The top-ranked East Bay Warriors, who boast four of the league’s
top-seeded teams as the regular season ended, prevailed in all of
their contests Saturday against the Hollister Vikings.
OAKLAND
The top-ranked East Bay Warriors, who boast four of the league’s top-seeded teams as the regular season ended, prevailed in all of their contests Saturday against the Hollister Vikings.
Hollister defenses contained the Warriors teams well, though, denying them the huge margins of victory that they have become accustomed to as they have dominated the league this season.
Highlights of this week’s action:
Mighty Mite
East Bay War Eagles 24, Hollister Vikings 0
The Hollister defense showed great improvement despite the loss to the undefeated East Bay War Eagles in Hollister on Saturday. The War Eagles put 18 points on the board by the end of the first quarter, but would only get one more touchdown for the last three quarters.
The Vikings nearly scored late in the first quarter after a 20-yard kick return by Ernesto Sanchez was followed by a 30-yard run by Brady Miguel, giving Hollister a first-and-goal. But East Bay denied the touchdown, and that was the closest the Vikings would come to scoring all day.
Meanwhile, the defense dug in its heels and refused to be run over any more by East Bay. Ernesto Sanchez started the defensive assault with an open-field tackle on the War Eagles quarterback, who tried to scramble out of the end zone due to an intense pass rush by Isaias Rivera, Diego Ramirez and Jordan Plesek. As a result, the Vikings took over on the East Bay 5, but the impenetrable War Eagles defense would not allow the Vikings to cross the goal line.
The Vikings defense, though, continued to keep pressure on their opponents as Ramirez and Elijah Perez made backfield tackles to stop East Bay again. The Vikings offense made one more big play before halftime as Sanchez completed a pass to Kobe Valdez for a 15-yard gain, but the War Eagles defense stopped Hollister again short of the end zone to take an 18-0 lead to halftime.
After halftime, the Vikings came back into the game more focused and determined. Hollister defenders Joseph Frank, Ramirez, Sanchez, Angel Amescua, Eric Green and Plesek kept the East Bay offense out of the end zone for most of the second half.
The third quarter began with a huge quarterback sack by Ramirez. When the War Eagles tried the sweep, Sanchez was there to force a loss on the play. The Vikings defense forced a run back inside on fourth down, where Leo St. John was waiting to make the tackle.
Hollister gave the ball back after four downs, but Plesek had another big sack to push the War Eagles back. On fourth down, however, East Bay broke an outside running play to score the final points of the game.
Mighty Mite parent Margaret Nieto said, “The Mighty Mite players started the season off as single players, but have all grown to be a great team. We may not win each game, but the children have never let that stop them from coming out to each game with their spirit high. We have grown into a great team, who will only progress from here. I look forward to seeing the kids play as future Vikings.”
The Hollister Vikings will end the season with the Mighty Mite Bowl in Salinas against the Gilroy Browns on Saturday.
By Carissa Brewer and Tom Vivian
Junior Pee Wee
East Bay Wolverines 31, Hollister Vikings 0
Hollister’s junior pee wees finished the regular season with a record of 4-4, winning all their home games and losing all their road contests. On Saturday, they were also shut out for the only time this season by an East Bay Wolverines team that is undefeated and seeded first in the league, and has not allowed a single point to be scored against them all year long.
With storm clouds looming, East Bay East welcomed the Vikings to their field by taking their first handoff for just more than 50 yards for a touchdown. Ishmael Medina and Peter Felice stopped the runner for the point-after, but the hits from East Bay kept coming.
Andres Soto’s run gained a few yards toward the first down marker, but the drive stalled when quarterback Brad Sparrer was sacked and stripped of the ball. Johnny Gonzalez and Cade Neece did their best to contain the run, but East Bay kept charging and scored on the next possession with a handoff that got around the outside. The point-after was stopped again by Viking tacklers Nick Perez and Felice.
Sparrer and Soto tried to get the momentum back, but Sparrer’s first pass attempt of the game was intercepted and the East Bay runner ran it back 40 yards for another touchdown. The point-after was good on this attempt, and East Bay led 19-0 with minutes left in the first quarter.
On their next drive East Bay tried to run a reverse, but the runner was chased down by Marcus Guevara to prevent another touchdown. Unfortunately, the Viking defense couldn’t contain the quick East Bay runners and another crafty run to the outside allowed the score to continue to grow.
To end the first quarter, Vikings Medina and Michael Zaragoza jumped on the East Bay running back to hold the score to 25-0. This would be short lived as East Bay took the ball to start the second quarter on the 2-yard line, and scored moments later to increase the margin to 31-0.
In second-half play, the Vikings’ Brody Cascio, Allen Reyes and Gonzalez all gained yardage on their runs. AJ Pasillas pulled in two Sparrer passes as well. Darius Parks received a well-placed ball but was tackled hard out of bounds to get the Vikings closer to a first down.
Defensively, Markie Martinez worked with Javier Valdez and Bobby Vivian to gang tackle an East Bay runner that tried to run up the middle. Late in the fourth quarter, Aiden Lyon and Gonzalez chased down a speedy East Bay runner, and Zaragoza stood up a runner that tried to escape to the outside.
Coach Gino Andrade knew about the competition heading into the game.
“They (were) fast, can change direction and hit hard,” he said. “We knew that, but just couldn’t get going.”
The Vikings will definitely get one playoff game next week, although at press time, their opponent and location had not yet been determined. A loss like this should stir them up to bring some needed intensity to their next game.
By Samantha Zaragoza
Pee Wee
East Bay Wildcats 28, Hollister Vikings 0
In the first stormy weather of the season, the Hollister pee wees traveled to Oakland to face the league’s No. 1 team, the East Bay East Wildcats. The Vikings knew they would have a tough time stopping the explosive Wildcats, and while they didn’t stop the Wildcat offense completely, the defense did hold them down — for a bit.
However, the offense only had one first down all game, which kept the defense on the field trying to contain the speed of the Wildcats.
“Our team stepped up and played stronger than we have all season,” line coach Scott Reynolds said. “We came out fighting and held them scoreless in the first quarter.”
Evyn Moreno and David San Miguel each had 5-yard runs, the longest of the game for the Vikings. On defense, San Miguel led the team in tackles. Shraee Harrison and Daniel Hopkins also had several tackles in the game.
The Vikings await their seeding in the playoffs, which begins next weekend.
By Christine Wahl-Dukes
Junior Midget
East Bay Wolves 14, Hollister Vikings 0
The junior midgets held the Wolves to just two touchdowns as the Hollister defense came up with big plays all day.
Jackson Starke led the charge with two sacks and a fumble recovery, while Andrew Huaracha and Dominic Barrios made many tackles to contain the explosive Wolves, who lost only once all season and have averaged almost 30 points per game.
East Bay’s two touchdowns came after they recovered a fumble on Hollister’s 4-yard line, and also on an 80-yard run, which was Hollister’s only defensive lapse of the day.
Offensively, the Wolves shut out the Vikings as they did five of the eight teams they played this year. But the Vikings did move a few times as RJ Clark completed a 60-yard bomb to Adrian Valdez, and Joe Coffelt had several good runs.
By Tom Vivian
Tiny Mites
East Bay Wanderers vs. Hollister Vikings
The tiny mite Vikings played their final game of the season Saturday morning against the East Bay Wanderers, and the defense continued to improve, shackling the Wanderers’ explosive offense in the second half of the game.
On defense, Jonny Gorena, Braydon Etheridge, Deven Homen and Chris Soto each had several touchdown-saving tackles. Rudy Morales had a great sack, while Justin Cortez and Noah Aiello provided awesome containment, not letting anybody get outside of them for a long gain throughout the second half.
On offense, Cortez had a 13-yard run. Coach Trenton Finister is proud of the progress his team has made throughout the season and is looking forward to seeing them return and put the things they’ve learned into practice next year.
By Bobby Vivian
The Week Ahead:
Two Hollister teams — the junior pee wees and pee wees — have made the playoffs, and are awaiting final pairings from the league, due by Tuesday. Fans can check the Vikings website for times at: www.hollistervikings.com
For the Hollister Vikings cheerleaders, this weekend is the main event, with the league championship competition scheduled to take place at Santa Clara University’s Leavey Center at 9 a.m.
Any Hollister cheer squad that places in the top three will advance to Pacific Northwest Regionals in November with the chance to go to nationals.
