Bay Area playoff roundup: Bellarmine stops Serra short

Bellarmine (San Jose, Calif.) High School's 17-12 Central Coast Section Open Division semifinal win over Serra (San Mateo) at Independence High School Friday looked nothing like the regular-season matchup of the two teams.

Except the end.

Just like Bellarmine's 35-34 overtime win in San Mateo last month, Serra's chance for victory ended just a yard short. 

The top-seeded and defending champion Bells (11-1) stopped Kava Cassidy just short of the goal line on a 4th-and-2 call with 48 seconds left, preserving the victory.

In the first outing, Serra went for a game-winning two-point conversion to win it in overtime only star tailback Eric Redwood was stopped short. This time, with Redwood out of the game with a collarbone injury, the Padres (9-3) went to Cassidy but with the same result.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Redwood rushed for 115 yards on 21 carries and his 35-yard yard reception on the game's final drive pushed the ball to the 10. That's when he got injured and couldn't return. Serra had driven from its own 11 on the potential go-ahead drive.

Bellarmine moves on to next week's finals against the winner of Saturday's St. Ignatius-Mitty winner.

Serra took a 3-0 lead with 3:07 left in the first quarter on a 37-yard field goal by Anthony Toms. After Bellarmine's Grant Bush tied the game with a 30-yard field goal early in the second, Daniel Lavulo sacked K.J. Carta-Samuels in the end zone giving Serra a 5-3 halftime lead.

Kenneth Olugbode took early in the second half, scoring on touchdown runs of 2 and 11 yards to put Bellarmine up 17-5 with 10:19 to go in the fourth.

But Serra bounced back quickly with a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped with a Redwood 5-yard touchdown run, cutting the lead to 17-12 with 8:27 remaining.

Division I: Milpitas 34, Sequoia (Redwood City) 19

Vita Vea rambled for TD runs of 40 and 25 yards in the first half, leading top-seed Milpitas (9-3) to a win over visiting Sequoia-Redwood City (8-4), which got 125 yards rushing and two touchdowns by Mike Taylor. ... Milpitas opened the scoring on an 85-yard touchdown pass from Ronnie Reed to Tre Hartley and besides Vea's two TD runs, Brandon Sualua scored on a 25-yard run. ... Milpitas will now play San Benito, a 30-13 winner over Salinas. Junior quarterback David Stanton rushed for three touchdowns and passed for another.

Division II: St. Francis (Mountain View) 41, Aragon (San Mateo) 7 Mike Lauck ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as the top seed and host Lancers (7-5) got untracked after halftime. … The upstart Dons were even at 7-7 after 23 minutes of play but a short punt led to a Lauck 9-yard scoring run with 14 seconds to go before halftime and a 14-7 lead. … Lauck (13 rushes, 119 yards, two TDs) also threw for 180 yards and two more scores. … Alex Andrighetto carried 11 times for 103 yards for St. Francis. … Nathaniel Blood led Aragon with 14-of-24 passing for 154 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown pass to J. D. Elzie. … St. Francis will now play Los Gatos (8-4), which defeated Wilcox (Santa Clara) (8-4) in overtime 21-20. In that game, Joey Wood scored on a 10-yard run in overtime for Los Gatos but after Wilcox scored on a 2-yard run by Delshawn Mitchell it went for 2. Kenny Dipko was stopped inches short, giving Los Gatos the win.

Division III: Aptos 34, Monterey 31

According to the Bay Area News Group, Aptos scored 27 points in the second half and got three touchdowns from Aaron McAnerney, who rushed for 173 yards and caught five passes for 98 more, including a 56-yarder to put Aptos (10-2) up for good. ... James Hill accounted for 316 yards and four touchdowns for top seeded Monterey (9-3).

Division IV: Menlo (Atherton) 41, Seaside 27

Menlo School-Atherton (10-2) stunned Division IV top seed and host Seaside and moves into next week's finals against the winner of Saturday's Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton and Soquel winner. ... Menlo jumped to a 20-7 first-quarter lead on TD passes to Connor Stastny, Travis Chambers and Matt Bradley. Menlo would never trail. ... Junior quarterback Jack Heneghan threw for 260 yards and four touchdowns for the winners. ... Seaside (11-1) also had a big performance from its quarterback as Michael Turner threw for 300 yards and four touchdowns - with just 12 completions - but Menlo took advantage of two interceptions.

North Coast Section

Division I: De La Salle (Concord) 49, Amador Valley 0 De La Salle (12-0), ranked 13th in the country by MaxPreps and winners of 20 straight NCS titles, was at its best in a semifinal rout of visiting Amador Valley (7-5), which played without starting quarterback Kyle Moreno (separated shoulder). … By halftime the Spartans had a 298-38 edge in yards and a 28-0 lead. … Andrew Buckley caught two touchdown passes and had an interception and Tiapepe Vitale had three touchdowns, two rushing.

Div. II: Clayton Valley (Concord) 49, Concord 14 Joe Protheroe continued his monster senior season leading top-seed Clayton Valley-Concord (11-1) into its first section final since 2008 with a decisive home win over rival Concord (10-3). Prothroe rushed 28 times for 268 yards and three more touchdowns, including a 40-yarder that sealed it with 8:15 left. … He entered the game with 2,091 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns. … His brother Michael Protheroe, the team's quarterback, also rushed for three scores and broke a 14-14 tie with TD keepers of 1 and 3 yards. … Jesse Medrano added a 15-yard TD and interception for the winners, who will play the winner of Saturday's Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park versus Northgate-Walnut Creek game next week for the championship.

Div. III: El Cerrito 40, Analy (Sebastopol) 20

Junior quarterback Keilan Benjamin completed 23-of-28 passes for 218 yards and three scores and rushed for two others as top-seed El Cerrito (13-0) moved into its first final since 2006. … Jalen Harvey had 11 catches for 105 yards, two touchdowns and a 2-point conversion for El Cerrito, which led 25-0 in the third quarter. … Austin Harper added 101 yards for the winners. … Darin Newman threw for 209 yards and a TD for Analy (12-1), which got two short TD runs from Ja' narrick James in the fourth quarter.

Division IV: Justin-Siena (Napa, Calif.) 34, Arcata 33

The Braves squandered a 27-point lead but held on behind Austin Connolly, who rushed 17 times for 350 yards and two touchdowns. ... Justin-Siena now plays the winner of the St. Helena-San Marin game in next week's title tilt.

Oakland Section

McClymonds (Oakland) 38, Oakland Tech 13

Kenyatta McGee Jackson rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns and had one of three McClymonds defensive touchdowns as the Warriors (9-3) look like a strong bet to be selected into the Division IV regionals following a lopsided Silver Bowl championship victory at Laney College. … Jackson returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown teammate Shaqan Washington returned a fumble 35 yards for a score, and Lavon Washington returned another interception for a 70-yard TD. … Louis White intercepted three passes for the winners.