One thing the Vikings had going for it was rock-solid defense,
which kept the team in most of its games, even when the offense
couldn’t move the ball. But on Saturday afternoon, the Viking
offense unexpectedly caught fire, enabling the team to deliver a
34-12 shellacking for the team’s first win of 2010 while dominating
on both sides of the ball.
HOLLISTER
Hollister’s junior midgets hadn’t won a game all year going into Saturday’s contest against the Tri-Cities Titans, and had only scored once through half a season. To make matters worse, the Vikings were going against a Tri-Cities team that had swept through three San Francisco powerhouse teams to start the season.
One thing the Vikings had going for it was rock-solid defense, which kept the team in most of its games, even when the offense couldn’t move the ball. But on Saturday afternoon, the Viking offense unexpectedly caught fire, enabling the team to deliver a 34-12 shellacking for the team’s first win of 2010 while dominating on both sides of the ball.
The Vikings offense didn’t wait long to begin making their move. With a pass completion to Adrian Valdez, followed immediately by another to Austin Cascio, Hollister made quick progress towards the goal line. A series of short runs by Joe Coffelt put the team into scoring position. Tyler Biersdorff made the final push into the end zone, putting the Vikings on the scoreboard, 6-0.
Not to be outdone, the Titans were quick to respond. On their first offensive play, they ran the ball for their own touchdown, ending the first quarter with a score of 6-6.
As the second quarter began, the Vikings worked to create some distance between themselves and Tri-Cities. Once again, when they took possession of the ball, the Vikings proved unstoppable. Adrian Valdez ran a pair of quarterback keepers, finding the end zone on his second run and putting Hollister ahead 12-6.
Although the Titans thought they had responded with a 60-yard touchdown run, untimely penalties would keep them from scoring and closing the gap. To add to their dismay, the Titans then followed with a fumble on their own 15-yard line, which was recovered by Andrew Huaracha.
The Vikings once again found themselves in scoring position. Following a pair of short carries by Isaias Perez and Kyle George, R.J. Clark completed a pass to Valdez. A short run found Valdez in the end zone for the second time in the quarter. The Hollister score got an additional boost from Christian Granados as he made the two-point conversion kick, extending the Viking lead 20-6.
Returning from halftime, the Vikings remained fired up. Their defense was unrelenting. Defensive plays by Jackson Starke, Esmond Lovato, Dominic Barrios and Coffelt held the Titans at bay, forcing a turnover on downs.
As the offense took over, there was nothing the Titans could do to slow them down. Coffelt ran the ball for the fourth touchdown of the game. Once again, Granados extended the lead with his foot to make the score 28-6.
Going into the final quarter, the Viking offense was still not finished. Following a run by Coffelt, Austin Cascio scored his own touchdown for a season-high score of 34-6. Although strong defensive plays were made by Steven Gatto, Shane Ledesma and Lovato, in a late surge, the Titans scored a final touchdown on a long pass completion.
In the end, however, it was too little, too late.. The final score was Hollister Vikings 34, Tri-City Titans 12.
By Dena Gregory
Junior Pee Wees
Tri-Cities Titans 32, Hollister Vikings 15
The junior pee wees battled injuries and the Tri-Cities Titans on Saturday, fighting valiantly but finally bowing to their hosts, 32-15.
Early into the first quarter, quarterback Brad Sparrer connected with Johnny Gonzalez on a pass play, and handed the ball to runners Dimarco DelCurto and Andres Soto who ground them closer to the end zone. In all, Hollister’s first drive took more than five minutes off the clock, culminating when DelCurto scored on a quick run and Sparrer connected with Gonzalez for the point-after.
The Hollister defense held the Titans with gang tackles from linebackers Michael Zaragoza, Gonzalez and Marcus Guevara, as well as Peter Felice. Hollister tried to keep their next drive moving but the Titans stepped in front of a Sparrer pass and ran the interception back for a defensive touchdown.
After Hollister turned their next possession over on downs, the Titans capitalized on a gap in the middle and the Titans scored again from 55 yards away. To make matters worse, DelCurto was injured on the play and will be lost to the team for two weeks.
As the end of the half was drawing near, Soto chased down a breakaway Titan runner to save another touchdown, and the Vikings went in at the half down by just six points.
The Vikings were ready to start the second half with a little more fire, but were met with a Titan team thirsty to continue their winning streak. On the kickoff, a shifty Titans runner took the ball for more than 55 yards for another score. The point-after attempt was stopped by Felice, and the score seconds into the second half was Titans 19, Vikings 7.
The Vikings countered and started a drive with good runs by Soto, Guevara and Ishmael Medina that would end with a touchdown run by Guevara run from 14 yards out. The point-after attempt was kicked successfully by Soto and the Vikings trailed by only four points, 19-15.
But Hollister’s momentum was short-lived as the Titans took the kickoff more than 60 yards to power into the end zone. The Vikings didn’t quit without a fight as Sparrer was able to connect with Soto and Gonzalez a few more times, but the drive stalled and Hollister turned the ball over on downs.
The Titans would be quick to capitalize with another touchdown run, this time from the 26 yards. Although the Vikings would not score again, Michael Esparza, Javier Valdez and Christopher Leist all made tackles to keep Tri-Cities from pulling even further away.
By Samantha Zaragoza
Pee Wees
Sunnyvale Black Knights 8, Hollister Vikings 0
Facing the undefeated Sunnyvale Black Knights, the Hollister Viking pee wee team knew it was traveling to face a formidable opponent. Both the Vikings and the Black Knights stood their ground for three-and-a-half quarters of play, but it was one big play by the Black Knights that made the difference in the outcome of the game — an 8-0 victory for Sunnyvale.
The first half was all defense for both teams, as they traded possessions and field position. But in the second half, Hollister actually outplayed the Black Knights offensively, putting together a couple of solid drives.
The Vikings were actually poised to score in the fourth quarter with a nine-play, 52-yard drive that ended up in a fourth-and-five on the Sunnyvale 12-yard line. Shraee Harrison carried the ball on all the rushes in that drive, including runs of 15 and 11 yards. However, a miscue on the snap count resulted in a fumbled snap, and the ball was turned over to the Black Knights.
The defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out, and Hollister took possession again in good field position on the Sunnyvale 40-yard line. Four plays later, Hollister converted a fourth-and-1 on the Sunnyvale 31-yard line on a 6-yard run by Harrison, giving the Vikings a fresh set of downs on the Sunnyvale 25.
Again, the Vikings were looking to score, and again they turned the ball over, this time with an interception. On the very next play, Sunnyvale completed an 85-yard pass play for a touchdown with 2:35 left in the game.
The Vikings used the running back tandem of Harrison and Dylan Olivares in an attempt to answer the score by Sunnyvale, with Harrison and Olivares combining for 44 yards rushing on four carries. With time running out, the Vikings attempted to run the ball once more, but a fumble ended their hopes with just 47 seconds left on the clock.
After the game, the coaches were trying to focus on the positives taken from the game.
“We actually should have won this game 28-0,” Offensive Coordinator John Turpin said. “Turnovers killed us.”
Head Coach Larry Murphy added, “It came down to who made the least number of mistakes. We’ll just have to chalk it up as an unfortunate loss. But I saw some good things out there. Shraee and Olivares ran really hard. The defense swarmed to the ball. Our defense played very sound; we broke on only one play, but unfortunately that’s what cost us.”
Daniel Hopkins had a big game defensively, with two sacks and two interceptions, one caused by the effective pass rushing of Tanner Okerson, who also put a nasty hit on the Sunnyvale quarterback that drew an audible cringe from the crowd. Jonathan Mendoza also had a hand in causing a fumble, which was recovered by Dante Tomasini. David San Miguel and Tristan Wahl were the Vikings’ leading tacklers. Harrison was the leading rusher with 93 total yards.
Coach Murphy knows the team has talent, but they just haven’t put it all together at the same time yet.
“Looking at this team, we should be undefeated,” he said. “We’ve got to believe that. We’ve got three tough games still ahead of us.”
By Christine Wahl-Dukes
Mighty Mites
Tri-Cities Titans 18, Hollister Vikings 0
The mighty mite’s offense continued to struggle, but the defense continued to shine in Saturday’s contest in Newark. The defensive team, led by Coach Shane Wiggins, had several great takedowns from Shane Reiter, Anthony Sanchez, Matthew Sanders, Gabriel Dominguez and Leo St. John to keep the Titans off the board for much of the first half.
During the second quarter, Isaac Gutierrez recovered a ball that was fumbled by the Titans, returning the ball back to the Vikings. The Titans had a 12-0 lead at halftime.
The second half of the game started with Ernesto Sanchez taking down the Titans ball carrier. Jordan Plesek followed with two consecutive tackles, forcing a fumble on the last one, which he also recovered to get the ball back for the Vikings. Late in the game, Brennan Enz made his first tackle of the season and Angel Amescua recovered a Titans fumble.
By Carissa Brewer
Tiny Mites
Tri-Cities Titans vs. Hollister Vikings
The tiny mite Vikings scrimmaged early in the morning in Newark, but their offensive exploits were a foreshadowing of what would happen later in the day when the junior midgets took the field.
Both teams had been shut down offensively all year, but like their older brothers, the tiny mites’ offense came into its own on Saturday, running up and down the field. A lot of the running was done by Justin Cortez, who crossed the goal line no less than four times in the game behind the blocking of Deven Homen, Gavin Homen, Braydon Etheridge, Christian Valdez, Dionicio Gutierrez and Gregory Mendoza. Cortez’s longest run was 65 yards after Etheridge sprung him with a huge block. Coach Trenton Finister was truly proud of the play by his offensive line, which gelled together on Saturday to get the offense moving. Rudy Morales also broke a long run for 22 yards. Several big tackles were made on defense, including several by Deven and Gaven Homen.
By Tom Vivian
The Week Ahead:
The Vikings will have another first on Saturday when they host a team from outside of their league for the first time ever. The Alameda Wolverines will visit Hollister this weekend. Games begin Saturday at 9:45 a.m.
