A pair of teams from the Hollister Vikings Pop Warner program
found their offense on Saturday, and were victorious against teams
from Salinas and East Bay. Two others, the Junior Midgets and
Midgets, drew unexpected byes when their Salinas counterparts were
unable to field a full squad due to many ill players.
HOLLISTER
A pair of teams from the Hollister Vikings Pop Warner program found their offense on Saturday, and were victorious against teams from Salinas and East Bay. Two others, the Junior Midgets and Midgets, drew unexpected byes when their Salinas counterparts were unable to field a full squad due to many ill players.
A rundown on the day’s action:
Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 12, Salinas Cardinal 6
In the day’s most exciting contest, the Pee Wees twice thwarted Salinas’ attempts at a game-winning drive to prevail 12-6.
Salinas moved the ball well in their first possession of the game, but a big backfield tackle by Austin Cascio thwarted their first drive. The Cardinal went into punt formation, but Steven Gatto blocked the kick squarely and it deflected into the arms of Tyler Biersdorff, who returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.
The Hollister defense continued to step up and make big plays as Ezzie Lovato made a backfield tackle to stop Salinas’ next thrust. The Vikings offense, thus far scoreless for the season, began to show signs of life when Daniel Hopkins completed a pass for 35 yards to Adrian Valdez, but Salinas stopped that drive on the 26-yard line.
The defense continued to bend but not break throughout the first half as Hopkins, Austin Ryder and Colby Noble made big backfield tackles to stop various Cardinal possessions, and Matthew Rabago broke up a pass play.
Salinas began to move the ball early in the second half, completing a couple of passes, but Rabago intercepted the next aerial to end that threat. The Hollister offense then mounted its first sustained drive of the season as good runs by Lovato and Biersdorff brought the ball into Salinas territory.
Knowing that Salinas was now expecting the run, Hopkins fired the ball downfield again and found Austin Ryder for a 25-yard gain. The Cardinal defense stiffened in the red zone, but on fourth-and-one, Austin Cascio took the ball outside, finding an open lane, and ran 13 yards to paydirt for Hollister’s first offensive touchdown of the season.
The 12-0 lead appeared to be insurmountable as the Vikings defense had not yet been scored on this season. But Salinas geared up their passing game again, moving the ball into the Vikings red zone.
Hollister’s defense stiffened once more as Andrew Huaracha and Evan Weatherly sacked the quarterback on first down, and both players combined to stop a draw play on the next snap. Salinas returned to the air, but Cascio and Kyle George broke up the third-down pass play, and a badly overthrown pass ended the Cardinal threat on the 9-yard line.
Not wanting to take any chances on giving Salinas a short field to work with, offensive co-coordinator Johnny Turpin ordered another pass play, and Hopkins hooked up with Valdez again for a 30-yard gain. Now comfortably stationed at midfield, the Vikings tried to run time off the clock but Salinas held fast and forced a punt with three minutes remaining. Salinas completed a long pass play for a touchdown and suddenly the score was 12-6.
The onside kick was recovered by the Cardinal, and they quickly moved the ball towards the Hollister end zone. But Lovato made the Vikings’ second interception of the game to end that drive. The Vikings tried to run out the clock, but a fumble gave Salinas one more opportunity. Philip Castro made three tackles in succession to force fourth down as the clock was running out, and a desperation pass to the end zone was batted down by Rabago to end the game, and start the Pee Wees league season out on the right foot.
Junior Pee Wee (Purple)
Hollister Vikings 21, East Bay Wranglers 13
The Vikings built a 14-0 lead, then held on to survive a fourth-quarter East Bay onslaught.
Hollister took the momentum early as Marcos Flores recovered a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, and running backs Kyle Cameron and Shraee Harrison both ripped off long chunks of yardage on the Vikings first drive, using both the inside and outside lanes to move the ball to the East Bay 3. From there, Harrison ran to paydirt, and added the extra point on a run to make it 7-0 Vikings.
Hollister’s defensive dominance continued as Cameron broke into the backfield to force and recover another Wrangler fumble. But this time, the Wranglers contained Hollister’s running game and found some offense of their own as East Bay moved the ball downfield for a red zone first down. But Hollister’s defense stiffened again as Tanner Okerson and Jacob Ryder made big tackles, leaving East Bay with a fourth-and-long. A Wranglers runner broke away from the pack, headed for the goal, but Cameron made an open-field tackle to stop him short of both the goal and the first down to end the threat.
East Bay began the second half as it had ended the first – driving the ball. But the defense rose up again as several Vikings broke into the backfield, causing a fumble that was recovered by Nick Trimble. Hollister’s drive was stopped short of the goal, but the Vikings got the ball back quickly as Travis Roy recovered yet another East Bay fumble, and Hollister was in business at the Wranglers 40.
Ryder ran 13 yards for a first down, and two plays later, Harrison scored from 19 yards out to make the score 14-0 after Cameron’s extra-point run.
It appeared to be enough points to guarantee victory as East Bay had not scored in the first seven quarters of the season. But as the fourth quarter began, the Wrangler’s offense suddenly sprung to life. Three long runs gave them their first score of the season, and they now trailed by only seven points with seven minutes remaining in the game.
But East Bay’s hopes were short-lived as Harrison scored his third touchdown of the game, breaking a 59-yard run on the Vikings first play from scrimmage to make it 21-7. While the Wranglers didn’t give up so easily, as they broke another long run, Nathan Fhurong made a touchdown-saving tackle at the East Bay 25, and the Vikings defense stiffened again as Ryder, Okerson and Flores made big stops to make it fourth-and-nine.
As East Bay broke another long run to make it 21-13 with 2:22 remaining, Hollister recovered the onside kick and was able to run out the clock to preserve victory over last year’s Division I league champions.
Junior Pee Wee (Gold)
Salinas Cardinal 21, Hollister Vikings 6
The Vikings defense recovered five fumbles, but it wasn’t enough as Salinas mounted three impressive second-half drives to win the game.
Hollister recovered fumbles the first two times the Cardinal touched the ball, but couldn’t convert either opportunity. Salinas could not move as well, though, as linebackers Hunter Nye and David San Miguel led a defensive charge that smothered the Cardinal offense.
After taking over on downs, quarterback San Miguel took the ball and ran 36 yards for a Hollister touchdown. Tristan Wahl turned in two big tackles to force a punt on the next Salinas possession, and Joey Demaggio put the icing on the cake by sacking the punter, giving Hollister the ball deep in Salinas territory.
But the Cardinal defense held fast, refusing to allow a second score. By halftime, the Vikings had recorded their sixth consecutive scoreless quarter, and Salinas had yet to get a first down in the game. It appeared six points just might be enough, as it had been the previous week, and when the Cardinal finally got a first down on an outside run as the second half began, Dylan Olivares recovered a fumble to end the Salinas momentum.
But the Cardinal shut down Hollister’s offense as well, and nearly blocked a punt, forcing a sideways kick that gave them the ball in good field position. Nye recovered Salinas’ fourth fumble of the game to keep the shutout going, however, but Hollister’s luck ran out quickly as the Salinas defense pushed Hollister backwards on three successive plays, taking the ball over on the Hollister 12-yard line.
Salinas scored on a 12-yard run to go up 7-6 after the extra point, then recovered the kickoff. The Cardinal scored again to make it 14-6 as the third quarter ended.
Salinas’ fumble problem seemed to be contagious as the Vikings fumbled again when they got the ball back, but this time the defense stood up as Tristan Wahl made several open-field tackles to prevent another Salinas score.
Salinas did finally get an insurance touchdown late in the game. The Vikings never gave up as San Miguel returned the kickoff 40 yards, and Olivares ran 25 yards for a first down behind the blocking of Eric Loredo, but an interception ended that drive to make the final score 21-6.
Mighty Mite (Gold)
Redwood City 49ers 18, Hollister Vikings 6
Hollister’s defense played extremely well in the first half as Cade Neece made a big backfield tackle to stop one Redwood City drive in the first quarter, but the 49ers also capitalized on a Hollister miscue, stealing the ball away from an unsuspecting runner to take an early 6-0 lead.
The Vikings defense tried to make up as Christopher Leist made a big tackle to stop one play, then intercepted a pass on the next when Sean Nelson pressured the 49er quarterback. But Redwood City scored another defensive touchdown on another ball grab midway through the second quarter, and scored again on a breakaway run moments later to take a commanding 18-0 lead.
Hollister’s defense continued to play well as Kane DeAlba forced a fumble that was recovered by Ernesto Sanchez. As the third quarter began, Sanchez pounced on another loose ball, and the offense appeared poised to capitalize as Sanchez, Jonathan Gonzalez and Leist all had good runs to move the ball into Redwood City territory. But the drive was stopped short, and Redwood City got the ball back.
Hollister’s defense proved to be impenetrable, and a good punt return by Sanchez gave Hollister the ball in 49er territory. Cade Neece completed a pass to Nelson for 12 yards, then ran for 7 yards on a keeper for a first down at the Redwood City 12.
Sanchez broke off a 9-yard run to the 3, then scored from the 1 moments later for the Vikings’ first touchdown of the season. Blaze McShane recovered a fumble on the 49ers next series, but the Vikings could not score again.
Mighty Mite (Purple)
Salinas Cardinal 24, Hollister Vikings 0
Salinas rolled over the Hollister Mighty Mites, which were not able to generate much offense.
The game would have been even more lopsided had it not been for some booming punts by Andrew Hoefling, who ensured that Salinas would not get the ball in Viking territory. Hoefling also made several good tackles.
The defensive highlight of the day came in the second quarter when Javier Valdez and Owen Miller broke into the backfield to stop a Salinas drive on the 2-yard line.
Hollister teams now embark on a two-week road trip. Most Viking teams will play Santa Cruz next Saturday. The cheerleaders also have their annual jamboree on Sunday at Independence High School in San Jose.
