In their last game of the season, on Friday night, the Bears lost to the Wilcox Chargers 30–21. On Friday, M-A will play in the CCS playoffs.
Wilcox got the ball first and quickly pushed the Bears’ defense back down the field. They were pushed by senior tackles Devin Hyde and Anthony van der Meer and junior safety Eva Ama, but the Chargers still scored with 9:07 left in the first quarter.
When M-A went on the attack, they couldn’t make much progress. Even though Ama got the Bears a first down, they couldn’t go any further and had to punt the ball in the middle of the quarter.
Once more, the Chargers moved down the field with a string of strong passes. When the M-A was called for pass interference, it helped Wilcox get close to the end zone. But the Bears’ defense got stronger, and on fourth down, Wilcox decided to kick a field goal, but it just missed the uprights. The Chargers were ahead 7-0 at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, Wilcox kept up their offensive play and made it to the 10-yard line. The Bears were able to hold off the Chargers until fourth down, when Wilcox scored a touchdown, putting the Chargers ahead 14-0.
For the second time, the Bears were ready to score. A bad covering call in the middle of the second quarter let senior wide receiver Josh Olsen run down the field and score a 74-yard touchdown. After junior Anthony Perez scored the point after the touchdown, M-A was now behind 14–7.
There were 43 seconds left in the first half when a short pass to a Chargers receiver found a hole in M-A’s defense. Wilcox then ran 80 yards to score the touchdown. At the start of halftime, the Bears were down 21–7.
M-A got the second half off to a great start with a big energy boost. Senior wide receiver Angelo Marin and junior quarterback Teddy Dacey quickly ran the Bears to the 5-yard line. Quickly, Dacey connected with Olsen for another touchdown, which cut Wilcox’s lead to 21-14 for the Bears.
The Bears kept going on the attack after Wilcox had a short possession. Marin found his way past several Wilcox players after Dacey’s pass and ran all the way to the end zone. The touchdown from 44 yards tied the game at 21-21.
Olsen said, “We knew we played well in the first half, but we knew we had to play harder if we wanted to win and go home.”
Van der Meer made a hit that caused a fumble, which Wilcox almost stole back. The Chargers had no choice but to punt. The Bears also didn’t make any progress when they went back on attack at the end of the quarter.
In the beginning of the fourth quarter, it was hard for the Bears to keep their defense together, and Wilcox kept moving down the field. The Chargers were almost in the end zone, but senior defender Semisi Tuipulotu picked up a fumble that stopped Wilcox from scoring.
The Bears tried to get ahead when they went back on offense. But Dacey’s pass was quickly picked off, which put them back on defense. Wilcox was able to get to the end zone with 3:58 left in the game. Since they missed the extra point after the touchdown, the Chargers are now ahead 27-21.
It turned out that the Bears’ attack wasn’t strong enough, so they couldn’t make any progress. With 50 seconds left, the Chargers’ defense kicked a field goal, which made the score 30-21.
The Bears couldn’t tie the game with less than a minute left. That was the end of the game. Wilcox won 30–21 on their senior night.
“They really didn’t think we were good enough, and I don’t think they could have played as well as us.” “The game would be much closer if we stopped letting them score 21 points right away,” Hyde said.
Olsen said, “We fought really hard. In the past, we’ve tended to ease off the gas and play a little slow, but I think tonight we just gave it our all and I think it showed.”
The Bears will play the Monterey Dores at home on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the first round of the CCS Championship.
