De Anza running back Anthony Logan is brought down by CSM’s Keith Marcus, left, and James Clark Saturday at College Heights Stadium. Photo by Patrick Nguyen

With a little help from their friends, the College of San Mateo Bulldogs are — for all intents and purposes — back in control of their own postseason destiny.

CSM (1-1 in Bay 6, 5-2 overall) rolled to a 28-10 win over the De Anza Dons Saturday at College Heights Stadium. Coupled with City College of San Francisco’s 26-16 victory over Santa Rosa Junior College, the Bulldogs are within striking distance of first place in the Bay 6 Conference.

“If we win out, we’re the wild car or we win our conference,” CSM head coach Bret Pollack said. “But it doesn’t feel like our guys believe that.”

Despite CSM’s victory Saturday, Pollack said he was frustrated with his team’s play against unranked De Anza (0-2, 2-5). The Bulldogs got off to a fast start, scoring 21 points in the first quarter. It was their best first-quarter tally of the season, a total they last reached Nov. 1, 2014 in a 63-10 win over Foothill.

“It’s pretty important,” CSM running back Ramiah Marshall said. “Most of the games we’ve come out flat. … So we had to come out and make a statement today.”

Unlike last year’s Foothill rout, however, CSM took its foot off the accelerator and managed just one more score on the day. The Bulldogs actually got outgained 380-330 in total yards by De Anza.

“We turned off the gas and couldn’t turn it back on,” Pollack said.

But where the offense was a source of frustration, the CSM defense performed well against turnover-plagued De Anza, especially the Bulldogs secondary. De Anza — entering into play with 27 turnovers on the year — committed four turnovers on the day, with the CSM defense producing three interceptions, including two of De Anza’s first three possessions.

“We played great,” CSM cornerback Andre Neal said of the secondary’s performance. “With all our teams in conference, they’re all good passing teams … and we’ve played well. But we’ve still got a lot to work on.”

Neal produced the first interception of the day to stifle De Anza’s opening drive. CSM was throwing a three-man rush at De Anza quarterback Ron Johnson, giving the sophomore plenty of time in the pocket. And on second-and-18 from the Dons’ 33-yard line, he had some time to look downfield before defensive ends Cody Brown and Fou Polataivao pushed through to apply pressure.

The CSM secondary didn’t let up though, and when Johnson finally committed to a secondary fade rout to the left side, Neal beat the De Anza receiver to the spot to come up with the pick.

“I had to stay on my guy a long time,” Neal said. “We’re always taught, when the quarterback starts scrambling, just man up.”

The Bulldogs scored on the very next play. Taking over from the CSM 40-yard line, slot receiver Miles Willis took a play-action pitch around the right side for the touchdown. CSM quarterback Dru Brown’s sell-job was so good on a fake handoff to Isaiah Williams, that the draw rout was met by a host of De Anza tacklers, with Willis motoring around the pack before anyone was the wiser.

On De Anza’s next drive, the CSM defense produced a stop on the Dons’ best chance of the first half. On third-and-14 from the CSM 22-yard line, linebacker David Lavulo notched the first of six team sacks on the day to stick the Dons to a fourth-and-32. De Anza went for it, with Johnson throwing an incompletion while being hurried by a clean blitz from defensive end To’o Hamilton.

CSM took over at its own 30, and this time it took the Bulldogs took two plays to strike pay dirt. Marshall came up with the second score of the day, taking a pitch around the right side and sprinting 66 yards for the touchdown.

Three plays into De Anza’s next possession, the Bulldogs’ secondary produced another pick. On third-and-15 from the Dons’ 17, Johnson force a pass into double coverage. Safety Joshua Clarke stuck with the Dons’ receiver and got a hand on the ball to tip it to freshman Keenan Johnson for the interception. Johnson almost took it for a pick-6 before getting pushed out of bounds at the De Anza 8-yard line.

CSM followed with a 7-yard run by Williams before the freshman walked in for a 1-yard score, giving the Bulldogs a 21-0 lead.

The Bulldogs recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, taking over at the De Anza 20-yard line. With Brown going to the air for the first time in the game, though, the freshman quarterback proved erratic despite his high-velocity throws. Brown was 5-of-11 passing for just 49 yards on the day. And after consecutive misfires to force fourth down, CSM attempted a 38-yard field goal only to having placekicker Jose Elizondo miss wide right.

De Anza scored its only points of the half with 15 seconds remaining when Pedro Comesana booted a 41-yard field goal.

The Bulldogs would not score again until the fourth quarter, when Brown hit Willis on a secondary rout underneath a left-side fly for a 23-yard touchdown pass.

De Anza answered with its only touchdown of the game. Taking over at their own 39-yard line, the Dons got three big plays, starting with a pass interference call on sophomore cornerback Keith Marcus to advance across midfield. Johnson followed with completions of 23 and 24 yards before scoring on a 2-yard bootleg run.

CSM punted the ball away after a three-and-out, and Johnson again moved De Anza downfield with completions of 12, 8 and 28 yards. But, once inside the red zone, his fourth throw of the drive was intercepted by Clarke to all but end it.

Now one game back of each CCSF and Diablo Valley College in the Bay 6 standings, the Bulldogs should be able to clinch a playoff berth if they win their final three games. With four playoff spots up for grabs in Northern California — three conference winners and one at-large bid — the worst CSM could achieve by winning its final three games is a three-way tie with CCSF and Santa Rosa for first place in conference.

If that were to happen, CSM — having lost to Santa Rosa Oct. 17 — would fall into the at-large pool a slew of other one-loss teams from Northern California. As it stands now, however, the six other teams with 2-0 conference records best positioned for the at-large pool are CCSF, Diablo Valley, American River, Butte, Chabot and Modesto.

CSM has yet to meet CCSF and Diablo Valley in Bay 6 play, and must win both those games to prevail in a tiebreaker scenario. The Bulldogs have already defeated American River, Butte and Modesto. And Chabot, with its one overall loss coming to Diablo Valley, is currently ranked No. 12 in the state while San Mateo maintains a No. 10 ranking.

The Bulldogs travel to winless Foothill Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.