Two Hollister Pop Warner teams are moving onto regional
championships this weekend after winning their league championships
Sunday in Sunnyvale, defeating season-long rivals.
Two Hollister Pop Warner teams are moving onto regional championships this weekend after winning their league championships Sunday in Sunnyvale, defeating season-long rivals.
Jr. Pee Wee Division
Hollister 12, West Bay 8
The Junior Pee Wee Vikings upset the previously undefeated Rams, avenging a bitter defeat to the same team just three weeks earlier.
The Jr. Pee Wee coaching staff spent a great deal of time this season installing confidence in their team and teaching the young players to believe in themselves.
They watched their efforts pay off on Sunday as the team came from behind to win. The Vikings, in a similar fashion to the previous game, found themselves down 8-0 in the first few minutes of the game after an interception.
But the Vikings fought back, stopping West Bay and forcing a punt that was blocked by Issak Ramos to give the Vikings a first down on the Rams 12-yard line. The Vikings couldn’t score despite good field position.
West Bay quickly struck for two first downs, but soon faced a fourth down.
On a fake punt, it looked as if the punter had clear sailing down the right sideline, but Ray Rueda somehow sprinted to the spot and made the tackle short of the first down, giving Hollister the ball in Rams territory.
While the Vikings still could not move the ball, they were winning a field position battle that would eventually turn the game in their favor.
Late in the half, the Rams found themselves again backed up against the Hollister goal line.
Joshua Greenwood and Dustin Rovella combined for a big tackle on third down, giving the Rams a fourth-and-long with just 30 seconds remaining in the half.
Andre Cornell took the short punt and raced 38 yards to the end zone to put Hollister on the board. The kick failed, however, and the Vikings still trailed 8-6.
Rovella came up with an interception in the third quarter, and Ramos, Conner Stevens and Tyler Decker made several big tackles to prevent West Bay gains.
The Viking fans didn’t have much to cheer about in the fourth quarter because West Bay wasn’t giving up much defensively.
With 2:30 remaining in the game, the Vikings got the ball back on their own 25-yard line.
On the first play, they lost five yards, and on the second play, they gained nothing.
On third down, offensive coordinator Doug Noble called for a fake reverse, power sweep to the right side.
Cornell broke several tackles and, after a great block by Mikey Soto, tight roped down the right side line for the 80-yard touchdown.
That gave the Vikings the 12-8 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
West Bay recovered the onside kick. But the Viking defense again came up big.
Greenwood stuffed a run behind the line of scrimmage, and Ryan Disalvo broke through for a quarterback sack.
Then Cornell used his speed on defense to contain an outside run, forcing a fourth-and-long passing situation.
Joshua Greenwood deflected the pass to give the Hollister Jr. Pee Wee’s the league championship.
Pee Wee Division
Hollister 14, Los Gatos 6
Coming into the game, the Los Gatos Panthers were the only team to score against the Pee Wee Vikings this year. They rolled to a 7-1 league record this season, beating many teams with a weapon few others have at this level – the deep pass.
The Hollister secondary of Ryan Shorey, Mitchell Cook, Evan McFadden and Brandon Pina played the pass well all day long and helped the team win the championship.
Hollister got on the board first in the game after Evan McFadden recovered a muffed punt to give the ball back to his team.
Hollister drove downfield, scoring when Cook caught a pass from Trevor Fabing to put the Vikings up 6-0.
Los Gatos evened the score in the second quarter, completing one of only two long bombs.
Bryan Garza and the Hollister front line did a good job at stopping the run to allow the secondary to concentrate full time on the receivers.
Michael Murphy, Kyle Vallejo and the rest of the defensive line put pressure on the Los Gatos passer.
Ryan Shorey came up with the team’s first interception to stop a critical Los Gatos drive.
The offensive line of Joshua Villegas, Taylor Green, Nick Acosta, Justin Reynolds, Ryan Sabbatini, Garza and Vallejo started opening up holes in the line, allowing several good gains by McFadden, Pina, and Armando Lerma.
On a fourth-and-short play, McFadden accelerated through a gaping hole in the middle of the line and ran untouched for 30 yards into the end zone to give Hollister the lead.
Michael Murphy added the two-point kick, and the Vikings had an eight point margin at 14-6.
Cook intercepted a pass to give Hollister the ball back. On the next drive, Cook broke up two passes in a row to stop Los Gatos.
Los Gatos got the ball back on a quick punt. On fourth down, the Panthers tried a screen pass, but Bryan Garza was there to meet the receiver at the line of scrimmage with about a minute remaining.
Midget Division
Cambrian Valley 27, Hollister 0
The Hollister Cowboys have been the hottest team in the league in recent weeks, winning their last four games, and five of their last six to win a berth in the league championship game.
But they ran into a team on Sunday night that has been hot for two years and refused to be fazed by the over-achieving Cowboys.
Cambrian Valley put an end to Hollister’s season, advancing to the regionals with a convincing 27-0 win.
The Longhorns defense was able to stop the Cowboys, shutting them down for most of the contest except for a few complete passes.
Hollister’s defense, led by David Delacruz, Tyler Ruiz and Jaime Driskill, made some big plays to stop Cambrian Valley drives.
But they were simply on the field too long not to allow some points.
The two league champions will now travel to Fairfield to play for the right to represent the Western Region in the national championships in Florida.
To earn that honor will require two wins – first against the Nevada state champions next Saturday and then a win over the Northern California champions Thanksgiving weekend.
For directions and times, go to eteamz.com/hollisterpopwarner.
