Lions get revenge in S.F. Section final
Galileo won its 18th San Francisco Section championship Saturday with a surprisingly lopsided 50-28 victory over Academic Athletic Association regular-season champion Mission at Kezar Stadium.
And the emotion created by a 40-36 defeat to the same Bears squad on Oct. 20 helped.
Buoyed by the memory of that loss, Galileo raced to a 38-0 halftime lead behind an assortment of contributors before Mission (8-4), which went 6-0 in AAA play, showed some fight in the second half.
By then the game was over, and the Lions (9-2) became the first AAA squad to reach the CIF Northern California Regional playoffs. It was Galileo’s third title since coach Mark Huynh took over in 2009, winning one every four years.
“We weren’t ready the last game,” Huynh said. “We definitely were today, and it showed. We played with a lot of heart and passion, and I was really happy with our execution. I’m proud how we’ve come together the last month of the season.”
Though highly touted sophomore tailback Yarvell Smith, who came in with 1,218 yards and 19 touchdowns, had a solid game with 21 carries, 109 yards, a touchdown and two twopoint conversions, this was clearly a team effort.
Antonio McBride returned a fumble 51 yards for a touchdown, and Jackie Guo returned an interception 59 yards for another score. Defensive end Ahmed Balwi dominated the line with three sacks and a fumble recovery.
Ronald Fox had 85 yards rushing, including a 45-yard sprint to the end zone for Galileo’s final score, and Erasmo Rivas ran for a touchdown and caught a TD pass.
“We were just focused today,” Balwi said. “We were completely ready.”
Adrian Poot, Galileo’s 5foot-3 senior quarterback, threw for 180 yards, two touchdowns and two two-point conversions.
His perfectly placed 71-yard touchdown pass to Reese Bickart, the first play after Mission’s Jelani Al-Malik returned the second-half kickoff for a score, cemented this one.
Poot was overcome with emotion afterward. He said he wasn’t surprised to be leading 38-0 at halftime.
“Not at all,” he said. “We’ve been working toward this day and that performance for four years. We played so inspired. That loss to them last time hurt. We didn’t want to feel that again.”
The rout started early as Rivas capped an 80-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run around right end. A 22-yard completion from Poot to Fox set up the score.
Near the end of the first quarter, Mission’s troubles really began. A dropped punt snap put the ball at the Mission 14. Smith went for 9 yards, then powered the ball up the middle for a 5-yard score on the last play of the quarter, making 16-0.
On the first play of the second quarter, McBride picked up a fumble and sprinted 51 yards for a score, making it 24-0, and the rout was on.
Rivas took a short pass from Poot, slipped a couple of tackles and raced 30 yards for another score to make it 30-0. A fourth straight two-point conversion, this on a completion from Poot to Guo, gave the Lions a 32-0 lead.
Guo was just getting warmed up. Two possessions later, he intercepted a McKinley Oliver pass, again slipped through more would-be tacklers and raced 59 yards for a touchdown to give Galileo its 38-0 halftime lead.
Mission, after its third SFS title in four years, showed more spunk after Al-Malik’s kickoff return. Zeke Bellino recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score, Robert Lee caught a 7-yard TD pass from David Rodas, and Oliver contributed a 30-yard touchdown run and ensuing two-point conversion. But it was far too late. There was more fight after the game when a couple of players skirmished during the handshake ritual at midfield. It escalated for a couple of minutes, extra police were called in and the postgame trophy ceremony was canceled.
“It’s disappointing, for sure, but it doesn’t take away from the great win,” Huynh said.
“We canceled the postgame trophy ceremony — that speaks for itself,” SFS Commissioner Don Collins said.