The Hollister Vikings Pee Wees win streak finally came to an end
on Sunday in Palo Alto, as all four competitive Hollister teams
went down to defeat, wrapping up a long and difficult string of
weekends on the road. There was a consistent theme to the six games
the Vikings played on Sunday
The Hollister Vikings Pee Wees win streak finally came to an end on Sunday in Palo Alto, as all four competitive Hollister teams went down to defeat, wrapping up a long and difficult string of weekends on the road. There was a consistent theme to the six games the Vikings played on Sunday:
The younger the team, the better that they did. The 5-7 year old Tiny Mite Vikings played their most dominating game of the season as the defense smothered the opposing Delta Bay Buccaneers on virtually every down. Tristan Wahl, Nick Trimble, Dominic Barrios and BJ Quintana spearheaded the defensive effort with a multitude of tackles.
Offensive fireworks were provided by the front line, as Colby Noble, Dominic Barrios, Jonathan Mendoza, Nick Olguin, and Ted Nicolette sprang Kyle Cameron and Daniel Hopkins for long runs to the end zone, and also Hopkins completed a pass to Cameron far another long gain.
Mighty Mites
Hollister Vikings 24
Palo Alto Knights 0
The Mighty Mites, who have quietly been winning games all year long, are now Hollister’s only unbeaten team although Menlo Park managed a tie early in the season by shutting down the Vikings powerful offense for one game. On the season, the Mighty Mites have outscored their opponents 159 to 52. Unfortunately for them, the league does not keep official standings or hold playoffs for this instructional level.
The Vikings established control on Sunday the way they have all season, dominating the line of scrimmage on defense. Their front men, Austin Tobia, Dylan Yamasaki, John Canes, Dominic Padilla, Cody Freitas and Alex Reilly have made life difficult for opposing offenses all year, breaking into the backfield on virtually every snap.
Sunday’s game went like all the rest, as Braulio Ornelas registered an early quarterback sack, and Joshua George took the ball away twice from the Knights, once on an interception and once on a fumble recovery. Offensively, the Vikings continued to run up and down the field.
Tyler Fhurong got the Vikings on the board with a 55-yard touchdown run early in the game. Chris Cook scored the next time Hollister had the ball with a 35-yard TD run. Early in the third quarter, Johnny Corral gave the Vikings insurance with a 15-yard run, and Cook got his second TD late in the contest.
Junior Pee Wee
Palo Alto Knights 13
Hollister Vikings 12
In the day’s most exciting contest, the Vikings came close to breaking their five-game losing streak, but fell a point short.
The Junior Pee Wees defense played very well as always. Cody Cameron and Austin Nye made several big tackles, Damien Botelho blocked an extra point kick, while Ricky Munguia and Austin Canez recovered fumbles. Despite their efforts, the Vikings found themselves down 13-0 after three quarters and seemingly on their way to their sixth consecutive shutout loss.
They had a spark of offense in the second quarter when quarterback John Hartshorn completed a bomb to Mikey Koroluk for an apparent touchdown, but the play was called back by a penalty. The Vikings began to drive early in the fourth quarter when Nye had two great runs up the middle, dragging Knight defenders with him for most of his 30 yards.
Then quarterback Austin Wahl hit Koroluk with a pass down to the three yard line, but a fumble prevented Hollister from scoring. The team showed its gutsy character by refusing to give up, and moments later, the offense had the ball back thanks to a great defensive stand. Wahl passed to Koroluk again, and this time his one-handed overhead grab struck gold as he ran untouched 25 yards into the end zone. The Knights blocked the conversion kick to preserve a seven point lead. Moments later, Koroluk scored the Vikings second touchdown as he intercepted a Palo Alto pass and ran it back 38 yards. But Palo Alto again denied the conversion and clung to a one-point lead.
There was still over four minutes remaining, and Palo Alto got a couple of first downs to take much of that time off the clock. Hollister got the ball back with enough time to try for a couple more big plays, but the Palo Alto defense stepped up to stop that drive, sacking the quarterback twice.
Pee Wee
Palo Alto Knights 22
Hollister Vikings 0
It took a defending National champion to finally bring the Pee Wee Vikings down, and Palo Alto left no doubt that they are still a nationally competitive team as their quick defense shut down plays that are normally money in the bank for Hollister.
The Knights took the opening kickoff and marched 70 yards downfield for a touchdown, picking up most of their yardage on bruising straight-ahead runs. But Hollister’s vaunted defense found its footing on the next series as Jared Lantis made several tackles to stop Palo Alto, and Isaac Navarette recovered a muffed punt deep in Palo Alto territory to give the Vikings a bonafide scoring opportunity. But the Knights proved to be even more opportunistic, picking off a pass to end the Hollister threat.
Palo Alto surprised Hollister with an onside kick to start the second half, and recovered it. They then used up most of the third quarter with pounding runs and screen passes on the way to their second touchdown, and a 14-0 lead.
The tide turned slightly in Hollister’s favor in the fourth quarter as Lantis recovered a fumble, and Tyler Decker responded by passing to Lantis for a first down. Justin Raine broke a run for another first down to get the Vikings back into scoring range but a timely interception by the Palo Alto defense stopped that drive. The Knights added an insurance score on a long run minutes later.
Junior Midget
Palo Alto Knights 29
Hollister Vikings 0
Palo Alto’s undefeated Junior Midget team pretty much had its own way with the Vikings. Highlights for Hollister included a 45 yard punt return by Josh Villegas, Ricky Rodriguez blocked a kick, and the Vikings recovered two fumbles, one by Sal Ornelas and one by Matt Martinez.
Both fumbles were caused by hard hits from linebacker Jordan Ashford.
Midget
West Valley Falcons 38
Hollister Vikings 8
This game was a critical matchup between two 4-2 teams that promised to be hard-fought, but West Valley made several big plays early on both sides of the ball to run away with the contest.
Hollister scored one touchdown on a short plunge by Anthony Flores that was set up by a long pass from Felix Cortez to Brandon Pina. Hollister’s defense also scored early in the third quarter when an unreturnable kickoff by Gilberto Lizarraga pinned the Falcons back deep, and defensive lineman Bryan Garza sacked the quarterback in the end zone for a safety.
After a 4-0 start, the Midgets have lost three straight, all three have been tough road losses. Hollister teams complete their season at home against Almaden this weekend. Games begin at 10 AM at Andy Hardin Stadium. Hollister will also host a set of invitational bowl games for the Mighty Mites on October 29th, and a second-round playoff on November 5th.
