Vikings win one, lose one, tie one against formidable foe
SARATOGA
The Hollister Vikings visited Saratoga on Sunday to take on the West Valley Falcons, an organization that usually fields teams that are often well-matched with Hollister’s. The two teams have met three times in the postseason in the past five years. Hollister held its own, winning one, losing one and tying one in the three competitive contests.
The Hollister Vikings travel again to the Bay Area this weekend, this time to San Jose City College where they will take on several teams from Oak Grove.
Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 32
W.V. Falcons 16
The Pee Wee Vikings used a strong running game and a stout defense to win their regular season debut on Sunday, a 32-16 victory over the host West Valley Falcons.
Eight runners combined for nearly 250 yards on the ground and the Hollister defense picked off three Falcons passes to secure the win.
On the Vikings’ first defensive series, Philip Castro burst through the offensive line to sack the West Valley quarterback and begin a series in which the Falcons were pushed backward on three consecutive downs. On fourth down, Hollister blocked the punt and Dustin Borba recovered the ball on the 49-yard line.
Moments later, quarterback Tyler Fhurong hit Cody Freitas on a 50-yard touchdown pass to put Hollister up 6-0 with five minutes left in the quarter.
Hollister’s defense held West Valley again on its second series, forcing another punt, which was partially blocked by Enrique Rodriguez and recovered by the Vikings at midfield.
Running back Andrew Breen gained 14 yards on a first down sweep and Dylan Yamasaki, who had 51 yards rushing on just five carries, broke a 12-yard run to keep the drive alive. Hollister had a scoring chance, but a goal line fumble was recovered in the end zone by West Valley.
Hollister’s defense surrendered no ground on the next drive, forcing a punt that Freitas returned 10 yards to the West Valley 30-yard line. Running back Christopher Cook then took a handoff from Fhurong and weaved 30 yards to the end zone and later converted the extra-point try on a run to build the Viking lead to 13.
West Valley’s ensuing possession went nowhere, and a fumbled snap on fourth-and-three gave Hollister the ball on their 47-yard line. Yamasaki gained 38 yards on three consecutive carries behind the blocking of offensive linemen Enrique Rodriguez, Daniel Smith, Dustin Borba, Wanblee Sanchez, Jordan Goldstein, Greg Steinbeck and Cody Freitas. Cook gained five more before Fhurong kept the ball himself and ran 14 yards for another score with 7.2 seconds left in the half, putting Hollister up 19-0.
After the kickoff went out of bounds, the Falcons attempted a pass as time expired but Tyler Biersdorff picked it off and took the shutout into the locker room.
In the second half, the Vikings forced another three-and-out and received the ball on their own 45. On the first play from scrimmage, Cook, who totaled 97 yards on the day, scored on a 55-yard run and converted another extra point to put Hollister up 26-0.
On the Falcons’ ensuing possession, Hollister defenders Kenny Lee, Brandon Olivares, Castro and John Lehr had tackles for losses and Wyatt Naccarato had a big hit in a drive that saw West Valley record its initial first down of the game. The Vikings bent but did not break, however, as Greg Steinbeck got the ball back for Hollister when he intercepted a fourth-down pass.
Hollister’s Mavrick Enz had a few carries on the Vikings’ next drive before West Valley got the ball back on downs and scored on a 42-yard touchdown run to make the score 26-8. The Falcons recovered the onside kick, but Cook intercepted on the next play to give the ball back to Hollister.
Brandon Olivares got the bulk of the carries on the Vikings’ final drive and capped it off with a 38-yard touchdown run to extend Hollister’s lead to 32-8 with just over four-and-a-half minutes left.
Junior Midget West Valley Falcons 24 Hollister Vikings 6
The Hollister Junior Midget team had their hands full with the West Valley Falcons on Sunday at Saratoga High School. The Falcons dominated the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense, and Hollister was unable to overcome a 16-0 first-half deficit.
The second half looked promising for the Vikings, as their offense finally started to get into a rhythm. A 25-yard pass from QB Austin Wahl to wide receiver Bryson Hill on third down sparked the offense, followed by another long pass from Wahl to Angel Pasillas that covered 20 yards. Te successful passes loosened up the running game, and long runs by Damien Botelho and Cody Cameron brought them close to the end zone. Fullback Zack Hicks plowed his way through the Falcon line for a 5-yard run to the one-yard line, and then punched in the touchdown on the next play. However, the PAT attempt by Pasillas was blocked.
The Viking offense threatened again later in the fourth quarter after the Vikings recovered a Falcon fumble at midfield. However, West Valley forced Hollister into a fourth-and-long, which ended in a Falcon interception.
On defense, nose guard Austin Tobia and defensive end Benjy DeVries came up with big tackles for Falcon losses, and the Viking secondary kept the Falcon perimeter game in check and held the Falcons to only one score in the second half.
Junior Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 0
West Valley Falcons 0
Both defenses dug in their heels for almost the entire game as neither team even threatened to score for the first three quarters.
Russell Enz, Tommy Ford and Andrew Huaracha stepped up to make big plays to stop West Valley’s first drive, then in the second quarter, Ezzie Lovato forced a big backfield loss to kill another Falcon drive.
Lovato and Cascio combined to smother a West Valley ball carrier on fourth-and-one the third time the Falcons got the ball, and West Valley’s final possession of the half ended with an interception by Kyle George, who returned the ball 20 yards. But West Valley matched Hollister’s defensive heroics, and the first half remained scoreless.
R.J. Clark recovered a fumble for Hollister midway through the third quarter, but the Vikings could not capitalize. Finally, late in the game, a West Valley ball carrier broke loose on a long run down the right sideline. Clark saved a touchdown with a diving tackle, but the Falcons had positioned themselves with a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line with four minutes left.
Lovato, Huaracha, Jose Rodriguez, Clay Schwall and Juan Juarez all contributed tackles that thwarted West Valley’s attempts to push the ball across the goal. Finally on fourth-and-goal, Clark and Cascio took down the ball carrier a yard short of the goal line, as Hollister’s fans went into a frenzy. Now Hollister had to avoid the safety, and quarterback Daniel Hopkins earned the Vikings some breathing room by gaining eight yards on a quarterback keeper. With time running out, Hopkins pitched to Clark, who threw a beautiful halfback option pass to Kyle George.
The play covered 50 yards, putting the ball on Hollister’s 30-yard line with six seconds left, but two long passes were well defended by West Valley, preserving the scoreless tie.
Mitey Mite (Purple)
West Valley Falcons 24
Hollister Vikings 6
The Falcons dominated the first half, keeping the Hollister offense off the field for all but about five minutes, and building up a 12-0 lead.
Hollister’s defense fought valiantly to stop the Falcons in the first quarter as Andres Soto recovered a fumble to end one long West Valley drive, and Nathan Fhurong and Tristan Wahl made two big tackles to stop another. But the Falcons’ relentless running game eventually wore the Hollister defense down.
Soto provided the only Viking offensive sparks with a long kickoff return in the first quarter after the first Falcons score, and a long touchdown run late in the game that denied West Valley a shutout.
Mitey Mite (Gold)
East Palo Alto Greyhounds 18
Hollister Vikings 0
The Mitey Mite Gold Vikings were the only team not to play at Saratoga, but instead clashed with East Palo Alto.
The game began on a high note as the Vikings took the ball and drove right down field, moving quickly on strong outside runs by Tanner Wiggins and inside runs by Dylan Oliveras. But the Greyhound defense dug their heels in to deny the Vikings the opening score on four downs.
East Palo Alto got a long scoring run from their quarterback to take the early lead, but the backbreaker came just before halftime.
The Vikings defense had pinned the Greyhounds near their own goal line thanks to great play on the defensive line by Zachery Serrano, Jacob Ryder and Oliveras, and middle linebacker Antonio Caro. They appeared to have a safety as two Vikings had a grasp on the Greyhound quarterback in the end zone, but he somehow eluded their grip and found an open sideline, running the length of the field for a second Greyhound score just as the half expired.
The second half began much as the first half had with the Vikings embarking on a long drive, but once again, East Palo Alto denied them the end zone as Ryder was tackled at the 2-yard line on fourth down. The Greyhounds scored once more on a long touchdown run, and their defense continued to make timely plays to preserve the shutout.
Tiny Mites
The Tiny Mites also clashed with their West Valley counterparts early on Sunday morning. Javier Valdez provided excitement with a long run, and later completed a pass to Jonathan Ramos. Owen Miller did well containing the outside running game as he made several open-field tackles to save long gains near the right sideline. Matthew Hernandez recovered a fumble, and later on, knocked down the Falcons quarterback, forcing his throw wide.
