The Cougars had the ball ten times. They scored a touchdown on eight of these drives. That’s how the game went for the Scots in a 56-7 loss to undefeated Half Moon Bay on Friday, their worst defeat of the season.
Running back Tristan Hofmann, a junior, and quarterback William Moffitt, a sophomore, led the way for the Cougars. Hofmann rushed for over 130 yards and three touchdowns while Moffitt ran for 63 yards and three touchdowns while passing for 74 yards. On the Scots’ side, George Hanna, a junior, led the team with 49 yards rushing.
The Cougars put things away from the start, with a 6-yard rushing touchdown from Moffitt to cap off a 29-point first quarter. They set the tone even earlier, though, opening up the game with a three-play, 65-yard drive spanning 49 seconds and ending on a 9-yard touchdown run by Hofmann.
“A quick opening drive sets the tone, gets the defense in a tight spot, and gives our guys confidence moving forward. It encourages them to protect the ball better and big ups to our line for that. It starts at the line of scrimmage, and I think our line did a great job setting the tone early, and that says a lot,” said Half Moon Bay head coach Keith Holden.
While the Scots struggles to gain a footing, the Cougars continued to roll. Connor Quosig, a junior, and Hofmann both scored before Moffitt closed out the quarter with his first touchdown of the game.
The Scots didn’t get a break in the second quarter, either. Moffitt scored two more touchdowns that were set up by some big runs by Hofmann.
“Breaking tackles helps us get more yards, we always call those tough yards, and they are very hard-fought yards,” Hofmann said.
The Scots didn’t give up, however, and were able to get on the board with a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Dane Fifita, a sophomore, setting the score at 43-7 going into halftime.
“We’re always going to play 100%, and we’re always in the mindset of winning, so it doesn’t matter what the score is; we’re still going to try to get over the other team. That’s our mindset throughout the season, and when we train, we come in and go hard all the way, and no matter how hard our schedule is, we always go for it,” Hanna said.
Coming out of the half, the Cougars picked up where they left off, driving down the field and scoring on a 3-yard rush by Hofmann, and extending the Cougars’ lead to 49-7 after they missed the PAT.
The Scots were unable to respond and allowed the Cougars to take a long drive down the field and score on a 1-yard rush by Jake Perkins, a senior. The Scots fumbled on their next drive, and the Cougars recovered it, kneeling to end the game with a 56-7 victory.
The Scots hope to pull things together for their upcoming matchup against school rivals Sequoia (4-5), their final game of the year.
“We need to clean it up and get some guys healthy. We also need not to bang a bunch in practice and try to move some guys around because we’re still a little gimpy right now. We’ll go from there, that’s all we can do,” said Carlmont head coach Jake Messina.
Meanwhile, the Cougars travel to Pacifica, looking to finish out the season undefeated and carry their momentum forward into the playoffs with a win over their rivals, Terra Nova (6-3).
“It’d be great to win; it’s a huge rivalry for us against Terra Nova. They have the skull right now, and our first team goal was to win league, and we succeeded in that, and our next goal is to win the skull back,” Holden said. “I know our kids are looking forward to that, and there are no letdowns.”
Turnover Troubles
The Scots struggled mightily to maintain possession of the ball. Carlmont turned the ball over to Half Moon Bay five times in the game. Just one of those turnovers was a turnover on downs, meaning the Scots failed to get a first down when it was fourth down. The other four came off of a fumble and three interceptions that were thrown by quarterback Tim Netane, a sophomore.
“The turnovers don’t help because it makes the score lopsided quick, and we’re already beat up, and that didn’t help,” Messina said.
The Cougars did not turn the ball over.
Homecoming/Senior Day
On what was both their homecoming weekend and senior day game, the Cougars put on a show for their filled bleachers. After honoring all of their seniors before the game, they had a different type of celebration at halftime. Rather than have homecoming floats, the Cougars announced their school’s homecoming king and queen at half instead.
“It means a lot for them, we always try to get the win and get the most out of our games, so there was no letting off. At halftime, we were saying that it’s for the seniors,” Hofmann said.
Injuries
Carlmont has been dealing with injuries throughout the year and saw two more players get hurt in Friday’s matchup. Wes Brown, a senior, and PJ Stav, a senior, both went down with injuries during the game. While Brown only missed a drive, he was shaken up a bit throughout the game.
