The Hollister Viking Pee Wees, Junior Midgets and Midgets
battled a tough Sunnyvale squad last Saturday, but managed to shine
nonetheless.
Kitina Martin Special to the Free Lance
The Hollister Viking Pee Wees, Junior Midgets and Midgets battled a tough Sunnyvale squad last Saturday, but managed to shine nonetheless.
The Pop Warner teams will look to make a clean sweep on Saturday when they host the Gilroy Browns.
Pee Wees
Hollister Vikings 22, Sunnyvale Black Knights 0
The Hollister Viking Pee Wee team has their sights on a spot in the playoffs, as they remain undefeated with a record of 5-0.
The Vikings started off strong with Angel Pasillas kicking the ball to the Black Knights. The Vikings quickly ran down the field and tackled the ball carrier before he could take a step forward. The Black Nights went four-and-out, and the Vikings took over on offense.
Damien Botelho and Damon Perez ran the ball for two first downs. Pasillas then threw the ball to Perez for 30 yards to give Hollister a touchdown. Pasillas kicked the ball through the uprights to put Hollister on top 8-0.
The Viking defense showed up to play football. The Black Knights were unable to get a first down in the first half of the game. Cody Cameron, Marcus Darnell and Dominic Padilla all made great tackles to force the Black Knights to punt the ball away. The Viking offense came back on the field and proved once again that they can move the football down the field.
Pasillas threw the ball to Perez for a 15-yard pass to give the Vikings first-and-goal. Pasillas then completed a pass into a crowd of Black Knights and Botelho, who was able to snag the ball and pull it into his chest for a touchdown.
The offensive line, made up of Brody Benitez, Padilla, Aaron Martinez, Austen Ledesma and AJ Cervantes were all very key to the Viking’s offensive success. The Vikings sent the Black Knights into halftime trailing 16-0.
The second half of the football game proved to be similar to the first. The Vikings came out tough once again. Perez and Jordan Goldstein had big defensive plays to hold Sunnyvale scoreless. Cameron returned a punt 35 yards to give Hollister excellent field position once again. Pasillas ran the ball into the end zone on fourth-and-short for the final touchdown of the game. Darius Medina, Matthew Balderas, Austin Tobia and Benjy Devries shut down the Black Knights’ offense, preventing Sunnyvale from putting points on the board. The final score was 22-0 in favor of the Hollister Vikings.
Junior Midgets
Hollister Vikings 18,
Sunnyvale Micro Rockets 24
The Hollister Vikings came to increase their winning streak to two games in a row, but fought and fought and came up short in the end.
Edwin Campbell, Austin Blake and Garrett Avina defended their end zone with pride and teamwork. Gio Caro came up with a fumble to give the Vikings good field position. Austin Wahl completed two good passes to Campbell and Michael Pirnik, but the Vikings were unable to move the ball into the end zone.
The defense once again proved to be competitive, with Nate Garza and Ray Parra coming away with big tackles, stopping Sunnyvale several times and forcing them to punt. However, Sunnyvale returned a punt 50 yards into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.
Hollister answered in the second quarter with a touchdown of their own by Garza, who ran 21 yards into the end zone. The Vikings were not able to put the extra two points on the board, and went into halftime trailing the Micro Rockets by two points.
At the beginning of the second, Parra made a touchdown-saving tackle. However, on the next play, Sunnyvale scored a touchdown and the two extra points and increased their lead 16-6.
But Hollister was not ready to give in. Garza ran 45 yards to the end zone to give the Vikings another six points, and they were slowly eating away the point spread. Campbell saved another touchdown by diving after a Micro Rocket ball carrier, while Caro, Zack Hicks and Avina made some great defensive plays.
Sunnyvale scored early in the fourth quarter, however, increasing their lead to 12. Hollister was able to score only one more time on a quarterback keeper by Wahl, who ran for the end zone when none of the wide receivers were open.
Hollister had a chance to tie the game after Blake recovered a fumble with a little over one minute to play. Wahl handed the ball to Parra who threw the ball to the end zone, trying to hit Garza, but the ball was intercepted by Sunnyvale to end the game.
The Vikings are 1-4-0. The Vikings will host the Gilroy Browns this Saturday at 5pm.
Midgets
Hollister Vikings 0,
Sunnyvale Rockets 24
The Hollister Viking Midgets began the game on a positive note when Hollister won the toss to receive the ball on a Rocket kickoff. Sergio Prado carried the ball for about four yards, but that is all the Vikings would get on that possession.
The Vikings went four-and-out, and were forced to punt the ball. But the Vikings’ punt was blocked close to the end zone for the Rockets, who picked up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown to put the Rockets on the board.
The Vikings were not able to recover and were not able to put any points on the board. However, Ruben Alnas and Jordan Swinscoe stepped up on defense, tackling the Rockets’ ball carriers. Brandon Villar and Isaiah Quintana together tackled a Rockets’ ball carrier preventing a touchdown. Ryan DiSalvo and Anthony Cervantes also stepped up for the Vikings, with DiSalvo sacking the Rockets’ quarterback for a loss in the second quarter.
In the second half, the Vikings struggled on offense, but Jonathan Huaracha, Adam Huaracha and Raymond Rondez prevented the score from rising by going after the Rockets’ ball carriers and quarterback.
The final score was 24-0 in favor of the Rockets. The Vikings record is 2-2-1. The Vikings take on the West Valley Falcons at home on Saturday at 7pm.
Correction: Conner Bernal scored one of the four touchdowns in the game last week for the Hollister Junior Midget team. His was on a 53-yard run and was incorrectly credited to a different player.
