Perhaps the oldest cliché in all of sports is that defense wins Championships. On Friday, Nov. 11, Mission Bay gave another example of why then saying exists as the Bucs punched their ticket to the CIF Div. III semi-finals with a gritty 14-0 shutout victory over El Capitan Vaqueros. 

Before Friday night’s game, Bucs head Coach Greg Tate knew that to come away with a win, it would come down to the team playing in the secondary. “Defensively, I think the play of our corners is going to dictate the entire game,” said Tate, “While El Cap can run the ball, their QB and WR play is out of this world. It will take a group effort in our secondary to slow those guys down and contain their passing attack.” 

Well, consider the mission accomplished. 

Against an El Cap offense that averages over 350 yards of total offense per game and over 250 in the air, the Bucs’ defense put the clamps on the Vaqueros. Holding them to under 250 yards of total offense while forcing four turnovers, including two red zone interceptions. 

“For our secondary, they did their job exceptionally well all night,” said Tate, “We knew with El Cap they rely on splash plays, so all week we stressed how important it was to stay over the top, don’t bite on double moves if they did that we knew they’re QB would throw us a couple passes.” 

Two of the turnovers would come from Gavin Marzion who logged an INT and forced a fumble both in the primero half. Setting the tone for the Bucs defense.

Two INTs would come courtesy of senior Jacob Morgan. Up until just two weeks ago, Morgan had his hand in the ground playing defensive end for the last three years, but after being asked by his coaches to make a position switch, the senior responded with key red zone INTs

“Those red zone INTs were huge. Jacob just got moved to LB due to injury, and this was just his second game full-time there. So to come away with two red zone picks in a playoff, on the biggest stage of the year, I can’t give him enough credit,” dicho Tate. 

On the other side of the football, while it was not the night the Bucs offense had hoped for, they still did their job of controlling the clock and scoring two critical touchdowns to help secure the win. 

“El Cap was blitzing all night, sending 7–8 guys every play almost,” dicho Tate, “So we had difficulty finding a rhythm, but the offense did a good job of chewing clock and making a play when they needed to. Next week we’ll have to use some more max protection looks to give Charlie (Hutchison) more time and get more chunk plays in the run game.”

The biggest spark of the night to come from Mission Bay’s offense would come from WR David Dunn. The Bucs would strike for a first-quarter touchdown when QB Charlie Hutchison would hit Dunn on a slant route. The wideout would take that ball 55 yards to the end zone, breaking three tackles in the process, and quickly swinging momentum a the Bucs. 

“Going into the game, we told David (Dunn) and all our WRs that their corners bail a lot and play with their backs to the sideline so it you can get in front of them and make them chase you, you can win vs. their coverage,” dicho Tate. “David made a big play for us there, it was key in us getting the win.” 

With the win, Mission Bay es in the CIF semi-finals, where they will host the No. 4 seeded Grossmont FootHillers. 

“Grossmont is another pass-first, explosive team. It’ll be important for us to get after the QB and continue having our DBs playing responsibly and doing their job like last week. We’re looking forward to the challenge,” dicho Tate.

bahía de la misión y Grossmont are set to kick off on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at Mission Bay High School. 

Photo by Steve Sidell