The Hollister Vikings managed just one win on Saturday against a tough lineup of West Bay teams.
Among those teams that lost were the Pee Wees, who were playing the Rams for second place in their division.
West Bay won the anticipated rematch between last year’s league championship contenders 22-6 with solid defense and a punishing ground attack.
The Vikings got a fast start on offense as Trevor Fabing hit tight end Isaak Ramos for a first down.
But the Rams’ defense quickly adjusted and made the first of three first-half interceptions that turned the game in their favor.
Viking cornerback Josh Greenwood stepped up to stop a sweep on third down to end the Rams’ first series. Greenwood and Alex Alvarez both did a good job of containing the outside run all day.
Justin Raine, Adrian Soto and Cooper Sepulveda also made more than their share of big plays to stop other Ram drives.
However, West Bay’s second interception led to a score to put the Rams up 6-0 at the half.
West Bay broke the game open in the third quarter with a long run outside for a score and runs up the middle against a tired defense to drive for another touchdown.
Hollister got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Andre Cornell took a pitch and raced 62 yards down the right sideline for the Vikings only score.
Jr. Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 20, West Bay Rams 0
The Jr. Pee Wees notched Hollister’s only win in convincing fashion as their defense overwhelmed the Rams from the opening kickoff.
On the Rams first series, Tyler Pina and Mikey Soto broke through for a big fourth down sack to give the Vikings the ball on the Ram 35-yard line.
The Rams held on the first couple series, but finally running back Mark Ponte opened up the offense with two good runs to take the ball to the 9-yard line. Mikey Koroluk scored on the next play to put Hollister up 6-0.
Adolfo Davila recovered a Ram fumble a few minutes later, and the Vikings offense went to work again.
The critical play was a scrambling first down run by quarterback Greg Vasquez after he went back to pass and found all the receivers covered.
The Rams pulled him down by his face mask, adding 15 more yards to his run, and giving Hollister a first down on the 15.
Wide receiver Chris Greenwood took the flanker reverse and swept into the end zone, and Taylor Dukes added the two-point kick to put Hollister up 14-0.
The Viking defense continued to hold the Rams scoreless as Nathan Castro had a huge backfield stop and Koroluk made a big tackle on fourth down to stop a Ram drive cold.
The Vikings took the second half kickoff and marched downfield to add an insurance score. Vasquez again had a big return for 25 yards to take the ball to the West Bay 15.
Davila ran it into the end zone on the next play to make it 20-0.
With the game well in hand, coach Gino Andrade decided to let the players have some fun and launched the “running back for a play” program, allowing many players a turn carrying the ball.
Andrade found he had more running talent than he previously imagined. Eddie Jackson started a drive with a nice run for a first down, behind superb blocking by Esteban Villanueva, Jarret Barrios, Evan Roascio, Zack Hicks and Jacob Deleon.
Ryan DiSalvo, Austin Blake and Dustin Rovella, who usually catches passes, made several good gains inside playing fullback.
Mikey Soto ran the ball down to the two, where the Vikings decided to try a field goal. The kick was short.
The Vikings defense preserved the shutout, stopping the Rams twice more. Nate Garza and Alex Neal made big fourth down stops and Ponte broke up a pass.
The Vikings will test their skills next Sunday against the defending national runner-up Palo Alto.
Junior Midget
Hollister Vikings 8, West Bay Rams 8
The Vikings defense came to play. Armando Lerma, Michael Murphy, Chris Gonzales and Mitchell Cook did a good job containing West Bay’s running game.
Brandon Pina picked off the first West Bay pass.
The Rams defense also proved tough, especially against the run. But the Vikings got on the board early in the second quarter. Qarterback Ryan Shorey went deep to Josh Villegas, who had to outrun the West Bay defenders. The result was a 58-yard scoring play.
Murphy added the two-point kick to put Hollister up 8-0.
The Rams offense drove to the Hollister goal line, but Kyle Rhodas made a big stop on fourth down.
An interception a few plays later set up a West Bay score just before halftime to tie the game.
In the second half, Lerma broke up a fourth down pass to stop one West Bay drive, but the Rams responded with another interception.
Finally West Bay’s halfback broke a run down the left sideline deep into Viking territory, but Shorey made a touchdown-saving tackle, and the Rams failed to move the ball any farther.
As the third quarter ended, Murphy had a 26-yard run up the middle to spark a Hollister drive, and Evan McFadden made a twisting run for a first down near the Rams goal line.
But that drive stalled also as penalties took their toll.
A 15-yard punt return by Shorey gave the Vikings the ball back in good field position, but a fumble killed that drive.
The Rams had a couple more opportunities, but McFadden broke up a pass to stop one drive, and Shorey made an interception to stop West Bay’s final effort.
Midget
West Bay Rams 28, Hollister Vikings 14
The Vikings established control of the game early. The offensive line of Robby Sanchez, Rudy Rudolfs, Ricky Canes, Michael Brigantino, Nick Craft, Tim Weir and Alex Pedregon opened up huge holes that allowed Anthony Flores, Ethan Catherill and Anthony Padilla to make big gains in the first quarter.
Quarterback Michael Ballesteros also completed a pass to David Jacquez, but the West Bay defense came up big each time.
The Vikings defense made some good plays as well as Catherill saved a touchdown by running down a Ram runner.
Finally in the second quarter, the Rams completed a long pass to the Hollister 10-yard line.
The pass rush of Pedregon and Flores forced a couple incompletions, but the Rams fooled the defense with a draw on fourth down to take the lead.
Hollister tied the game just before halftime on a bomb of their own. Padilla hit Flores for 40 yards on the halfback option pass, and Canes added the two-point kick to knot the score at eight.
With a few seconds left, the Rams connected on another long pass, but a tackle by Eric Sanders stopped them short of the goal as the half expired.
West Bay scored on a long drive to take the lead, and scored again late in the third quarter to go up 22-8.
The Vikings offense got fired up after a great kickoff return by Flores. Ballesteros passed to Flores for 11 yards, then Flores and Catherill took turns running the ball through the Ram defense.
Catherill scored on a 13-yard run with 6:26 remaining to get Hollister within eight.
Coach Jerry Wood called for an onside kick, which was recovered by Flores for Hollister.
Flores gained 22 yards from scrimmage to bring the Vikings close. Catherill gained good yardage on a sweep, but the Vikings lost the ball on a fumble.
The Rams moved downfield and scored again to clinch their first victory of the year.
The Hollister Midgets have also won once.
Mighty Mites
The Mighty Mites also took on West Bay and continued to dominate on both sides of the ball.
Austin Wahl got an interception the first time the Rams threw the ball, which they did much more regularly than most Mighty Mite teams.
Eddie Munoz gained more than 150 yards on the ground, including several long runs, two for touchdowns.
The Vikings took advantage of turnovers. Michael Rodriguez, Chris Cook, Garrett Avina and Austin Nye recovered Ram fumbles, and Hollister got three more interceptions in the second half by Nick Volore, Rodriguez and Josh George, who had his second consecutive game with a pick. The Vikings picked up nine turnovers, taking the ball back by force on all but one Ram possession.
Besides Munoz, Dylan Lomanto, Mike Inderbitzen and Avina and Nye also had long runs from scrimmage.
This weekend, the Vikings travel to Palo Alto on Sunday, cheerleaders will participate in an invitational competition at Shoreline Amphitheatre.
Games begin at 8am , the cheer competition begins at 9am
Special to the Free Lance
