MONTEREY >> The first half was one to bottle for the rest of the postseason. As for the second half — well perhaps it can be used as a teaching tool moving forward for Carmel High’s football team, or just put in the rear-view mirror.

Seeing a 29-point lead cut to three with under two minutes remaining created some tense moments Friday for the Padres, who haven’t faced a lot of adversity since the first week of the season.

“We understand it’s not common to just win playoff games,” Carmel coach Golden Anderson insisted. “We understand what it means and we want to enjoy this. We’re humble to be in this situation. There’s a long road ahead.”

The Padres are headed to the Central Coast Section Division III semifinals for the first time since 2019, holding on for a 56-46 win over San Mateo at Monterey Peninsula College.

One of just three teams to ride into the CCS playoffs undefeated in the regular season, the top-seeded Padres (11-0) will host No. 4 seed Hollister next Friday at MPC.

Once upon a time rivals in the old Mission Trail Athletic League, Carmel and the ‘Balers have faced each other just once in the past 42 years, that coming in 2019 when Carmel posted a 41-14 win.Carmel has an enrollment of just over 700, while Hollister, which finished last in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division, has an enrollment of just under 3,500.

The No. 4 seeded ‘Balers (5-6) opened the postseason with a 44-40 win over Capuchino of San Bruno. Two years ago, Hollister played for a Division III title before falling to Menlo.

“We saw the bracket in the beginning,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of very successful ‘B’ league programs and some large ‘A’ league teams. Hollister is one of those teams. It is a well-coached year-round program. We’ll enjoy this win right now.”

“A” leagues, such as those from the Gabilan Division, are the most competitive in the section. “B” leagues, such as the PCAL’s Mission Division North in which Carmel plays, are the second rung down among the three classifications of competitiveness.

During the Padres school record 22-game regular season winning streak, they’ve averaged just under 47 points a game, a number they nearly had in the first half against San Mateo when they built a 42-13 lead.

“I wasn’t concerned about complacency setting in,” Anderson said. “We talked about staying aggressive and on the attack. We had a three-and-out on defense to open the second half. Then we muffed a punt.”

A pair of turnovers in the second half gave the Bearcats (8-3) life, particularly in the fourth quarter when they ran off 26 straight points to cut the deficit to three with 2:08 left in the game.

“A couple of turnovers changed the momentum,” Anderson said. “Sometimes that happens against good football teams. That is a perennial playoff team.”

The anticipation was that San Mateo was going to attempt an onside kick. So, Anderson put his hands team up front, except for Simeon Brown.

Instead, the ball was sent deep, where Brown caught it at the 17-yard line, found a seam and took the life out of San Mateo when he returned it for a touchdown — the second kickoff Carmel returned for six in the game, putting them back up by 10.

“Simeon made a great run,” Anderson said. “But it was well blocked. We felt coming in that we would have to force some turnovers and get some stops, perhaps score on special teams. That was the difference in the game.”

The last time Carmel was involved in a game that was within 10 points in the fourth quarter was in its season opener when it used a second-half rally for a 35-31 win over Christopher.

A traditionally run-oriented team that put the ball in the air once in the first half, San Mateo was forced to throw the ball as time was running out, where the Padres’ Ashton Rees picked it off to secure the win.

San Mateo, which shared the Peninsula Ocean Division title with Sequoia, came into the game allowing just 13.5 points a game this season. In its 35-10 win over Burlingame in its regular season finale, it put the ball in the air once.

“We anticipated that our possessions would be limited,” Anderson said. “The first possession, we scored on the first play. We kept elevating our momentum as we went.”

While San Mateo was able to bottle up the Padres’ run game, it had no answer for their aerial assault as Hudson Rutherford tossed four of his five touchdown passes in the first half.

Rutherford hit Ty Arnold in stride on two touchdown passes that covered over 40 yards and connected with Brown three times — two in the first half, while Rees returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown.

“We threw some things at them they hadn’t seen,” Anderson said. “Listen, we anticipated this being a close game and that is what it was.”