Gil Hernandez was a perfect 8 for 8 on field goal attempts this season for the College of San Mateo football team.

But he never faced the situation that confronted him late Saturday afternoon — a 29-yard field-goal attempt with just over two seconds to play and his team trailing by a point.

But the freshman out of Woodside didn’t waver. The snap and hold were clean and Hernandez booted it through the uprights as time expired, setting a wild celebration as CSM beat College of the Sequoias 41-39 to win the first annual Bulldog Bowl at College Heights Stadium at College of San Mateo.

“I had butterflies,” Hernandez said, admitting he had never kicked a game-winning field goal in his life. “We worked too hard to lose.”

The win capped a wild and entertaining game and it gave CSM (8-3) a bit of revenge over COS (8-3), which beat the Bulldogs 42-40 during the non-league portion of its schedule.

“It’s kind of ironic,” said CSM head coach Larry Owens. “We lost the first game on two missed field goals.”

Hernandez’ game-winner culminated a dramatic finish to a game that saw 25 points scored in the final quarter, including nine in the final two minutes.

CSM held a 38-33 lead on Hernandez’s first field goal of the game — a 22-yarder — and the Bulldogs were threatening to ice the game as they were inside the Giants’ 30 yard line with five minutes to play. But a COS sack on fourth down gave the ball back to the Giants and quarterback Brent Schaeffer, one of the best in the country.

Schaeffer guided the Giants 59 yards on seven plays with Schaeffer connecting on three passes for 58 yards — including a 16-yard strike to Darius Passmore to give the Giants a 39-38 lead with 2:02 to play.

CSM started its ensuing drive at its own 29 and another Woodside freshman — quarterback Julian Edelman — mounted another spectacular drive to add to his already burgeoning legend at CSM. After an incomplete pass, he somehow threaded a pass through a COS defender’s arms to E.J. Boganey, who gained 23 yards to near midfield. Two plays later, Edelman hit Ryan Higgins for a 14-yard gain down to the Giants’ 17. Two incomplete passes and a 6-yard run by Del Ben set up Hernandez’s kick.

“It was redemeption from last time,” Edelman said. “Last time, I had a chance to bring the team back,” but he was hit and fumbled the ball away to COS in the first meeting of the year.

In that first matchup between the two teams, Schaeffer, a transfer from University of Tenneessee, beat the Bulldogs with both his feet and his arm. He rushed 145 yards and threw for 210 more.

Saturday, the Bulldogs were determined to take Schaeffer’s running away from him and make the Giants beat CSM with the pass.

“We wanted to keep him inside the box,” said CSM linebacker Gerald Thompson, who had one of CSM’s five sacks. “He (can beat you) both ways. He’s an outstanding player.”

The Bulldogs did a good job of shutting down the Giants’ rushing attack, limiting the team to just 102 yards, including Schaeffer, who rushed for just 23 yards on 19 carries.

But Schaeffer shredded the Bulldogs’ defense with his arm, completing 23 of 38 passes for 396 yards and four touchdowns.

Owens was willing to live with that, saying CSM wanted to take the running game away and make COS beat them with the pass.

“If you make any team one dimensional, it’s easy to defend,” Owens said. “You kind of know what’s coming.”

The game was close throughout, with each team scoring on its first drive of the game. CSM took a 14-7 lead when Edelman hooked up with Michael Harris for a 67-yard catch-and-run but COS got within a point on an 11-yard scoring pass from Schaeffer to Passmore.

The CSM offense had no problems with the Giants’ defense, but the only thing stopping the Bulldogs were themselves. Costly penalties constantly pushed CSM out of scoring range in the first half and when COS took a 21-14 lead with 5:21 left in the first half, it looked like Owens would explode at halftime.

Instead, he remained calm.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to get upset,” Owens said. “This was for the kids. If I let myself go one time, I can’t stop.”

It probably helped that CSM tied the score late in the half when Edelman produced another of his jaw-dropping, spinning, cutting runs, in which he ran through the COS defense for a 31-yard touchdown with 22 seconds to play in the half.

“I saw a huge lane and I’m not going to leave that alone,” Edelman said of his run.