaining in the third quarter. But a late penalty flag was called on Lowell, and Mission regained possession.
From that point on, it was Mission’s game.
“We had to make a couple adjustments, put the faster guys on the outside because they like to run sweeps and then put the bigger guys in the middle so they can plug the holes,” Hargraves said.
Seconds into the fourth quarter, Hargraves cut to the right and then ran 25 yards down the line and into the end zone to put the Bears up 34-24. Later in the quarter, Hargraves zig-zagged up field to score on a dazzling 80-yard run, giving Mission a 42-24 lead and putting the game out of reach.
Junior running back Antoine Porter also had a strong performance, running for 71 yards and adding two touchdowns of his own. With Mission up 12-8 in the second quarter, Porter intercepted a pass from McCarthy and ran 48 yards down field for a touchdown.
“I could see that they were over-committing to one side, so I creep in slow and break it to the other side,” Porter said.
“They understood that we over-pursued,” Lowell coach Danny Chan echoed. “They knew we were going to over-pursue and our back side was not ready for that. They had a good game plan against us.”
With the win, Mission will play for a shot at its first title since 1954. But at 10 a.m. on Thursday at Kezar Stadium, they will face a dominant Washington High School squad that went undefeated in the regular season and already trounced the Bears once this year, 28-7.
But Mission doesn’t plan to go down without a fight.
“We know what they like to run, so we’re going to practice hard to stop their two running backs,” Hargraves said.
Through the mist and dimming lights at Kezar Stadium on Thursday night, the Bears stopped their celebration long enough to gather in a huddle and listen to their coach. Turning to his team, Albano reminded them, “It’s not over.”
“We just got one more big game in our way,” Porter said. “We’re going to celebrate tonight and then tomorrow and the rest of the week, we’re going to be focused on Washington.”
I could not be prouder of our team, our coaches, and the entire MIssion High community. What a great time to be a Mission Bear!!!
Good report. Thanks Jamie. Go Bears!
Having a student in both Lowell and Mission I couldn’t lose, but am more glad for Mission 🙂