The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
CSM defensive end John Gayer sacks Diablo Valley quarterback Teddy Booras in Friday’s Bay 6 Conference football opener in San Ramon. Gayer had three sacks on the night and is now the California Community College Athletic Association state leader with 8 1/2 sacks on the season.
Welcome to the 2024 College of San Mateo Bulldogs’ wild ride.
CSM (1-0 Bay 6, 5-1 overall) opened its Bay 6 Conference football schedule with a rowdy and oftentimes volatile showing Friday night in San Ramon, but the legs of running back Malakai DeMoss and punter Tashi Dorje carried the Bulldogs to a 27-14 victory over Diablo Valley College.
With the game kicking off the second half of CSM’s overall season schedule, the Bulldogs overcame 15 penalties for 139 yards. DeMoss enjoyed a breakout performance, rushing 18 times for 107 yards and one touchdown. Dorje delivered seven punts throughout, placing five of them inside the 20-yard line.
“It was a great (conference) opener,” CSM head coach Tim Tulloch said. “I’m proud of our guys. I thought we did a good job.”
Things got weird in a hurry at the beginning of the fourth quarter on a Dorje punt and seemingly routine fair catch at DVC’s own 10-yard line. But offsetting penalties — an unsportsmanlike conduct call against CSM, and a personal foul on DVC — forced a re-kick. Dorje’s next punt saw the ball glance off the fingertips of the DVC returner, with CSM there to pounce on the loose ball, only to have the fumble nullified due to the Bulldogs interfering with the punt reception.
DVC (0-1, 3-3) took over with great field position at CSM’s 35-yard line, but the Bulldog defense stepped up. Sophomore linebacker Malaki Te’o delivered a tackle for a loss on first down, and on second down sophomore linemen John Gayer and Nehamaiah Musika stormed the backfield for one of CSM’s five sacks.
“Those fourth quarter stops and physicality at the line of scrimmage is, I think, the determining factor of the game,” Tulloch said.
Things were looking up for DVC when punter Jacob Johnson pinned CSM to its own 6. And after Vikings linebacker Marley Alapati, a 2024 Serra graduate, recorded a sack on second down, the Bulldogs punted the ball right back.
But with the Bulldogs clinging to a three-point lead, the Vikings muffed the punt at the 5-yard line. It was the most pivotal of DVC’s three fumbles in the game. On the ensuing play, DeMoss danced into the end zone for a 5-yard score to give CSM a comfortable 24-14 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Gayer matched his season-high with three sacks — the sophomore defensive end now has a state-leading 8 1/2 sacks on the year — and dropped DVC quarterback Teddy Booras on the first play of the ensuing possession. Freshman cornerback Sharrod Smith capped the possession with his first collegiate interception, setting up a 24-yard field goal by Dieter Kelly to put CSM up 27-14.
“Yeah, John Gayer is the guy that is leading that charge,” Tulloch said.
Gayer recorded his third sack on DVC’s final possession as CSM’s defense held to force a turnover on downs to seal the win. Due to injury, Gayer spent all last season as a player-coach, working the press booth as a play analyst. The change of perspective has helped up Gayer’s game, Tulloch said.
“Now I think the game has really slowed down for him and he’s just become a dominant force,” Tulloch said. “He’s in the backfield on almost every pass play.”
CSM’s pass rush wreaked havoc from the outset. Musika ended DVC’s first possession with a sack. Then the Dorje show began. With CSM’s first three offensive drives going nowhere, each of Dorje’s first three punts were placed inside the 20.
“Tashi has had one of the biggest impacts on a season we’ve had at the punter position,” Tulloch said.
Dorje’s third punt set up a big swing when, on DVC’s first-down play, Te’o darted through middle to blast running back Ferrari Miller behind the line of scrimmage, jarring the ball loose for Frank Miller to recover the fumble at the Vikings’ 7. Three plays later, sophomore James Minot lined up in a three-man backfield to dive in for a 1-yard score, putting the Bulldogs up 7-0 with 1:51 to play in the first quarter.
“[Te’o] wreaks havoc,” Tulloch said. “He’s all over the field, sideline to sideline, he’s got great instincts, and he just finds the football.”
DVC answered back with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive, capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass from Booras to Miles Dixon to tie it 7-7 early in the second quarter.
CSM quickly reclaimed the lead. With the Bulldogs taking over near midfield, DeMoss reeled off consecutive runs of 20 and 12 yards. He later picked up 10 yards on a third-and-14 run to set up a 24-yard field goal by Kelly to put the Bulldogs up 10-7.
After a DVC three-and-out, the Bulldogs went right back on the attack, taking over at their own 48. CSM moved 52 yards on nine plays, including four straight pass completions from freshman quarterback Dominic Ingrassia of 22, 6, 8 and 6 yards, before Lolo Mataele ran it in for a 2-yard score to send CSM into the halftime locker room leading 17-7.
Ingrassia — making his third straight start in the wake of injuries to Conner Annicharico and Conner Stoddard, both of whom suited up Friday — was 12-of-20 passing for 120 yards. CSM outgained DVC 267-223 in total offense. Ingrassia came off the grayshirt list to make his first start Sept. 28, against American River.
“Dom is just our No. 1 and he protected the football,” Tulloch said. “We had several explosive throws … so that was good.”
DVC closed it to 17-14 late in the third quarter with a nine-play, 72-yard drive — thanks in part to back-to-back 15-yard penalties for a personal foul and a face mask — before Steven Henry II hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass by Booras with an acrobatic toe-tap reception along the side of the end zone.
“Those are what we call self-inflicted wounds,” Tulloch said. “And they’re things that we have to do better in our focus. … It’s an emotionally charged game where a lot of the guys know a lot of the guys on the other team … we know what’s at stake, and sometime emotions get high and they sometimes weigh on your ability to focus.”
The familiarity of the two teams was spurred by a coaching change at DVC this season. First-year head coach Jimmy Collins took over the program in San Ramon after heading the team at City College of San Francisco for the past nine seasons. The shakeup instigated a handful of player transfers from CCSF to DVC, Tulloch said.
The Bulldogs return home this Saturday to take on Foothill College. Kickoff at College Heights Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.