BUTTE VALLEY — So dominant all year long, with such gaudy numbers on both sides of the ball, the No. 1 state-ranked Butte College football team finally found itself in a a tight matchup with another heavyweight contender.
In the end, it came down to what coach Jeff Jordan always insists is so important: assignment football.
Tyler Adair stopped Casey Wichman short of the goal line as time expired and the Roadrunners maintained their perfect season by beating No. 3 San Mateo 28-20 on Saturday at Cowan Stadium.
Every bit the marquee matchup one might expect from two undefeated teams in conference action, this one lived up to its billing as the Roadrunners (8-0, 3-0 NorCal Conference) came up with just enough big plays to hold off the Bulldogs (7-1, 2-1) in an otherwise physical, slug-it-out affair typical of the two hardest-hitting teams in the region.
“They needed two yards, and, well, they didn’t get it,” a smiling Jordan said. “I’m so happy with our defensive effort. They’re such a physical ballclub, so to get that stop, in that situation, that was awesome. We knew it’d take a great team effort, because that’s as good of a team as I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
San Mateo had cut a 28-14 lead down to an eight-point game with 10:04 left in the third quarter, when Wichman, the Bulldogs’ quarterback, took an option keeper and jetted 93 yards on a third-and-2 play all the way to the end zone. It was the last scoring play of the game, but a loud, rowdy Cowan audience was forced to wait to the very end to discover that. San Mateo put together one final drive in the game’s waning moments, with a big 26-yard reception by Kevin Kutchera that brought the Bulldogs to a first-and-goal situation from the 8 with 1:53 to go. San Mateo’s vaunted triple option attack, which put together 397 rushing yards on the afternoon, could not pick up the final four — three straight runs brought up the fourth-and-goal play and, after each team took a timeout with four seconds left to prepare for it, Wichman faked a handoff, ran right for 2 yards, and met Adair, who bulled forward to snag the quarterback and deliver the game’s biggest tackle.
“I was coming down on the edge, just doing my job, and it was my time,” Adair said. “The tackles blew up the guards like they were asked, he was right there and I scooped him up.”
Butte built its lead on big plays, the final one being Wes McCoy’s 92-yard return of the halftime kickoff for a touchdown. That play, along with Tommy Stuart’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Jon Parks at the end of the first half, bookended the intermission and also gave Butte 14 points in the span of 28 game seconds.
Indeed, this matchup was by no means devoid of action, but while some Roadrunner fans might have found it jarring to not be up 21 points throughout regulation, as has been Butte’s norm so far this year, the players and coaches themselves certainly knew they had a battle on their hands. Attrition was the name of the game throughout the second half, with just McCoy’s kickoff and Wichman’s long run standing out. In between, San Mateo’s massive, talented offensive and defensive lines did their fair share of punishing, limiting Butte’s normally dominant run game to just 127 yards and 3 yards per carry while the Bulldog offense rushed at nearly 7 yards per tote.
“Hey, this is what we came here to do, play smashmouth football,” Adair said. “All these boys want to do is hit, so we love games like this.”
Butte’s defense, as it’s done all year, stiffened when it needed to most. San Mateo had another shot at points in its penultimate possession, an eight-play, 51-yard drive that took up 3:11 in the fourth quarter. But on fourth-and-goal, Wichman’s fade to the end zone for Raeshawn Lee, very nearly hauled in by the Bulldog receiver, was instead ripped away by McCoy on the way down.
The Roadrunners got off to a hot start, building a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. After a first-quarter touchdown run by Stuart from 1 yard out, Butte employed one of its patented gadget plays, with wide receiver C.J. Grice taking a handoff on a reverse and then finding wide-open tight end Bo Brummel for a 21-yard touchdown. It was Grice’s second touchdown pass of the season.
As expected, however, San Mateo countered. George Naufahu ripped a 67-yard touchdown run at the 6:22 mark of the second period, and after a Butte three-and-out, he struck again, scoring on a 17-yard dash to even it at 14 with 4:03 left in the half. The Bulldogs never led, though, and once Stuart hit Parks 13 seconds before halftime, the Roadrunners didn’t look back.
Stuart finished with 108 yards on 8-of-18 passing and a touchdown, and although he was sacked just once, he was under duress nearly all game thanks to San Mateo’s hellacious pass rush. He also ran for a team-high 35 yards with a touchdown. Wichman threw the ball just 13 times, completing three passes, for 58 yards, but he also ran for 130 yards and was complemented by Naufahu’s 125 rush yards. D.J. Peluso added 66 rush yards and Quincy Nelson had 50 for San Mateo.
Of course, to Butte, the only numbers that matter are these ones: 8 and 0, and with two games left, the state’s top-ranked team can feel its momentum potentially building toward a big postseason.
“We all came here to play big games and get big wins. It’s a great feeling,” Adair said. “This is exactly where we want to be.”
Connect with Sports Writer Travis Souders at twitter.com/TravisSouders.
