With the exception of 2018 state champion Menlo-Atherton, there was no better team in the PAL last season than the Gators, who suffered their only regular-season loss of 2018 to M-A. So, when SHP not only lost to Half Moon Bay last week, but got shut out 40-0 in traveling to the Coastside, it did not sit well with anyone in the Gators’ ranks.

“I think that the loss we had last week was definitely disappointing,” SHP head coach Mark Grieb said. “It hurt. And I think our guys just responded to that loss in the best way that you can, which is, get back to work and try to improve. So, I was just really proud of the effort we brought today.”

The effort was impressive in that SHP was intent on playing four quarters of quality football. The team exceeded expectations, and how, staying dialed until the final gun, even with the game in hand, and making several spectacular plays late in the game.

The play that best personified the Gators’ effort came late in the first half.

Already leading 21-6, senior running back Tatafu Mahoni took handoff at the Hillsdale 5-yard line and pounded his way toward the goal line. At first, it seemed he got pulled to the ground at the 1, but that was an optical illusion, as Mahoni, in something of a baseball catcher’s squat, avoided touching the turf as he fell backward into senior guard Cole Gurtner. Mahoni used his second life to twist and drive with his legs to break the plain of the goal line in an impressive display of athleticism.

“We’re playing all four quarters as hard as we can,” SHP senior Wilson Weisel said. “And what the captains and everybody kept saying today was to just not let off the gas. So, the whole game we were just on the gas, giving everything we’ve got. We didn’t want to give them anything.”

Weisel was responsible for one of the two early interceptions. But, he too kept up the intensity later in the game, as the cornerback broke up a fourth-down pass by Hillsdale with crisp 1-on-1 route across the field, making a diving slap at the ball to force a turnover on downs on one of the final plays of the third quarter.

The Gators were most certainly on a mission, Weisel said.

“A hundred percent, yeah,” Weisel said. “All of us, we were disappointed and embarrassed after last week. So, we wanted to come out here and show everybody what kind of team we really are.”

It was Weisel and the rest of the Gators secondary who set the tone early.

Junior safety Brock Anderson stopped Hillsdale’s first possession, nabbing the first INT of the day near midfield. Two plays later, Gators quarterback Teddy Purcell connected with senior Everett Banks for a 38-yard scoring pass to put the Gators up 7-0.

On Hillsdale’s next possession, Weisel read an out route to grab his team’s second INT, setting up a short drive ending with Purcell connecting with Anderson for 6-yard scoring pass to make it 14-0.

“In any game against Hillsdale, they spread you out and force you to cover the field,” Grieb said. “… And players showed up today. They were intent on having a good performance today and I thought that showed. Their energy was strong and consistent.”

The Gators defense kept up the intensity. With Hillsdale taking over at its own 20, SHP immediately sacked Knights quarterback Dylan Loftus, with Thomas Hardy and Spencer Lee storming the backfield. After a three-and-out, SHP punt returner Bryant Gavello advanced the ball 17 yards into Knights territory. Two plays later, Tevita Moimoi hammered a draw play through the middle and got free for a 27-yard touchdown score to up the lead to 21-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Moimoi finished with seven carries for a game-high 56 rushing yards.

Loftus maintained an 11-for-17, 155-yard passing line. And he aired out a pearl of a touchdown pass midway through the second quarter, connecting with senior John Catanzarita on a 20-yard out route into the corner of the end zone for the Knights’ only score.

“We had a couple missed throws, a couple interceptions,” Catanzarita said. “But on that play — when we run it in practice, he never throws me the ball on that play, I’m kind of just a get-out-of-the-way player — but I got behind the safety and I was like, ‘wow, I’m open.’ I just ran there, made sure my feet were in and just caught it.”

But it was all Gators the rest of the way.

Hillsdale opened the second half at its own 20 on a possession that used 11 minutes, 35 seconds, only to end with the superb fourth-down pass deflection over the middle by Weisel.

Gavello added a 16-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter to make it 35-6. SHP backup quarterback Daniel Levison scored the final TD with 4:09 to play, recovering a fumbled snap at the Hillsdale 2 in the end zone for a score.

“I thought they came out from the get-go, they played extremely well,” Hillsdale head coach Mike Parodi said. “We made some mistakes, they capitalized on them. You get in a deep whole early against a really good team, it’s hard to overcome.”

Hillsdale running back Nathan “Rabbit” Iskander had all but one of his teams carries in the first half. After totaling 504 rushing yards through his first three games, Iskander settled for 40 yards on 15 carries against a Gators defense that seemed to be keying on him early and often.

“We’ve got guys but we like having ‘Rabbit’ be back there,” Parodi said. “We like giving him the lion’s share of the carries. We were trying to do some things up front to mix and match; their mix didn’t work with our match. So, sometimes, they just got us numbers wise.”