Pee wees post shutout win for first league victory
HOLLISTER
Hollister held its own against their perennial playoff rivals on Saturday, winning two of its four games against the West Bay Rams. Highlights of this week’s action:
Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 22, West Bay Rams 0
The Hollister Vikings finally found their groove Saturday, shutting out the West Bay Rams and putting up 22 points in their first league victory.
“We finally did it!” exclaimed head coach Larry Murphy after the game. “Overall it was a pretty good game. We all worked hard.”
Playing exceptionally well for the Vikings was its “gold” offense, especially the gold offensive line of Adrian Fisher, Alexander Garcia, Robert Gaspar, Josh Martin, Travis Roy and Conner Stephens.
“I was very happy,” Offensive Coordinator John Turpin said. “They did really well.”
The Viking offense was able to move the ball this game, something they had struggled with in previous contests.
In the first quarter, the Vikings gained yards but their drives stalled. Quarterback Daniel Hopkins connected with wide receiver Xavier Alvarez for a 15-yard pass play that put the Vikings in the red zone for the first time. However, they turned the ball over on downs at the start of the second quarter, and the Rams found themselves deep in their own territory.
The Viking defense came up big and kept the Rams pinned back deep, so when the offense took over again, running back Dylan Olivares only needed two runs to find the end zone, scoring a touchdown on a 14-yard second-down play. Jacob Zamora kicked it through the uprights to put the Vikings up 8-0.
After forcing the Rams to go three-and-out on their next possession, the Vikings started to drive again. However, the drive stalled once more in Rams territory and it was up to the defense to keep the ball on that side of the field. David San Miguel made three of the next four tackles, and on the fifth play Tristan Wahl had a fumble-causing hit which gave the ball back to the Vikings.
Hopkins wasted no time going to the air, first getting a pass interference call and then airing out on a 25-yard pass to Josh Nehme. Nehme was covered well, and both he and the defender tipped the ball back into the air. But it was Nehme who managed to make a highlight-worthy catch in the end zone for the Vikings’ second touchdown. The conversion failed, though, and the Vikings led the Rams 14-0 at halftime.
The second half was all Viking-defense — literally. The Vikings opened with a short drive that ended with a 35-yard punt by Nick Trimble. After making the tackle on the Rams’ first down, Matthew Griffith came up with an over-the-shoulder interception to give the ball back to the Vikings on the Rams’ 43-yard line. On the very next play, Shraee Harrison raced past the Rams defenders for a 43-yard touchdown run. Zamora made the point-after, and the Vikings were up 22-0 with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Rams put together a time-killing drive, taking up most of the fourth quarter, but the Viking defense held their ground and refused to give up big plays.
“The defense played solid,” Murphy said. “We bent a little bit but we didn’t break, and we stopped them in the red zone.”
Several Vikings had multiple tackles in the game, including San Miguel, Olivares, Trimble, Wahl, Jonathan Mendoza, Dante Tomasini and Tanner Okerson. Griffith also made key tackles, as did Christopher Green.
The Vikings will have to savor their victory quickly, as they begin to prepare for next weekend’s opponent, the West Valley Falcons.
— By Christine Wahl-Dukes
Junior Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 20, West Bay Rams 6
The junior pee wee Vikings locked horns with a tough opponent that defeated them last year for the league championship. West Bay teams almost always feature large and outstanding linemen that can dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. But on this day, the Vikings dominated the West Bay Rams both offensively and defensively en route to a 20-6 victory.
Coach Gino Andrade was especially impressed with the play of his interior defensive linemen. The positions are rotated between five players, including Kane DeAlba, Chris Leist, Blaze McShane, Bobby Vivian and Aiden Lyon. All of them are smaller than the West Bay linemen, but none of them allowed the Rams to play their usual game of controlling the line of scrimmage, and as a result, the Rams gained very few yards from inside runs, which is their bread and butter offensively. Lyon alone had four tackles on inside runs.
For its part, the Viking offense established momentum early. Hollister appeared to strike on their first drive of the game, when Ishmael Medina broke a long run to paydirt, but a penalty nullified the play. Nevertheless, the first quarter ended with the Vikings ahead 14-0.
The first touchdown was scored on a 20-yard pass play from Brad Sparrer to Jonny Gonzalez which capped a long-scoring drive. Two plays later, the Vikings defense scored when Javier Valdez, Michael Zaragoza and Gonzalez stood up a West Bay runner, which allowed Marcus Guevara to strip the ball and run 55 yards to the end zone for another Viking touchdown. Andres Soto made the two-point kick to put the Vikings ahead, 14-0.
Peter Felice helped Hollister maintain the score with two tackles behind the line of scrimmage to end the first half.
West Bay got a break to start the second half as the kickoff bounced off a Viking player which resulted in a West Bay recovery. Michael Esparza and DeAlba blocked the middle to stop any gain two plays in a row, which forced West Bay to turn the ball over on downs.
Hollister stuffed the Rams again on their next defensive series thanks to timely tackles from Dimarco DelCurto, Felice and Medina.
The fourth quarter began with a big play by the Rams to move the chains just a few yards from the end zone. Strong efforts by linebackers Guevara and Zaragoza stalled the West Bay drive for a couple plays, but the Rams were able to squeak across the goal line to score six points. The point-after attempt was smothered by the Viking defense with tackles from Gonzalez and Felice, so Hollister maintained a 14-6 lead.
The Rams tried an onside kick but it was recovered by the Vikings’ Nick Perez at midfield. Hollister exploited the great field position as Sean Nelson threw a great block that sprung DelCurto into the end zone untouched from 40 yards out for a 20-6 lead.
West Bay drove once more to try to get back in the game midway through the fourth quarter, but Hollister’s defense put out that fire as timely tackles by Leist and a backfield tackle by Felice smothered the drive, along with West Bay’s hopes for victory.
— By Samantha Zaragoza & Tom Vivian
Junior Midget
West Bay Rams 26, Hollister Vikings 6
The junior midgets remained winless last weekend but they did score their first points of the season late in the game, breaking a three-game scoring drought.
West Bay’s first offensive drive was stopped thanks to a timely tackle by Adrian Valdez, but the Rams finally broke Hollister’s defensive grip with a long run to begin the second quarter. Jackson Starke and Valdez brought the runner down short of the goal line, but West Bay scored moments later.
Up 6-0, the Rams tried and recovered an onside kick, but Austin Cascio pounced on a fumble to get the ball back for Hollister. Hollister’s offense, which had several players out injured, could not move and gave the ball back to West Bay.
The Rams were thwarted again as Kyle George made two key tackles. The Rams took the ball again only a minute before halftime, but opted not to run out the clock, breaking two long runs to take a 12-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Vikings defense continued its heroic efforts to hold the fort in the third quarter, as Joe Coffelt made several big tackles to stop West Bay, and Andrew Huaracha recovered a fumble. But by the fourth quarter, the Hollister defense, which had been on the field for most of the game, was tired out and the Rams sustained a touchdown drive that put the game out of reach, 19-0.
The ensuing kickoff was returned for 35 yards by Valdez, and a penalty at the end of the run gave Hollister a first down on the Rams 11. The Vikings parlayed the break into their first touchdown of the season when Isaias Perez scored on a seven-yard run. The Rams came right back with an insurance touchdown, but the Vikings inspired their fans as they never gave up.
Schyler Sicoli stepped in front of a West Bay pass and made a good return to put the Vikings in Rams territory. The Vikings offense could not move, but kicker Christian Granados attempted a 35-yard field goal at the end of the game, which fell just a few yards short of the uprights.
— By Tom Vivian
Mighty Mite
West Bay Rams 18, Hollister Vikings 6
Despite losing the game, the mighty mites played strong defensively against the West Bay Rams as the score would have been much more lopsided if not for some great Hollister defensive plays.
With 3:03 to go in the fourth quarter, Brady Miguel ran the ball in for a touchdown for the Vikings only points.
Offensive coach Frank Montoya said he was very happy how strong the team came back after halftime, and feels that the offense is improving each week. He was especially pleased with a long pass completion from Ernesto Sanchez to receiver Kobe Valdez during the game.
— By Carisa Brewer and Kimberly Liston
Tiny Mites
Hollister Vikings vs. West Bay Rams
The tiny mite Vikings scrimmaged against the West Bay Rams on Saturday morning. Highlights for the tiny mite Vikings include Justin Cortez’s run up the field for nine yards. Rudy Morales made lots of tackles throughout the game including a touchdown-saving tackle near the end of the game, and Dionicio Gutierrez had lots of good tackles, too.
— By Bobby Vivian
The Week Ahead:
The Hollister Vikings travel to Saratoga this Sunday for games against the West Valley Falcons, another team who has dueled Hollister many times in the playoffs and league championships at the Division II level, and, like Hollister, has moved up to Division I.
Games begin at 10 a.m. at Saratoga High School.
