South San Francisco’s transformation continues in victory over Leigh
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO – South San Francisco’s recent past seemed difficult to fathom as Marcus Mercurio bucked through and around Leigh defenders before twisting into the end zone to score the clincher Friday night in a 25-20 Warriors’ victory.
Three years ago, South San Francisco had no varsity football while mired in a winless stretch that lasted nearly five years.
The Warriors are winning now, and their 2023 Central Coast Section Division V title is evidence. Their transformation, however, is far from over. South City, a fourth-tier representative of the five-level Peninsula Athletic League, just knocked off a team from San Jose’s best public-school league, the Mt. Hamilton, for the third time in four games going back to the 2023 CCS playoffs.
The turnaround may not be the hardest thing to comprehend about South City (2-1). It actually may be Kolone Pua’s choice to coach in shirt sleeves and shorts even during the typically windy and foggy South San Francisco nights. Another area of South City uniqueness: The way Pua maximizes every ounce of talent on his team. The Warriors had 22 players in uniform Friday, and essentially only 11 play … and they play every down.
How does Pua reduce the wear and tear?
On Friday, he did it by shortening the game. Before every play, even in the first quarter, the Warriors never snapped the ball with more than 10 seconds left on the play clock. Therefore, South City limited the opportunities for Leigh (2-1) and its quick-strike offense to get the ball, and preserved his own players as much as possible.
“We didn’t want Leigh on offense at all,” Pua said. “If they’re on the field, it’s going to be a harder game for us.”
Lining up in the wishbone – three backs aligned behind the quarterback, any of whom could carry the ball, and no wideouts – the Warriors kept the ball on the ground. And rather than rely on Elijah Fields, who rushed for 66 yards in the first quarter, Pua switched mainly to Mercurio as the game went on, thereby preserving both as much as possible.
Mercurio, the big back, gained 118 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns, including a punishing 35-yarder that gave South City a 25-7 lead with 2:49 to play in the game. Fields, the fleet back, gained 113 yards on 19 carries and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 22-yard run during a first half that took only 48 minutes to play. Overall, South City rushed for 264 yards.
“They’ve got a really good fullback, they’ve got a really good running back, and they pushed us around on both sides of the ball,” Leigh coach Kyle Padia said. “And that was good enough for them.”
When Pua, a 1988 South City graduate, became head coach in 2023, he intended to establish the fly sweep as the preferred mode of attack. But the wishbone style, which he calls the “Jack” offense, was installed on a situational basis last year and it’s stuck.
“Let’s keep running the ‘Jack’,” Pua told a coaching staff that includes four of his sons, “because nobody’s stopping us.”
Yes, four sons: Maligi, Kolone I., Kalvin, and Kolson. Four coaches.
“We just run this program like a family,” Pua said. “We treat all the kids like they’re our sons. Even though I have my sons on staff, we try to show the kids that they are part of our family and we’ll take you under our wing. The kids seem to buy in.”
One of the team success stories was junior right tackle Abdel Olivas Santos, who struggled academically his first two years, but worked hard in summer school to pull off a 3.0 grade-point average and gain his eligibility just as preseason practice began. He now is a stalwart on both sides of the line.
Leigh’s comeback attempt was stalled by a stretch of 11 consecutive fourth-quarter incompletions before quarterback Charlie Lyon led two touchdown drives in the final three minutes to close the gap. A 44-yarder to Zach Pistor set up a 27-yard scoring strike to Miles Huntington with 2:22 left, and Lyon hit Huntington with a 34-yard TD pass with 19 seconds left.
Lyon was 11-of-28 passing for 172 yards.