Mountain View easily into 3A state football playoffs

Once Mountain View learned to keep its cool Saturday night, the Thunder put Bishop Blanchet on ice.

The Thunder shrugged off four personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the opening quarter and rolled to a 63-13 victory over the Braves in a Class 3A state preliminary playoff game Saturday at McKenzie Stadium.

Mountain View (7-3) advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since 2013 and gets Peninsula in a first-round matchup at home next weekend.

“I think it was just the emotion of the playoffs, and we’ll get that addressed,” said Thunder coach Adam Mathieson, whose team won its sixth straight. “It was a little clunky at times, but our defense set the tone tonight. They got us some turnovers and short fields, we capitalized on that.”

The Thunder jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, but Blanchet (2-8) answered with a 91-yard kickoff return for a score by Thomas Gardner.

After forcing a fumble at their own 36, the Braves then closed to within 14-13 on a 28-yard TD pass from Joey Riley to Chris Frost.

“They were a state semifinalist last year, so you knew they weren’t going to disappear into the night,” Mathieson said. “When you start fast like we did, sometimes there can be a little bit of a lull.”

The lull dissipated quickly, however, and from that point forward, it was all Thunder. They scored on each of their final five possessions of the half to go into the locker room with a 50-13 lead.

Andre Scheer and Glen Perry Jr. each scored three first-half touchdowns, and Darien Chase and Mitchell Delmage had interceptions to lead the onslaught.

“We picked it up because we really realized what was at stake,” said Scheer, the senior quarterback who ran for 82 yards and was 6-of-8 passing for 107 yards. “This could be for some of us our last games, and we didn’t want that to happen.”

Scheer capped his big night by throwing a 46-yard TD pass to Chase on Mountain View’s first play of the third quarter, which triggered a running clock the rest of the way.

Perry finished with 174 yards on just 10 carries before taking almost the entire second half off. He scored on TD runs of 82, 9, and 50 yards.

The Thunder held Blanchet to just 132 yards of total offense and nine first downs — four of which came by penalty. Sophomore Kobe Anderson led the defense with seven tackles before leaving early in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

MOUNTAIN VIEW 63, BISHOP BLANCHET 13

Bis.Blanchet 13 0 0 0—13

Mtn View 21 29 7 6—63

First Quarter

MV—Andre Scheer 33 run (Bryan Valdez kick)

MV—Glen Perry Jr. 82 run (Valdez kick)

B—Tommy Gardner 91 kickoff return (Joseph Kahn kick)

B—Chris Frost 28 pass from Joey Riley (kick failed)

MV—Scheer 11 run (Valdez kick)

Second Quarter

MV—Scheer 1 run (Valdez kick)

MV—Perry Jr. 9 run (Valdez kick)

MV—Perry Jr. 50 run (Troy Pacheco run)

MV—Jack Meretens 4 run (Valdez kick)

Third Quarter

MV—Darien Chase 46 pass from Scheer (Valdez kick)

Fourth Quarter

MV—Tyrell Hall 3 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—B, Jiyah Stewart 11-23, Aaereck Savello 5-7, Riley 4-(minus 8), Justin Brown 2-0, Que Johnson 2-11, Will Merriman 1-13, Jamiek Satterwhite 1-3. MV, Perry Jr. 10-174, Scheer 13-82, Mertens 4-28, Sean Delmage 3-25, Hall 4-21, Nile Jones 1-9, Payton Regas 1-4, Tresean Foreman 1-13, John Marak 1-16, Philip Earnhardt 1-2, Garrett Moen 1-(minus 3), team 3-(minus 4).

PASSING—B, Riley 7-15-3-83, Hunter Redmon 0-4-0-0, Connor Stutz 0-1-0-0. MV, Scheer 6-8-0-107, Moen 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING—B, Merriman 3-40, Stephanos Buhler 2-16, Frost 1-28, Nathan Prinz 1-(minus 1). MV, Chase 4-86, Rodolfo Montiel 1-20, Michael Bolds 1-1.