San Ramon Valley breaks through against McClymonds’ defense, stays unbeaten

DANVILLE — McClymonds hadn’t allowed a point through its first two games and still hadn’t after one quarter Friday night in a highly anticipated rematch against San Ramon Valley. But then SRV got the play it needed to ignite a 35-7 victory that improved the Danville school’s record to 4-0. Max Ellis intercepted a third-down pass and returned it 31 yards up the sideline to midfield.

A few plays later, John Ben Pau Mendoza weaved his way for a 35-yard touchdown that broke a scoreless tie. The Wolves added another touchdown just before halftime on a 21-yard pass from Luke Baker to Pau Mendoza and put the game away by the end of the third quarter. Pau Mendoza accounted for 137 yards — 70 through the air and 67 on the ground — and scored three TDs.

Baker passed for 209 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score as the Wolves avenged a 45-42 loss to Mack last season in Oakland. When it was over, Baker gave the biggest shout-out to his team’s defense. Mack’s only points came on Adon Dent’s 94-yard kickoff return to start the second half.

“Our defense shut them out,” Baker said. “That’s a great team. A lot of great athletes.

The offense started out really slow. That was my fault. Didn’t play my best game.

But the defense, they kept us in it. They were dominant. ” Baker thought the turning point came just before Ellis’ interception.

During that series, star linebacker Marco Jones went down injured, holding the back of his leg. The junior eventually hobbled to the sideline but missed only one play. When Jones returned, he made a huge tackle on second down.

Ellis’ interception came on the next snap. “First play back in, tackle for loss and gets them into a passing situation,” Baker said. “That play by Marco was incredible and then the pick and the return was great.

” Even after the interception, SRV went backward — false start, then a six-yard sack. But a 22-yard screen pass from Baker to Pau Mendoza set up the running back’s 35-yard touchdown run. “Max Ellis got the pick and it really got everyone’s juices flowing,” Pau Mendoza said.

“I was like we’ve got to capitalize on this one. Shout-out to Max, but it was a great feeling getting into the end zone for the first time in the game. ” McClymonds — ranked sixth by the Bay Area News Group — had beaten Bellarmine 40-0 and Bishop O’Dowd 45-0 in its first two games.

Numerous times on Friday, the Oakland school was its own worst enemy as penalty after penalty either stalled drives or hurt the defense. Still, Mack (2-1) opened the second half with a lightning strike as Dent found an opening and out-sprinted the coverage to the end zone to cut SRV’s advantage to 14-7. Third-ranked SRV, which opened the season with road wins over St.

Ignatius, Acalanes and Elk Grove, needed just five plays to reach the end zone again. Aided by a personal foul penalty that ended the game for one Mack defender, the Wolves drove 64 yards, the final seven on Baker’s run across the goal line. “Too many penalties,” Mack coach Michael Peters said.

“We had them last week and came back and did it again with drive killers. We just didn’t do well. Defensively, we played well enough to keep us in it.

We ran out of gas. That’s strange for one of my teams. That’s something we need to work on.

” Related Articles Baker’s 3-yard pass to Pau Mendoza made it 28-7 late in the third quarter, and his 22-yard pass over the middle to Zack Dodson with 7:29 left accounted for the final touchdown. Ta’Jir Golden rushed for 93 yards in 17 carries to lead Mack despite missing time in the first half with a tweaked ankle. SRV’s Owen Scott had eight receptions for 66 yards.

But, as Baker said, this was a night to remember for the SRV defense. .