Junior Midgets, Pee Wees close season with convincing wins;
registration opens for 2009
HOLLISTER
The Hollister Vikings will field only two playoff teams this year, but they are two good ones.
Both the Pee Wees and Junior Midgets won by convincing margins in their final regular season games to finish the season at 7-1 and 6-2, respectively. The Pee Wees have earned a first-round playoff bye, and the Junior Midgets will play the lowest seeded team next weekend. A rundown on all this weekend’s games:
Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 34
Gilroy Browns 6
The Hollister Vikings Pee Wee football team completed their regular season with a 34-6 thumping of the Gilroy Browns on Saturday, and now take their impressive 7-1 record into the playoffs.
Billed by the Gilroy announcer as “The Baby Prune Bowl,” the game began with the Browns advancing the ball into Hollister territory before the Vikings forced a turnover on downs. Josh George, Dylan Yamasaki, Brandon Olivares, Tyler Fhurong and Cody Freitas had tackles on the drive.
Hollister’s Chris Cook broke off a 16-yard run on the Vikings’ first play and Fhurong hit Freitas with a 33-yard pass to get the ball to the Gilroy 36. Yamasaki then ran for nine yards and Olivares sprinted down the right sideline for 24 before Cook punched in the ball on second-and-goal to put Hollister up 6-0.
Gilroy started its next drive on the 50 and gained two first downs before Tyler Biersdorff broke up a fourth-and-16 pass attempt to give the ball back to the Vikings.
Hollister was forced to punt after its next series, and Freitas’s 44-yard boot pinned the Browns deep in their own territory. Gilroy punted it back after not gaining a first down, and after an Olivares five-yard run, Fhurong ran 13 yards for the score to put Hollister up 14-0 after a successful two-point conversion kick.
Brian Noble joined Freitas and Yamasaki on the tackle tally to stop Gilroy again as time wound down in the half.
In the second half, Freitas ran for 11 yards after a direct snap in Hollister’s first possession. Yamasaki then broke off a 34-yard touchdown run to put the Vikings up 22-0 just 40 seconds into the half after Olivares made another two-point conversion kick.
Olivares recovered a Gilroy fumble on second down and after Freitas ran for five, Olivares four and Yamasaki six, Freitas broke off a 46-yard touchdown scamper to bump Hollister’s lead to 28-0.
Yamasaki ran 30 yards on four carries during the Vikings final scoring drive, and Fhurong and Cook each ran for first downs before Josh George scored from the 17 to put Hollister up for good, 34-6.
Gilroy’s last chance to score was thwarted when Mavrick Enz picked off the Browns’ pass as time expired.
Junior Midget
Hollister Vikings 30
Tri-Cities Titans 0
The Hollister Junior Midget Vikings rebounded with a vengeance after last week’s loss to Santa Clara, shutting out the Tri-Cities Titans 30-0. The Viking defense was especially impressive, putting up two of the Vikings’ four touchdowns and keeping the Titans from sustaining any long drives. The Viking offense continued to use their solid running game to pound the defensive line and rack up time of possession.
“It was a good game for us to win, and although we weren’t perfect, I thought we looked strong,” head coach Eddie Tobia said. “We had a couple of good practices this past week, and it showed in the way we played. Offense, defense, special teams – it’s all coming together, and just in time for playoffs.”
Although the Vikings rushed for 143 yards in the game, they looked a bit shaky in their first two possessions, which ended in interceptions.
“We were doing too much stuff on the perimeter and getting ourselves into long yardage situations,” offensive coordinator Rick Dukes said. “and those are not the kind of situations we want to be in. Once we started running the ball right at them, we settled down and did a pretty good job of moving the ball.”
The first score of the game was, in fact, a defensive score as defensive end Damien Botelho intercepted a Titan pass and ran it back 58 yards for a touchdown. Angel Pasillas kicked the point-after and the Vikings led, 8-0.
After the Viking defense stopped the Titans on fourth down, the offense took over on the Titan 42-yard line. After carries by Cody Cameron and Botelho, fullback Zack Hicks took off for a 37-yard run, making a nice cut downfield for a touchdown. John Canes converted the point-after, putting the Vikings up, 16-0.
In the second half, the Viking defense again kept the Titans from gaining any momentum, and a shanked punt by the Titans gave the Vikings excellent field position on the Titan 28-yard line. Cameron sped past defenders for a 27-yard run to the 1-yard line, and on the next play Pasillas pushed his way to the end zone to increase the Viking lead to 24.
The Titans’ next possession ended when safety Austin Wahl made an interception, giving the ball back to the Vikings on the Hollister 42-yard line. Five different running backs contributed on the drive, which put the ball deep into Titan territory. The drive came up short, with an incomplete pass on fourth down, but the Viking defense came up strong and recovered a fumble on the 5-yard line. This time on fourth down the Vikings attempted a field goal, but a high snap foiled their attempt.
Still, the Viking defense did not give up, and when the Titans went back to pass, Botelho came up with a big sack that forced a fumble. Tackle Luis Aceves scooped it up and scored the fourth touchdown of the game. Since the Vikings were ahead by more than 28 points, no point-after was attempted and the score stood at 30-0.
“We always teach our linemen to scoop and score on defense,” line coach Radar Canes said. “Sometimes the guys just want to fall on it, but if there’s an opportunity to move the ball, then they’re taught to do that. I’m happy Aceves didn’t hesitate and just picked up the ball and ran with it.”
“We may face this team next week in playoffs,” Dukes added. “It’s hard to beat a team twice, so we’ll have to work really hard this week in practice. I don’t want us to get over-confident with this win. We’ll look at the film, see what we did well and what we need to work on, and we’ll be ready to face them again.”
Junior Pee Wee
Tri-Cities Titans 12
Hollister Vikings 7
The Viking defense was spectacular, but the Hollister offense couldn’t move the ball. As a result, the Tri-Cities Titans scored a last-minute touchdown to eliminate the Junior Pee Wees from post-season play.
Tri-Cities struck early on a long run, but Andrew Sotelo smothered the holder on the point-after attempt and the Tri-Cities lead was 6-0.
The Hollister defense stepped it up dramatically the next time it stepped on the field, sensing that they would need to force the breaks if the Vikings were to prevail. Several good tackles by Sotelo, Matthew Rabago, Andrew Huaracha and RJ Clark threw Tri-Cities into reverse.
Early in the second quarter, the Vikings offense finally struck as Clark hit Daniel Hopkins on a 55-yard scoring strike on a fourth-and-11 play to tie the game. Clark threw to Austin Cascio in the end zone for the one-point conversion, and the Vikings had a 7-6 lead they would keep for most of the contest.
Hollister’s defensive heroics continued for almost three quarters. Sotelo intercepted a Titans pass on Tri-Cities’ first possession after Hollister took the lead. The next time the Titans got the ball, Jose Rodriguez stripped it from a runner and recovered it.
Hollister’s offense still could not move the ball, meaning the defense had to stay on the field most of the time. And more often than not, the Titans had a short field to work with.
Nevertheless, the Viking defense seemed impenetrable. When the Titans drove in the third quarter, Marcus Flores contributed a big tackle, and then Cascio and Kyle George conspired to break up a pass play, ending the threat.
Two other times, the Vikings stopped Tri-Cities in Hollister territory, including an open-field tackle by Cascio on a breakaway runner, and the Vikings got the ball on their 15-yard line with four minutes remaining.
Two first downs were all that they would need to run out the clock. It looked like they had one on the very first play as Sotelo broke loose on an end run and a 15-yard gain. But the play was called back for holding, and the Vikings found themselves on their own 7.
The Titans defense clamped down and forced a punt, giving the Titans the ball back on the Vikings 25. It looked as if the one-point lead would hold as Tommy Ford came up with a big sack on the first play. But Tri-Cities finally managed to complete a pass, which gave them a first down. Then their halfback got around the left end against a tired and overworked defense for a first-and-goal at the 5. Three plays later, with only 45 seconds left on the clock, the Titans plunged in for the game-winning score.
The game put an end to a disappointing 2-5-1 season for the Viking Junior Pee Wees, especially in light of the fact that last year’s Junior Pee Wees were national champions. Still, the coaching staff can take pride in the fact that they had one of the league’s best defenses, and many of the Viking players will return for another year at this level next season. With a little more speed and agility added to the offense, the Junior Pee Wees could prove unstoppable in 2009.
Mitey Mite Purple
Tri-Cities Titans 18
Hollister Vikings 2
The Mitey Mites took on a powerful Tri-Cities team on Saturday that has only allowed two touchdowns for the entire season. The Vikings defense held them in check, but Tri-Cities’ dominant defense completely smothered the Hollister attack, and the Titans prevailed by an 18-2 score.
The Vikings made many outstanding defensive plays, including big backfield tackles by Joey DiMaggio and Hunter Nye. Michael Casarez also forced a fumble with a huge hit, and Nye and other Vikings collaborated for Hollister’s lone points on a safety late in the game.
In light of the team that they were playing, coach Buzzetta was also very pleased with the play of his white offense, which controlled the ball during their plays on the field. Cade Fhurong directed that unit at quarterback, and running backs Tristan Wahl and Christian Leyba had some good gains.
The closest the Vikings got to scoring was when Nathan Fhurong returned the third-quarter kickoff into Tri-Cities territory. But the Titans were able to contain that threat, and Hollister never again got close to the end zone.
Mitey Mite Gold
Salinas Cardinals 30
Hollister Vikings 0
Hollister’s Mitey Mite Gold team fell to an undefeated Cardinal team that seemed invincible on Saturday. Jonny Gonzalez, Marcus Guevara, Tanner Wiggins and Zachery Serrano made several big tackles to stop Cardinal drives, but ultimately they could only slow down the big red machine as the Cardinals rolled to a 30-0 win.
Tiny Mites
The Tiny Mite Vikings also took on the Titans in Newark on Saturday, where Javier Valdez made several long runs, including one for 80 yards. Ernesto Sanchez turned in several spectacular tackles on defense, as did Isaias Rivera.
Both Hollister Mitey Mite teams have been invited to participate in bowl games in Salinas next Saturday afternoon. The Gold team kicks off at 1 p.m., the Purple team at 3 p.m. Hollister’s Junior Midgets’ first round playoff game will be on Sunday at Oak Grove High School and will feature a rematch with this week’s opponent, Tri-Cities. Hollister Pop Warner has also opened registration to all players and cheerleaders for the 2009 season. Those who are interested may download the form from their Web site, and mail it into the organization. The Hollister Pop Warner Web site is:
http://www.eteamz.com/HollisterPopWarner/.
