Louie Aceves prepares to lower the boom on a Santa Clara ball carrier during the Hollister Vikings 24-12 victory over the Wildcats on Sunday in a Division I playoff game. The Junior Midget Vikings advanced to the league championship game with the win.
Hollister Viking Junior Midget quarterback Austin Wahl prepares to fire a pass downfield as Damien Botelho (#9) provides protection from an onrushing Santa Clara defender. The Vikings won 24-12 to advance to the league championship game.
Brandon Olivares charges through an open hole for a good gain during a Pop Warner semifinal playoff game on Saturday. The Pee Wee Vikings won 36-12 to advance to the league championship game.
Hollister Vikings Bryan Noble (#52), Cody Freitas (#11) and Dylan Yamasaki (#21) gang-tackle a Coyote Creek ball carrier during their 36-12 semifinal playoff win on Saturday. The Vikings will now play for the league championship against a team from Oakland.
For the first time in their history, the Hollister Vikings will send two teams to the league championship games in Pop Warner's highest level of play, Division I.
Division I play is usually limited to teams from big cities with huge populations. More often than not, Division I associations field several teams at each level of play so that the very best players in their territory can be put on one team.
Hollister has no such advantage, representing a town of only 40,000. But with superior coaching and management, the Vikings have shown this year that they can compete with the best in youth football.
This weekend, the Pee Wees won a convincing semifinal victory over Coyote Creek, while the Junior Midgets triumphed over the legendary Santa Clara Lions.
Junior Midget
Hollister Vikings 24, Santa Clara Wildcats 12
It was an exciting semifinal playoff game at Santa Clara's Townsend Field on Sunday afternoon, a rematch between the Junior Midget Vikings and the Santa Clara Wildcats. In Week 7 of the season, the two teams had faced off in Hollister and the Wildcats handed the Vikings their second loss of the season. This time, however, the Vikings were ready for the Wildcats and succeeded in dramatic fashion as they avenged their loss to Santa Clara.
"We were happy to face them again, especially since they had beaten us last time," head coach Eddie Tobia said. "We had two weeks to prepare for them. We were ready, and the kids came to play."
"We're continually working on our running game, and it showed today," said offensive coordinator Rick Dukes, whose running backs rushed for 247 yards. "Angel (Pasillas), Cody (Cameron), Zack (Hicks) and Damien (Botelho) have been doing it for us all season, and today they all had great games."
All four running backs rushed for over 40 yards each, with Cameron leading the team with 80 yards on seven carries and one touchdown. The defensive line of Luis Aceves, Tyler Tobia, Austin Tobia, Morgan Worsham, Benjy DeVries and Botelho worked hard to hold the Wildcats to just two scores.
The game started off well for Hollister, with Santa Clara going three-and-out in the first possession of the game. Hollister returned the punt and began their first offensive possession on the Santa Clara 40-yard line.
The Vikings' first play, a counter play where the halfback Cameron handed the ball off to wingback Angel Pasillas, went the distance for a touchdown after a nice lead block at the point of attack by tight end Damon Perez and crucial blocks downfield by receiver Darius Medina and quarterback Austin Wahl. John Canes kicked the point-after, putting the Vikings up, 8-0.
"It was a well-executed play," Dukes said. "Everyone did what they were supposed to do, and it just popped."
Santa Clara responded with a long drive down the field, resulting in a touchdown. However, they missed their point-after attempt, and the score stood at 8-6, Vikings.
Both teams traded three-and-outs, and Hollister began its second scoring drive on their own 17-yard line. Hollister put together a 13-play drive, including a 50-yard touchdown run that was called back for holding. The Vikings chunked it out against the Wildcats, with five different backs carrying the ball and one pass from Wahl to Pasillas. Hollister finally scored on a 20-yard run by fullback Damien Botelho. Canes again converted the point-after attempt, and the Vikings led 16-6 at halftime.
In the second half, Santa Clara got the ball on the Viking 30-yard line after a shanked punt. Taking a lot of time off of the clock, the Wildcats took eight plays to go 30 yards and score their second touchdown of the game. A bad snap on the point-after resulted in a tackle for loss, with the score at 16-12, Hollister.
Hollister began moving the ball on offense again, but stalled at midfield. The Vikings went for it on fourth down, but the Wildcat defense was ready and stopped them short of the first-down marker. The Wildcats took over and began the fourth quarter by running the ball up the middle and off-tackle, using their big and fast running backs to keep the Viking defense on its heels.
Tyler Tobia came up big for the Vikings when, on the eighth play of the drive, he saved a touchdown by tackling the Santa Clara running back on the 3-yard line. This set up a nail-biting goal line stand for the Vikings.
Santa Clara, which had successfully run up the middle for most of the drive, now tried three times to punch it in for a touchdown, but was stymied each time by the defense. On fourth down, the entire Viking crowd held its breath as the Wildcats tried a toss out to the left side. Perez was the first Viking to meet the running back, and a host of Vikings piled on to tackle the ball carrier for a one-yard loss to end the Wildcats' drive.
Addressing the team after the game, defensive coordinator Mike Hicks said, "You guys almost made me cry with that goal line stand!"
Even an Oak Grove South coach, who was scouting the game, remarked, "Wow, I didn't think they'd do it. I thought we'd be playing Santa Clara next week. The [Viking] defense came up huge."
With just over five minutes left on the clock, Hollister began its last offensive drive from its own 4-yard line.
"I wanted to just run out the clock and win the game," Dukes said, "but they still had a timeout left so we had to keep moving the chains."
And move the chains they did, with Hicks and Botelho alternating carries to move the ball up the Hollister 45-yard line. On a sweep to the left, Cameron took off 55 yards to seal the Viking victory with their third touchdown of the game. Canes again did the honors on the point-after, and Hollister went up 24-12.
"We kept pounding the strong side, and when I saw the free safety come up to blitz, I knew it was time to run Cody [Cameron] around the weak side," Dukes said. "I really did just want to run the clock out, but scoring was nice."
With 1:40 left in the game, Pasillas' kick-off went into the end zone for the second time that afternoon, and the Wildcats could not come back.
"We've been waiting all season to play Oak Grove South," Tobia said. "This is what it's all about."
Added Hicks, "I want this next game. We want the championship. After that, it's all gravy."
"It's definitely going to be a tough game," Dukes said, "but I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a challenge, and that's always exciting. They're fast and they've got athletes, but we've got heart and if we play smart, we'll make a good game of it. It should be fun to watch."
Pee Wee
Hollister Vikings 36, Coyote Creek Wildcats 6
The Hollister Vikings Pee Wee football team advanced to the Division I championship game with a convincing 36-14 win over Coyote Creek at Santa Clara's Townsend Field on Sunday.
The Vikings, which feature many players from last year's Division II Junior Pee Wee national championship squad, were 7-1 on the year entering the contest.
It got on the board first against Coyote Creek (6-2) after recovering an onside kick to start the game. Quarterback Tyler Fhurong hit Josh George on a 12-yard completion on first down and after a 15-yard Chris Cook scamper, Fhurong connected with Cody Freitas for nine yards to put the ball in the red zone.
On third-and-eight, Cook sprinted up the middle for a 15-yard gain to put the ball at the 1, and then carried the ball to paydirt on the next down to put Hollister up, 6-0.
Coyote Creek answered on its first possession, scoring on a short touchdown plunge to tie the game.
A long Hollister drive ended the first quarter and continued into the second, but the Vikings turned the ball over on downs. Dylan Yamasaki and Freitas each had two tackles on Coyote Creek's next drive, which ended in a punt.
Hollister faced two fourth downs the next time it touched the ball, but the running game kept the drive alive until Brandon Olivares made a diving six-yard touchdown catch, then converted the two-point kick to put his team up 14-6 with 33 seconds left in the half.
After Kenny Lee burst through the line to stop Coyote Creek for a loss of five on first down, Yamasaki's hit forced a fumble as time expired in the half and Freitas picked up the ball near midfield and ran it in for a 50-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock. Olivares converted another two-point kick to give Hollister a comfortable 22-6 lead entering the locker room.
With offensive coordinator Todd Freitas reminding the team that "this is not done" as they prepared to start the second half, Hollister came out strong as Cody Freitas returned the kickoff 30 yards after being sprung by blocks from Cook and Enrique Rodriguez.
After an unsuccessful direct snap, Hollister gave the ball to Freitas for a seven-yard gain, then Olivares scored his second touchdown of the day on a 21-yard run. His conversion kick stretched the Vikings' lead to 30-6.
When Coyote Creek got the ball back, Olivares made a tackle for a loss and Freitas and Jordan Goldstein combined for another tackle for negative yardage before Cook caught an errant pass and ran it back 35 yards for a touchdown to make the score 36-6.
Hollister's Russell Enz, Brandon Noble, Tyler Biersdorff, Philip Castro, Andrew Breen and Greg Steinbeck all had tackles on Coyote Creek's final drive of the game, which ended with a short touchdown run and two-point conversion to make the score 36-14.
The Vikings then ran out the clock and celebrated their win, which sets up a rematch this coming weekend with undefeated East Bay East, the only team to beat the Vikings this year.
Both the Pee Wees and the Junior Midgets have dates with destiny on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Woodside High School in Redwood City. The Pee Wee game starts at 2 p.m. and the Junior Midgets kickoff at 4 p.m.
The Vikings would like to encourage the entire city of Hollister to come out and support our local teams as they compete for a league title. They also would like to remind the community that for those who wish to play football or cheer in 2009, now is the time to sign up.
Hollister has many talented and experienced coaches who already can't wait to lead the next group of boys and girls to league championships. Hollister Pop Warner registration continues to be open 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/
Tom Vivian Got a question or a comment? Send us an email.
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Best in the bus business, again
