Junior Pee Wees and Junior Midgets win sixth in a row
By Mark Neal, Dena Gregory & Justin Vivian
Special to the Free Lance
Two Hollister teams remain unbeaten following Saturday’s home-field action, while three other Viking teams suffered losses. A rundown on all of last weekend’s local Pop Warner action:
Junior Pee Wee: Vikings 34, Mountain View 6
The Junior Pee Wees won their sixth consecutive game, turning in big plays on both sides of the ball.
Mikey Koroluk played like a man on fire in the first half, putting the Vikings on top with a 37-yard touchdown run. Koroluk followed with two interceptions, the second of which he returned for a touchdown, adding a two-point kick to put Hollister on top 14-0. To those exploits he added a 65-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
Hollister opened the second half by scoring in just three plays. First, quarterback Angel Pasillas ran for 15 yards, and then Chris Cook ran 33 yards to the 2. From there, Pasillas connected with Cody Freitas for the touchdown, and then threw to Nick Volore for the extra point.
Mountain View scored on a breakaway run to finally end the Vikings’ streak of 20 consecutive quarters without allowing a score. But Hollister regained the momentum quickly with Koroluk’s 65-yard score.
Defensive heroes abounded for Hollister: Dylan Yamasaki made several tackles in the backfield, and JC Canes, Junior Munguia and Cook also made many big plays for the Vikings. Joshua George broke up a pass play to stop a Marauders’ drive late in the game.
Moments later the Vikings scored an insurance touchdown as Tyler Fhurong threw to George for a 25-yard gain. Cook followed with a 15-yard run to the end zone.
The undefeated Vikings appear headed for the top seed in the postseason as they have already defeated most of the best teams in their division.
Junior Midget Hollister Vikings 28 Mountain View Marauders 7
The Hollister Vikings moved one step closer to an undefeated season with a dominating win against the Mountain View Marauders.
At the outset of the game, it looked as though the Vikings would dominate with defense as Ryan DiSalvo, Justin Raine, Julius Travis, Darin Hopkins, Adrian Soto and Jonathan Huaracha combined to shut down most of the Marauders’ plays.
The Vikings took their first possession near midfield and the scoring began. Gregory Vasquez and Raine took handoffs for back-to-back first downs. Running back Jacob Martin added positive yardage, taking the ball up the middle to inside the 10-yard line. Raine then took the handoff around the left side and in for six points. Tyler Pina’s two-point kick was good and the Vikings were up 8-0.
After the kickoff, the Viking defense took the field and controlled the line of scrimmage with key run-stopping tackles by Nathan Castro, Conner Stevens, Sebastian Valencia and Soto. Hollister took over on the Marauders’ 22.
Quarterback Tyler Decker threw a deep pass to Isaac Navarette, who caught the ball in stride and ran into the end zone for the score. Pina’s kick was good and the Vikings took a 16-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, the Vikings defense stood tall once again with line-penetrating tackles by Stevens, Raine, Soto and Castro that delivered the ball back to the offense.
Running back Mark Neal ran 15 yards around the left side to the Mountain View 1. Following lead blocking by Raine, Neal went over the right side for the score.
On the next series, the Viking defense held, and after defensive lineman Isaiah Quintana recovered a fumble, the offense used long runs by Raine, Castro and Martin to move deep into Marauder territory. From there, Travis took a pitch from Decker around the right side, streaking 23 yards to the end zone to make it 28-0.
Pee Wee Mountain View Marauders 19 Hollister Vikings 8
Hollister’s defense continued to play well, but the Pee Wees fell to 2-4 due to lack of offensive production.
After Austin Wahl threw to Dan Buzzetta for a first-and-goal, Hollister actually got on the board first when Wahl connected with Nate Garza for a 7-yard touchdown. Mark Ponte made the two-point kick, putting the Vikings in front 8-0.
Mountain View answered back with a 24-yard touchdown run.
Hollister got another drive going with strong runs by Jon Espinoza, Raul Suarez and John Hartshorn, but the Marauders stopped the Vikings’ drive on their 12-yard line. The Vikings would never get that close again. Moments later, Mountain View took the lead on a breakaway run that made the score 12-8 at the half.
The Viking defense played well throughout the game as Damian Botelho, Jarrett Barrios, Eddie Munoz, Gabe Garcia, Garrett Avina, Conner Bernal, Garza and Hartshorn made big tackles for the Vikings. Zack Nelson also made a fumble recovery, and a timely tackle by Marcus Darnell stuffed a Mountain View PAT attempt.
Midget East Bay Warriors 33 Hollister Vikings 8
The Hollister Vikings met one of the top-ranked Division I teams, and a predictable result followed.
East Bay jumped on Hollister early for a 12-0 lead, but the Vikings fought back as Brandon Pina passed to Felipe Davila for a 55-yard touchdown strike. Anthony Cecena’s two-point kick made it a 12-8 game.
But East Bay responded by returning a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and never looked back.
The only other highlights for Hollister were several good plays by Ruben Alnas, including a fumble recovery. The Vikings need at least one more win to have a shot at the playoffs.
Mighty Mites Mountain View Marauders 18 Hollister Vikings 6
The Mountain View Marauders snapped a tie in the fourth quarter to win a hard-fought contest.
Mountain View scored early in the game to take a 6-0 lead, but Hollister’s defense dug in to prevent any further damage. Tristan Wahl and Danny Perez broke up pass plays, and Daniel Hopkins made two touchdown-saving tackles.
Coming out for the second half trailing 6-0, the Vikings came alive in the third quarter. Austin Cascio had an impressive 45-yard run into the end zone to put Hollister on the board, tying the game.
The Vikings mounted another drive with solid runs from Tommy Ford, Justin Sanders and Bryan Noble, but Mountain View stopped them short of the goal line.
The Marauders broke the tie in the fourth quarter when they scored on a long touchdown reception.
Behind once again, the Vikings made another valiant attempt to tie the game. With a 30-yard kick return by Aaron Tobia, they were poised to do just that. But the Marauders recovered a fumble and scored an insurance touchdown, putting the game out of Hollister’s reach.
The Tiny Mites took on the Delta Bay Buccaneers. BJ Quintana made a number of great plays on both sides of the ball. He had an early 25-yard run, and then made a 30-yard run into the end zone in the second half. Quintana also had a sack and made some great tackles for Hollister’s defense. Andres Soto also made good runs throughout the game. On defense, Soto and Brody Cascio also made some big tackles for Hollister.
All Hollister teams play at Pacifica this Saturday. The Mighty Mites open play at 10am. Games run all day, with the Midgets kicking off last at 7pm.
