Johnny Niapalau leaps for second-quarter touchdown catch in CSM's 42-10 win over American River Saturday at College Heights Stadium. Photo by Patrick Nguyen.

A helmetless Fou Polataivao emerged from a second-quarter scrum. But with the play still going, the College of San Mateo defensive tackle didn’t miss a beat in chasing down American River’s quarterback.

No. 5-ranked CSM’s pursuit of the opposing quarterbacks was a theme throughout the Bulldogs’ 42-10 win over No. 8 American River Saturday at College Heights Stadium.

“We came in ready for a battle,” Polataivao said. “This is a good team we played today and we just came out to battle.”

Last year, when American River handed CSM its first loss of the season, it was Beavers quarterback Tanner Trosin who stole the show. With the transfer Trosin gone, and American River utilizing three different quarterbacks Saturday, the Bulldogs (4-1) were not about to allow history to repeat itself.

Polataivao and sophomore middle linebacker Mikias Alipate were on the warpath after having to digest that pivotal loss a year ago. And the interior tandem led a defensive effort that kept the end zone on lockdown for the American River offense.

“The defense played a heck of a game,” CSM head coach Bret Pollack said. “[Four] turnovers they caused. They kept them out of the end zone. … Heck of an effort against a good offense and a good team.”

The second-quarter play in which Polataivao lost his helmet created equipment issues for the sophomore all day long. He was forced to come off the field several times throughout the game to contend with it, during which times American River bit off a good portion of its 202 total yards of offense.

But the Bulldogs continued to come up with big stops. CSM jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when freshman quarterback Dru Brown capped a 10-play, 57-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to slot receiver David Rango.

But after the Bulldogs defense came up with a quick stop to force a punt, the CSM offense gave up the only American River touchdown of the day when running back Isaiah Williams coughed up the ball allowing sophomore defensive back Robert Sanders to scoop it up and dash for the score to tie it 7-7.

Other than that, a third-quarter field goal is all the points the Beavers (3-2) would manage. In four previous games, CSM had allowed 117 points. Saturday, the Bulldogs’ defense allowed a mere 3-spot.

“It’s been a lot about letting the quarterback go, letting him rush the lanes,” Polataivao said. “But now we’ve fixed it. We played Bulldog football today.”

Polataivao had two fast first-quarter pursuits to set the tone. Amid the 7-7 tie, American River freshman running back Ce’von Mitchell-Ford — who managed a game-high 109 yards on 12 carries — twice rushed off tackle for back-to-back first-downs of 10 and 6 yards. But the runs would have been much more productive had Polataivao not reacted off the line to pursue the speedy Mitchell-Ford from behind for downfield tackles.

Polataivao’s foot-speed has seen marked improvement from last season, according to Pollack, who noted the sophomore’s energy, effort and discipline in dropping 50 pounds over the offseason. Polataivao now lists at 6-2, 290 pounds.

“He did a great job of losing the weight,” Pollack said. “He wouldn’t have made those plays at 340.”

The drive ended when the Bulldogs forced a punt with Alipate blitzing effectively to hurry an incompletion on third-and-long by American River starting QB Jihad Vercher. Then, with CSM getting the ball back to start the second quarter, Brown started working some magic reminiscent of American River’s quarterback act of a year ago.

Brown connected with sophomore wide receiver Johnny Niupalau four times for 59 yards on the day. Two of those came in the clutch on the ensuing drive to give CSM the lead. The first came on third-and-9 from the CSM 38-yard line, when Brown threaded the needle over the middle for a 22-yard pickup.

Then, later, on fourth-and-10 from the American River 27, Brown directed traffic as he rolled out of the pocket to find Niupalau on a secondary look wide open in the corner of the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead.

“We just have chemistry,” Niupalau said. “He just knows where I’m going to be.”

CSM — in gaining 311 total yards — added another touchdown before the half. It came two plays after Polataivao lost his helmet while flushing the Beavers’ second QB of the game, Chirs Guillen, out of the pocket to force an incompletion. American River punted the ball to the CSM 35-yard line, where tailback Ramiah Marshall took the first play 65 yards on a pitch for a score, making it 21-7 CSM.

In the second half, the Bulldogs added scores on a 50-yard run by Rango, a 5-yard keeper by Brown and a 17-yard pass from Brown to Niupalau to cap the day’s scoring.

Alipate had arguably the highlight play of the game on defense. In the third quarter, both teams began trading unnecessary roughness penalties, including a disqualification by CSM cornerback Nick Maka. Later in the quarter, however, Alipate leveled a big hit on Guillen to jar a fumble with CSM linebacker Daniel Lavulo coming up with the recovery.

Pollack — who celebrated his 45th birthday Saturday — said last year’s loss is water under the bridge.

“The vindication comes in the ability to conquer ourselves,” Pollack said. “So I think we did a good job of that.”