Bell Returns to South City
The Warriors finished a 9-1 regular season with a rivalry win.
In 2021, South San Francisco lacked enough student interest to field a varsity football team, the school’s lowest point in its athletic history, which covers more than a century.
The 2022 team marked a return to the gridiron, a victory by itself, but the 2023 team recorded its biggest victory of all: Bringing the Bell home.
“It means a lot to the program, bringing the Bell back where it belongs,” head coach Kolone Pua said. “Getting to the playoffs is one thing, but this group of guys really wanted it.”
Despite dominating the Bell Game against crosstown rival El Camino for most of its history, the Warriors had lost four straight meetings to the Colts, but took the trophy back for the first time since 2017 with a resounding 36-0 victory that finished with a running clock.
“We just executed in all forms, played as a team and got it back,” said Darren Miller, who caught a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter
South San Francisco (9-1) outscored the Colts 22-0 during that fateful second quarter, one that was bookended by Miller touchdowns. Fullback Marcus Mercurio threw him a 14-yard pass on a trick play to make it 13-0, and he scored from 34 yards out on a highlight-reel play with 21 seconds left in the quarter to give the Warriors a 29-0 advantage.
Sophomore quarterback Anthony Howell heaved a pass along the sideline that Miller caught at the 20 while drawing a pass interference flag, and he slipped around two defenders before crossing the goal line.
Though Miller was stellar as a receiver, it was the South City rushing attack that dominated the day. The Warriors ran 51 times for 323 yards, averaging 6.6 per carry, fueled by the three-headed monster of Mercurio (12 carries-89 yards), Elijah Fields (16-100) and Gerald Tanielu (11-75).
“We’re usually a ground-and-pound team,” said Fields. “We’ve got a better O-line than last year, so it’s easy to move the ball downfield.”
Tanielu’s 3-yard touchdown with 1:19 left in the first quarter kickstarted the scoring, and Fields scored from six yards out after forcing a fumble that Edwin Salazar recovered midway through the second quarter, followed by Tanielu’s two-point conversion to make it 21-0.
280-pound senior lineman Mila Iopu capped off the day with a 19-yard rumble, followed by a 1-yard touchdown run to start the running clock with 5:49 left.
“None of my guys had ever seen the Bell before,” Pua said. “I asked them if they wanted to see a picture of it. They said, ‘no, we’ll wait to see the real thing.’”
The Warriors held El Camino (0-10) to just 135 yards and forced a pair of turnovers. Cisco Lutu intercepted a pass with 4:37 left in the third quarter, and Miller broke up a pass in the end zone as time expired to preserve the shutout, South City’s first blanking of the Colts since 2014.
Junior Escobar ran eight times for 58 yards for El Camino. Noah Flores also gained 58 yards across 11 carries and Jaden Ledesma forced a fumble that Edwin Briceno Chavez recovered early in the third quarter.
While the Colts failed to win a game in 2023, they certainly didn’t embarrass themselves. They committed just four penalties in their final game of the season, and despite the lopsided defeat against their hated rivals, didn’t get flagged for a single unsportsmanlike conduct or late hit. If there were any frustrations, El Camino didn’t let it show on the field.