The article below originally appeared on MercuryNews.com and is being reprinted with permission.

Seta Pohahau picked a fine way to leave College of San Mateo. The Aragon-San Mateo grad achieved career highs in rushing and carries Saturday to lead the Bulldogs to a 27-20 victory over College of the Sequoias in the sixth annual Bulldog Bowl.

Pohahau’s effort earned him offensive player of the game honors and his 178 yards established a Bulldog Bowl record.

The victory was CSM’s fifth in five Bulldog Bowl appearances. It has beaten Sequoias in three of those appearances.

Pohahau, who had a stellar three-year prep career down the hill at Aragon, carried 21 times and steadily challenged the Giants’ defense with line-pounding runs.

Pohahau’s best performance coming into Saturday was five weeks ago in a victory over Santa Rosa, when he ran for 117 yards on 17 carries. But he had only seven carries over the next two games and sat out the final two games against Butte and Laney because of an Achilles injury.

“I knew this was my last game, and I didn’t want to pass it up,” Pohahau said. “I taped it hard, took some Aleve and didn’t think about it.”

Pohahau’s effort and CSM’s opportunistic defense spelled the difference for the Bulldogs (8-3)

CSM had three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, including one at its own goal line to keep the game in hand. CSM also registered four sacks.

CSM used the first interception by Dwaine Simpson to start a 36-yard drive that ended on a 15-yard, fourth-down toss for the game’s first touchdown from fellow coastsiders, Julian Bernard (Terra Nova-Pacifica) to Nik France (Half Moon Bay).CSM scored on its next possession when Pohahau had a 46-yard run to set up a 1-yard plunge by Bernard.

Vai Liu’s 2-yard run with 5:08 remaining in the game gave CSM a 27-13 lead.

Silicon Valley Bowl

Eugene Wright put Foothill College ahead in the first quarter and book-ended the scoring with another touchdown run to seal a 28-16 victory over visiting Sacramento City College in the Silicon Valley Bowl.

The Owls (9-2), ranked second in Northern California, led 21-0 at halftime as Travis Reed caught an 89-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and Palo Alto High grad Trenton Hart, who also came up with an interception, caught a 42-yard touchdown.

Sacramento (6-5) closed to within 21-6 before Wright broke off a 22-yard run with 8 seconds left in the game.

Wright finished with 73 yards on 17 carries.