The junior pee wee Vikings scored Hollister’s first league win
against a Division I rival this year with a 27-13 win over Berkeley
in the first game ever between the two teams. The Berkeley Bears,
who only joined Pop Warner in 2008, have risen quickly, and last
year had three Division I playoff teams and one Division I league
and regional champion.
HOLLISTER
The junior pee wee Vikings scored Hollister’s first league win against a Division I rival this year with a 27-13 win over Berkeley in the first game ever between the two teams. The Berkeley Bears, who only joined Pop Warner in 2008, have risen quickly, and last year had three Division I playoff teams and one Division I league and regional champion.
So the Vikings knew that they were contending with a force to be reckoned with, and when the Bears returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, it appeared that the Berkeley might run away with contest.
But the Vikings offense responded with a timely scoring drive to swing the momentum back to Hollister. Marcus Guevara and Dimarco DelCurto both got long gains on their first runs, and DelCurto took the ball 30 yards to paydirt minutes into the game. With the point-after attempt no good, the Vikings trailed the Bears 7-6.
After Berkeley got the ball back, Hollister’s defense asserted itself as the Viking defensive line forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Michael Esparza. When the Bears got the ball back Berkeley tried to counter, but the Viking defense put constant pressure on the quarterback all game, forcing five fumbles.
In the second quarter, Jonny Gonzalez and Michael Zaragoza rushed the quarterback from the right and the Berkeley singal-caller tried to air out a pass, which was intercepted by Guevara who then ran the ball 10 yards for a Viking touchdown. Andres Soto ran in the point-after to give Hollister a 13-7 lead. The Vikings continued to dominate defensively throughout the first half, as Berkeley never got near the end zone.
Soto’s return of the second-half kickoff for a touchdown was negated by penalty. The Vikings still had the ball in Berkeley territory, but the Bears defense held firm and the Vikings could not capitalize.
Late in the third period, Hollister’s opportune defense once again struck with DelCurto taking advantage of a bad snap and jumping on the ball for another takeaway. Berkeley’s defense again held the Vikings at the 8-yard line, but the Viking defense once again put more pressure on the Bears than they could handle.
Gonzalez and Zaragoza blitzed in for a quarterback sack and, on the next play, DelCurto landed on a fumbled snap to give the Vikings the ball at the Berkeley 1-yard line. Gonzalez ran untouched into the end zone on the next play, and DelCurto ran in the point-after to give the Vikings a 20-7 lead.
The cushion was short-lived as Berkeley countered on the next drive, running a quarterback keeper for a touchdown. But the Bears could not get past Matthew Delatorre and the Hollister defense for the point-after, so Hollister still led 20-13.
Matthew Trimble had a good run back on the kickoff to get Hollister across the midfield marker, but Berkeley’s defense stiffened and the Bears got the ball back with only minutes left in the contest. Once again, the aggressive Viking defense struck as Peter Felice and Guevara rushed in and sacked the Bears quarterback. The momentum continued to the next play, too, with Zaragoza forcing and recovering a fumble.
The Vikings took over on the Bears 14-yard line. Guevara ran the ball through two defenders to the 3, and Brad Sparrer took the quarterback keeper and sprinted toward the pylon for another Hollister touchdown, and a 27-13 lead.
The Vikings defense ended the game poignantly, with a gang-tackle by Darius Parks and Kane DeAlba popping the ball out of the Berkeley runner and right into Zaragoza’s hands. Zaragoza returned the ball 50 yards before being taken down at the 15-yard line.
-by Samantha Zaragoza and Tom Vivian
In other Hollister Pop Warner action:
Mighty Mite
Berkeley Junior Bears 30, Hollister Vikings 6
The Viking mighty mites started their game with a bang as Ernesto Sanchez raced down the left sideline for a touchdown on the third play of the game, giving the Vikings an early 6-0 lead. The lead was short-lived, however, as Berkeley tied the score on their very first possession.
Jonathan Ramos and Eric Green each caught passes on the Vikings’ next series, but they did not gain any yardage on the plays. Berkeley soon scored another touchdown and ended the first quarter with a 12-6 lead, and scored again on their next series to go up 18-6.
The Hollister offense showed signs of life as Joshua Zapien ran for a first down, but Berkeley’s defense stiffened to keep the Vikings out of the end zone. The Bears added one more touchdown before halftime to take a 24-6 lead.
The mighty mite defense returned from halftime with some fight, and only allowed one more Berkeley score for the rest of the game.
Brady Miguel was able to make a great tackle at the Berkeley 8-yard line. Gabriel Dominguez and Angel Amezcua also made some big tackles to stop Bears drives and keep them out of the end zone.
By Carissa Brewer
Pee Wee
Berkeley Junior Bears 18, Hollister Vikings 8
The Hollister Vikings pee wee team had its hands full on Saturday facing the Junior Bears from Berkeley. The Junior Bears ran the ball tough, consistently pushing their way up the middle and finding the end zone three times. The Viking offense struggled to find a rhythm, turning the ball over four times, and the defense tired under the strain of trying to contain the Junior Bears.
“We need to take this lesson and learn from it,” Coach Larry Murphy said after the game. “We had the opportunity. We had the defensive scheme in place. We just didn’t execute.
“You can’t turn the ball over and expect to win. We found that out last week.”
One bright spot for the Vikings was the play of their leading rusher, running back Shraee Harrison, who scored Hollister’s only touchdown on a 31-yard run.
“Shraee ran really hard today,” Murphy said.
The Vikings also completed a long 35-yard pass play from quarterback Daniel Hopkins to receiver Xavier Alvarez on the last play of the game.
Defensively, the Vikings “struggled a bit,” Murphy said. Several touchdown-saving tackles were made by David San Miguel, and Clay Schwall came up with big hits and a fumble recovery. Jonathan Mendoza also had several stops in the middle of the line for the Vikings.
The pee wees, who have yet to have their entire roster dress for a game, will need everyone on board when they host the West Bay Rams next Saturday at Andy Hardin Stadium.
By Christine Wahl-Dukes
Junior Midget
Berkeley Junior Bears 20, Hollister Vikings 0
The Vikings defense came to play on Saturday. But unfortunately for Hollister, the Berkeley Bears defense was even better, posting its third shutout in a row to win 20-0.
The Bears scored the winning touchdown early in the game, recovering a Hollister fumble and scoring four plays later to take a lead they would not relinquish. Adrian Valdez made a touchdown-saving tackle on a long pass completion the next time Berkeley got the ball, but his heroics only delayed the inevitable as Berkeley scored three plays later to go up 14-0.
The Vikings defense asserted itself on the Bears’ next series as RJ Clark recovered a fumble. The next time Berkeley had the ball, Andrew Huaracha and Shane Ledesma had big backfield tackles to thwart the Bears’ offense.
Hollister could not move offensively, but the defense continued to hold the line as Jackson Starke, Dominic Barrios and Huaracha all made big tackles to force losses. The frustrated Bears then went to the air, and completed a bomb. Clark made a touchdown-saving tackle on the 5-yard line, and Danny Perez and Starke sacked the quarterback on first down. But the Bears found their way into the end zone on the next play. Starke and Joe Coffelt blocked the extra-point kick to make the score 20-0 Bears midway through the second quarter. It would prove to be the final score of the game.
Both defenses were amazing in the second half, turning in great plays routinely to stop each other’s offense. Adrian Alba and Starke both made numerous tackles in the second half, including two quarterback sacks each. Clark stripped the ball from a Berkeley runner at the start of the second half, and great punts by Valdez pinned the Bears back deep several times. Coffelt and Starke also led the Vikings punt coverage team to prevent returns on most of Valdez’s kicks. Huaracha got one final turnover for Hollister in the fourth quarter when he recovered a fumble at the end of a long run.
The Vikings offense never gave up trying to score as Austin Cascio had two good runs, followed by two more by the quarterback Clark on keepers, but a fumble ended that drive with 2:30 left to play.
Hollister got the ball back with 30 seconds left. Clark completed passes to both Coffelt and Valdez, but an interception ended the Vikings hope for their first touchdown.
By Tom Vivian
Tiny Mites
Hollister Vikings vs. Berkeley Junior Bears
The tiny mite Vikings scrimmaged against Berkeley on Saturday morning. The tiny mites had a hard time containing the Junior Bears’ explosive offense, but Justin Cortez made many touchdown-saving tackles.
By Bobby Vivian
The week ahead:
The Vikings are at home again this weekend for a full slate of games against perennial rival West Bay Rams. Like Hollister, the Rams were forced to move up to Division I due to its recent successes, which included two league championships and one regional championship in 2009 in Division II.
The many regular season meetings between the teams have resulted in an even split over the past eight years. The Rams and Vikings have met in the postseason five times since 2002, with the Vikings winning all of those games up until last year, when the junior pee wee West Bay team unseated Hollister to win its first league championship since 1981.
This year’s games promise to be hard-fought contests. The matchups with West Bay begin at 9:45 a.m. at Andy Hardin Stadium on Saturday.
