Football champions: Capuchino, which has chased Aragon for years, beats the Dons at the right time
Capuchino shares PAL Ocean title with Aragon as red-zone defense, trickery key victory over the Dons
SAN MATEO, CA – The gap between Capuchino and Aragon High football teams has grown much larger over the years than the fourth-quarter trick play that won Thursday night’s league matchup for San Bruno’s best.
With 10:56 remaining, halfback Lucas Zayac’s 53-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Arauz put Capuchino ahead, 21-14, and two takeaways after that secured the Mustangs a share of the Peninsula Athletic League’s Ocean Division title with the Dons.
The final score was 21-14.
With 6:23 remaining, Capuchino linebacker Danny Thomas recognized the significance when teammate Mofi Folau stripped an Aragon runner of the ball at the Mustangs’ 15-yard line.
“I saw it on the ground,” said Thomas. “We usually practice scoop and run. But I decided to just lie down on it. I just want to win the league and hang that banner in our gym. We’ve been waiting for it for years.”
Aragon (7-2 overall, 4-1) had already clinched a share of its first league title since 2014, but it didn’t feel like one after going scoreless in the red zone on its first three possessions, allowing Capuchino (8-1, 4-1) to stay close and win its first championship since 2015.
And that’s exactly what the Mustangs did, scoring a game-changing touchdown with 10 seconds remaining in the first half. Travis Ciardella scored from 28 yards out on a play that appeared to be destined to run out the clock thanks to a simple hitch play, a broken tackle, and a great downfield block.
Instead, it tied the game at 7-7.
“That turned the game around for us,” said Zayac. “Score a touchdown by breaking a tackle.” Get some momentum going into halftime.”
Aragon moved the ball well for much of the game, but a fumble at the 1 yard line, another at the 15 yard line, a failed fourth-down attempt at the 19 yard line, and a missed field goal took their toll. The game-winning interception came from Capuchino’s Sebastian Conclara with 1:26 remaining.
“We’ve been pretty clean all year,” said Aragon coach Steve Sell. “This was the wrong night to turn the ball over.”
Aragon came in with its most explosive offense in years, and on Thursday, running back Ivanhoe Nisa broke tackles repeatedly on his way to a 151-yard rushing game on 29 carries, as well as the Dons’ first touchdown on a 32-yard pass play.
In the second half, however, an emboldened Capuchino team pushed back.
Despite the fact that Aragon quarterback Sean Hickey completed 14 of 23 passes for 173 yards, with Jalen Scroggins catching five passes for 76 yards, Capuchino’s swarming defense made the difference while the offense did what it needed to do – specifically, two deadly halfback passes.
Zayac, who rushed for 59 yards on 15 carries, surprised Aragon in the second quarter by throwing over the defense to Conclara for 38 yards. After securing a handoff on a reverse, he pulled up again to find Arauz for the game-winning touchdown.
“I’ve never played quarterback in my life,” said Zayac. “Coach goes, ‘Game-winning throw?'” ‘I’ll give it a shot,’ I say. It was called by Coach. We took it.”
Jay Oca, the Caps’ fifth-year coach, enjoys the deception. He ran the same play against Aragon two years ago, losing 36-33.
“I’m a linebacker at heart,” Oca told reporters. “I know when linebackers are on the field. That’s exactly what I do. It’s just the way the game feels.”
Capuchino left with a sense of accomplishment.
“I knew our time was coming,” said senior running back Charlie Barfield.
Oca only acknowledged that “this means we’re on the right track.”
“We’re a physical team, a fast team,” he added. And we are a hungry group.”
The night wasn’t just about the championship, which came in the third tier of the PAL’s new five-tier merger with the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
It was because of their shared history with Aragon.
Since Aragon, the younger of the two, was founded in San Mateo in 1961, Cap and Aragon have shared a league. The schools eventually switched from the Mid-Peninsula League to the PAL, where Aragon grew in strength and became a San Mateo County public school powerhouse.
As the league was divided into three divisions based on merit, Aragon was winning titles in the top-tier Bay Division while Cap was mostly scraping by in the bottom-tier Lake Division.
Aragon has either played in a higher division than Capuchino or finished ahead of the Mustangs in the standings since 1996.
However, let it be known that Capuchino finally caught the Dons in 2023.
