Cougars Lose Close Homecoming Game to Bearcats

By Jeremy MacKinnon and Marco George

On Friday, October 18th, the Half Moon Bay Varsity Football Team played an exciting, yet ultimately devastating Homecoming game.

The loss came against the San Mateo Bearcats who beat the Cougars 23-22. With 46 seconds on the clock the Cougars were leading 22-17 until the San Mateo Bearcats made a crucial run in an effort to come back and eventually got taken down just short of a touchdown at the three yard line.

The Cougars fought hard for three downs, not allowing the Bearcats to score another touchdown.

This moment of tense expectation filled the Half Moon Bay stands with a nervous silence, and for a moment it seemed there was hope. However, the Cougars defenses, despite their best efforts, were broken through and the touchdown scored, leaving the Cougars with only 22 seconds to recover.

With the Bearcats energized after trailing behind the Cougars for most of the game, the Cougars where met with defeat and the game was decided. It was a very disappointing defeat as the Cougars began optimistic about their chances in this game.

Head Coach Keith Holden described San Mateo, who lost the Lake Division Championship last year, as “beatable.”

The Cougars gave the crowd something to cheer about when Junior Quarterback, Shane Acton, made a dramatic 79 yard touchdown, followed by a clever two point conversion giving the Cougars an 8-3 lead. Later, a fumble in the 2nd quarter by the Bearcats resulted in another touchdown making the score 15-10.

In the third quarter, Senior Running Back Jonathan Bali made a major break away run that lead to a touchdown give not the Cougars a 22-10 lead. However, the Cougars offense struggled in the second half, unable to score any points.

The halftime show featured performances by the Half Moon Bay High School Band and Varsity Cheerleading team. A group of Seniors, winners of the Homecoming class dance competition, also performed their Army themed dance to finish off the halftime show. They were, however, missing a few dancers so they had to do some creative improvisation.

The loss Friday night brought the Cougars season record down to 1-5. The Cougars have now lost two consecutive Homecoming games. Despite the disappointing outcome of the game, the students still cheered their team on with great spirit as they stayed to cheer on the Cougars in the final seconds preventing the Bearcats from scoring a two point conversion.

See photos of the game here.

This article originally appeared in The Paw Print, Half Moon Bay High School's online newspaper.