The Hollister Vikings Pop Warner football teams traveled north
last weekend to battle Sunnyvale. The Tiny Mites, Mitey Mites and
Junior Pee Wees all played strong games, and the Mitey Mites and
Junior Pee Wees even left Sunnyvale victorious.
Kitina Martin
Special to the Free Lance
The Hollister Vikings Pop Warner football teams traveled north last weekend to battle Sunnyvale. The Tiny Mites, Mitey Mites and Junior Pee Wees all played strong games, and the Mitey Mites and Junior Pee Wees even left Sunnyvale victorious.
The Pop Warner teams will host Gilroy on Saturday.
Coverage for the Pee Wees, Junior Midgets and Midgets will appear in Thursday’s edition of the Hollister Free Lance.
Tiny Mites
Hollister Vikings vs. Sunnyvale Stealth
The Hollister Viking Tiny Mites traveled to Sunnyvale to take on the Sunnyvale Stealth. They got a break from an early morning game, and did not play until 11:30am. The Vikings came out strong with awesome defensive plays, as Matthew Trimble tackled his Stealth opponent, causing a fumble and a Viking recovery.
The Vikings took over on offense, and Kane Dealba carried the ball 25 yards for a Viking first down. On a quarterback keeper, Brody Cascio ran the ball into the end zone for a touchdown to put the Vikings on the board first.
The game was back and forth, with Cascio, Markie Martinez, Justin Hawthorne, Nathan Parra and Elias Mullen stepping up on defense to stop Sunnyvale for a while. The Viking offense had some great carries for some big yardage, as Antonio Caro carried the ball for 21 yards in the third quarter. Jonathan Ramos also gained some significant yards, giving the Vikings good field position.
The Viking coaches decided to try something different, and put Mullen in at quarterback for the first time. Mullen completed a pass to Caro for a 60-yard gain. This play was the highlight of the game. The Viking fans were on their feet. Mullen remained in the game at quarterback, and on a quarterback keeper, ran for 25 yards. Both Tiny Mite teams played tough. The Vikings will face off against their rivals, the Gilroy Browns, this Saturday at 9:30am at home.
Mitey Mites
Hollister Vikings 24, Sunnyvale Jets 6
The Hollister Viking Mitey Mites began their day extremely early with an 8am start. The weather was beautiful with the sun coming up on the horizon. Hollister won the coin toss and moved the football 10 yards without even hiking the ball. Two defensive penalties gave Hollister the first down. But Hollister could not capitalize and turned the ball over on downs.
The Vikings defense played tough, though. Nathan Fhurong had yet another big defensive game and was an animal. Aaron Tobia finished Fhurong’s tackles by taking down the ball carriers. Ethan Enz, Danny Perez and Justin Sanders were able to prevent the Jets from getting a first down and ended the first quarter with a score of 0-0.
The second quarter was also a defensive battle, however, Perez, Sanders and Tobia gained some significant yardage. Tobia ran almost 20 yards for the end zone, only to bask in the glory for a brief moment as the touchdown was called back because of a holding penalty. The Jets took over on downs. Again, the Viking defense stepped up with Tobia causing a Jets fumble, and Enz grabbed the ball, giving Hollister the ball once again with 11 seconds left in the half. The score at the end of the first half was 0-0.
Whatever the coaches said to the Hollister Mitey mites during halftime worked. The Vikings came out and took control of the game. Jonathan Mendoza recovered a fumble early on to give the Vikings the ball and great field position. Sanders then ran the ball 60 yards into the end zone for the first score of the game. Kyle Cameron and Tobia avoided the Sunnyvale Jets defenders to give the Vikings 24, leaving the Jets with only 6. Enz and Tristan Wahl sacked Sunnyvale’s quarterback 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and Daniel Hopkins came up with an interception late in the game to give the Vikings a victory over the Jets 24-6. The Mitey Mites are 4-0-1.
Junior Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 28, Sunnyvale Jets 0
Are the Hollister Junior Pee Wees Florida-bound? Again? Could they be on their way?
The Vikings came out strong once again to remain undefeated in their quest for a chance at the National Championships once again. The Vikings began the game by kicking off to the Sunnyvale Knights, where Kyle George and Isaias Perez tackled the Jets’ ball carrier at his own 33-yard line. The Jets went four-and-out, punting the ball to give Hollister their first possession at the 50-yard line.
The Hollister fans are never bored with the junior pee wee Vikings. Joshua George started the game at quarterback and completed a pass to Isaiah Caudillo for a couple of yards. Then, on a quarterback keeper, ran 25 yards for a first down with only 12 yards to go to the end zone. Joshua George handed the ball to Christopher “Cookie” Cook, who ran 12 yards into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. Tyler Fhurong kicked the ball through the uprights giving the Vikings an 8-0 lead over the Jets.
The Jets’ offense could not put anything together in the first half. Hollister had big defensive plays from Ezzie Lovato, “Cookie” Cook, Joshua George, Phillip Castro and Andrew Huaracha, who sacked the quarterback for a loss of 10 yards, forcing the Jets to punt the ball once again.
The offense also did not let up. With 6:10 left in the first half, Nathan Fhurong passed it to Cody Freitas, who caught the ball with one hand and ran for the end zone for the second touchdown of the game, increasing the Vikings lead to 14-0.
The Vikings were not ready to walk off the field just yet, as Freitas recovered a Jets fumble on the kick off to give Hollister great field position. Austin Cascio ran the ball to the outside setting up first-and-goal for the Vikings. With 3:38 left in the half, “Cookie” Cook ran the ball into the end zone for a touchdown. Tyler Fhurong kicked the ball for two points, which bounced off of the upright in favor of the Vikings, and gave the Vikings a 22-0 lead going into halftime.
The Vikings came out strong in the second half not letting up on the Sunnyvale Jets. Phillip Castro, Jonathan Sanchez, Marc Martindelcampo and Buddy Barrientos all ran the ball for the Vikings, setting up a pass from Tyler Fhurong to Cody Freitas. The pass scored the Vikings final touchdown of the game, sealing the fate of the Jets with one full quarter of football to go. Matthew Rabago, Barrientos and Huaracha all had big tackles to keep the Jets scoreless. Kyle George tackled a Jets’ ball carrier on the outside to force Sunnyvale to go four-and-out, getting the ball back for the Vikings. To end the game, George, Barrientos, Joseph Horn and Rabago gang-tackled a Jets ball carrier. The score was 28-0 in favor of the Vikings, who improved their record to 5-0.
