PACIFICA — As the action concluded at Terra Nova High on Thursday night, The Skull was left alone, in a glass case on the track undisturbed.
Half Moon Bay did not parade around the field at the conclusion of its 59-28 football rout of the Tigers in a regular-season finale. On the contrary, the Cougars preferred to get out of Pacifica as soon as possible in light of a fan altercation that caused the game to pause in the third quarter of the coastside’s “Battle of the Bones.”
Half Moon Bay sophomore quarterback Paxton Holden, son of head coach Keith Holden, ran for 284 yards on 13 carries, scored three touchdowns, and ran in a two-point conversion for a Cougar team that closed out the regular season with a 7-3 record and as the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division runner-up.
Meanwhile, Terra Nova quarterback Joey Donati completed 16 of 22 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for a score in the nonleague contest, helping the PAL El Camino Division champions (7-3) prepare for next week’s Central Coast Section playoffs.
“We knew coming into this game it was probably going to be the two quarterbacks playing against each other and seeing what happens,” Terra Nova coach Nick Lotti said.
As rivalry trophies go, a replica of a sabertooth tiger skull seems an unusual choice, but Half Moon Bay claimed it for the third consecutive season, while Terra Nova holds the all-time series lead at 40-21.
The dual was even more intriguing because of the different styles of play between quarterbacks.
Holden is slighter in stature than the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Donati and plays an option style that features misdirection and showcases the athletic ability of the Cougars’ offensive line. He makes reads based on defensive looks and reactions, and is adept at moving his feet quickly while he patiently waits for holes to open.
“He’s competitive, but he’s also calm,” Keith Holden said. “And he processes things pretty quickly.”
Holden’s touchdown runs were 74, 80, and 40 yards. Once space opened at the line of scrimmage, Half Moon Bay took advantage by blasting into the open with the defenses’ second and third levels nowhere to be round.
“He scrambles really well out of the pocket,” Cougar offensive left tackle/defensive end Vince Parmann said. “He can get through tackles like it’s nothing.”
The Cougars gained 470 yards on the ground – averaging 16.8 on its 28 carries – and gained 618 yards in all. And Parmann had five tackles for losses and three sacks.
“It’s all our O-line,” Paxton Holden said. “Our O-line does the blocks and makes it easy. I know where I’m supposed to hit the gap. I look at it and see it. If it’s open, I hit it. If it’s not, I’ve got to find something else. It’s all just hard work and taking the time to put effort in. You get out what you put in.”
By the time Half Moon Bay had run its fifth offensive play, the Cougars already had a 16-0 lead, with Luke Pimentel taking a pitch, after Holden faked a handoff and spun to the left as if to keep the ball, for a 47-yard touchdown run.
Donati, a senior who seems destined for the next level in some capacity, has started for the varsity since his freshman year. He’s a defensive end by trade, but added quarterback because he’s a leader, Lotti said. Donati entered this week’s games with a Central Coast Section-leading 10 sacks. Though he didn’t have one Thursday, Half Moon Bay was very much aware of his presence.
“He was never a pure quarterback, but he’s learned to play the game there and he’s learned to control it,” Lotti said. “Wherever he decides to go to college, that school’s going to be lucky to get him. I don’t care if you play him on offense or defense.”
Terra Nova closed to within 16-8 on Donati’s 1-run first-quarter TD run, but then it was all Holden, who carried eight times on a 16-play 82-yard drive that ignited a 20-0 Half Moon Bay second-quarter run for a 36-8 lead.
Half Moon Bay Will Wimsett caught three passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and Terra Nova’s Dylan Wood caught six for 86 and one touchdown, and teammate Isaiah Birch Corona had three catches for 89 yards.
“We’re all hyped,” Paxton Holden said.
And why not? They’ve got The Skull.
