Hollister’s three Pop Warner teams swept their opponents
Saturday at Andy Hardin Stadium during the Peninsula playoffs to
advance to the championship next weekend.
All three Hollister teams played well. But the Cowboys, who have
been been on a roll recently, won for the fourth consecutive time
and won their fifth time in six games. Saturday night’s 35-8 rout
of Los Gatos was the team’s best game this year and maybe one of
the best in a while by a Hollister team.
By TOM VIVIAN
Hollister’s three Pop Warner teams swept their opponents Saturday at Andy Hardin Stadium during the Peninsula playoffs to advance to the championship next weekend.
All three Hollister teams played well. But the Cowboys, who have been been on a roll recently, won for the fourth consecutive time and won their fifth time in six games. Saturday night’s 35-8 rout of Los Gatos was the team’s best game this year and maybe one of the best in a while by a Hollister team.
The Cowboys played poised, error-free football for the entire game. The Cowboys committed few turnovers and had few penalties. They didn’t give Los Gatos any breaks that might turn the game around.
Hollister dominated the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball from start to finish.
The Cowboys set the tone of the game early by taking the opening kickoff and marching 65 yards for a touchdown. Their offensive line of Aaron Smith, Roman Miranda, Frank Cota, David Perez and George Luna blew Los Gatos off the ball, opening up the middle of the field for simple, straight ahead runs.
Running backs Jaime Driskill, Anthony Flores and Chris Koroluk took advantage, pounding the ball down to the 17-yard line, where Driskill found a big hole up the middle to score his team’s first touchdown. Russell Czernek’s two-point kick made it 8-0 Cowboys.
Los Gatos also scored on its first possession, and it looked like an offensive battle could be brewing.
But Jaime Driskill took the Wildcat’s kickoff and burst 75 yards up the middle to score on the return. On the conversion, Abel Jacquez took a botched snap and converted it into a point, passing to Michael Decker, and Hollister had a 15-8 lead.
Not wanting to give the ball back to the vaunted Los Gatos offense, coach Jeff Valenzuela called for an onside kick, which was recovered by Driskill. Moments later, Anthony Flores burst through another gaping hole in the line for 68 yards to paydirt, and Czernek’s kick put the Cowboys up 23-8.
Czernek recovered a fumble after the kickoff, although the Cowboys were denied another score. The Cowboy defense shut down the holes that had opened up for the Wildcats all year long.
Francisco Orozco, Miles Sanchez and David Perez were instrumental in stopping runs up the middle.
David De la Cruz and Roman Miranda shutdown the outside running attack of Los Gatos.
The Cowboys went in at halftime leading by 15, but Hollister’s coaches knew that such a small lead was not safe against the explosive Wildcats. So the Cowboys kicked an onside again to begin the second half, and again Driskill had hot hands as he made the recovery.
The Cowboys moved the ball relentlessly again. Driskill and Flores did most of the ground work. Flores scored on a 5-yard run to put the Wildcats in a serious hole.
Abel Jacquez ruined Los Gatos’ plan of getting a quick score with an unreturnable 55-yard kickoff to pin the Wildcats back deep. Los Gatos finally began a drive, but Hollister got the ball back for its offense inside the 20.
Hollister continued to run between the tackles in the fourth quarter, eating up most of the clock.
The Cowboys got an insurance touchdown when Flores stripped the ball from a Los Gatos runner and raced 25 yards to paydirt.
The Cowboys proved they could beat a strong team Saturday night. But the question now is, are they strong enough to beat Cambrian Valley, a team that hasn’t lost in two years, in the league championship game next week?
If the Cowboys bring the same game they brought Saturday night, then the reigning league champions are looking at their toughest test in quite a while.
Pee Wee Division
Hollister 14, West Bay 0
The Vikings continued to dominate on defense shutting out their ninth team in ten games so far this season. The offense got going first as Trevor Fabing completed a 20-yard pass to Ryan Sabattini for the first big gain of the day.
But penalties forced the Vikings to punt. Hollister got another break when the punt was muffed by West Bay and Brandon Pina recovered.
The Vikings got on the board just before the first quarter ended after their defense set them up deep in Ram territory, and Michael Murphy ran it in from the 4-yard line.
Ryan Shorey consistently punted deep to pin West Bay. Late in the second period, the Rams were forced to punt out of their end zone, and Shorey ran it back to the Rams 9-yard line.
But once again Hollister could not find the end zone, and the half ended with the score 6-0.
Late in the third quarter, the Vikings got the big break when Michael Murphy broke through to block a West Bay punt. Three plays later, Brandon Pina ran seven yards for an insurance score.
That was all the points the Vikings would need as the play of their defense made up for a lackluster offense. Kyle Vallejo, Bryan Garza, Ricky Canes and Murphy dominated play on the line of scrimmage, breaking through to force West Bay losses throughout the game.
In the fourth quarter, Canes and Garza collaborated for two big sacks in a row to stop one West Bay drive, and Murphy stopped the Rams with another sack. Justin Reynolds came up with a big interception that sealed the win.
Jr. Pee Wee Division
Hollister 8, Cambrian Valley 0
The Junior Pee Wees will return to the league championship game for the second year in a row as their defense came up big in an 8-0 victory over a well-matched rival.
Cambrian Valley took the opening kickoff and struck for a quick first down, but Andre Cornell forced a big loss in the backfield on the next play to break the Longhorns’ momentum. On fourth down, he combined with Ray Rueda making the stop that gave the Vikings their first possession.
Hollister could go nowhere and was quickly forced to punt, but Austin Blake got the ball back for his team on a fumble recovery. Tyler Decker hit Cornell for a 21-yard gain, but that was only the first of two passes they would complete all day on the soggy field.
The game was still scoreless in the third quarter when Adolfo Davila recovered a fumble to give the Vikings great field position. But the Longhorns’ defense survived the test and pinned Hollister back deep in their own end as the fourth quarter began.
As has happened so often for the Jr. Pee Wee Vikings this year, one play turned the entire team around. Cornell outran the entire Longhorn defense on an 85-yard sprint down the right sideline, scoring to give Hollister the lead.
The two-point conversion failed, but moments later, the Vikings got two when they blitzed the Cambrian punter, dropping him in end zone for a safety. Joshua Greenwood hit Jared Lantis for 15 yards.
The Longhorns forced another punt. But that drive was stopped on the 5-yard line after Conner Stevens recovered a fumble.
Cambrian Valley got the ball back with a minute remaining, but an interception by Greenwood clinched the win for the Vikings.
All three Hollister teams now have a date with destiny in Sunnyvale next Sunday. The Jr. Pee Wees will play at 8 a.m., followed immediately by the Pee Wees at 10 a.m.
The Cowboys will take on the winner of the Cambrian Valley/Redwood City game at 4 p.m. also in Sunnyvale.
Winners of those games will compete during the next two weeks to become Western US region champions, with the ultimate goal of earning a berth in the national championships in Florida.
