The Archbishop Mitty Monarchs (3-0) seamlessly defeated the Palo Alto Vikings (1-1) by a score of 35-13 on Friday night at Foothill College in the KTVU High School Game of the Week.

The relentless Mitty running game racked up a total of 221 yards on the night, led by a strong performance from captain and running back DJ Bush('10).

"I think we were just too aggressive for [Palo Alto] to handle," Bush said.

Archbishop Mitty head coach Matt Haniger added that he was happy with his team's performance.

"The kids hit," he said. "That's the bottom line."

On the other side of the ball, Palo Alto was nearly silent for most of the night.

Quarterback Christoph Bono ('11) was 17 for 26 for 211 yards and two touchdowns. However, costly turnovers plagued the Vikings throughout the night. Bono threw three interceptions, while Paly's offense fumbled three times.

"We played slowly and had too many turnovers," Bono said. "We got into a rhythm [at the end], but it was a little late."

With the score in Mitty's favor by a count of 14-0 at halftime, Palo Alto was still within striking distance.

"We need Christoph to play better and he knows it," assistant coach Jake Halas said at halftime. "We all just need to play better. There's no surprises here."

However, the second half did not start the way Halas had hoped. Paly's first possession proved fruitless, and Bono was forced to punt. Mitty then received a bit of luck as Paly defensive end Kevin Anderson ('11) forced a fumble, which was scooped up by Bush and taken back 60 yards for a Mitty touchdown to put the score at 21-0.

After another touchdown on an eight yard scramble by Mitty quarterback Kyle Boehm ('11), Paly found itself down by four touchdowns. Finally, the Viking offense responded. After a nice 11 yard completion from Bono to wideout Joc Pederson ('10) on third and long. The duo connected again on the very next play, with Pederson catching on a pass from Bono. Pedersen got past two defensive backs and into the end zone for a 54 yard score, getting Paly on the board.

Pederson added another 51 yard touchdown reception with 9:04 minutes left in the game to add to his previous one. However, the running game simply was not there for the Vikings. Paly gained just 25 yards in 21 plays on the ground.

The Vikings lacked the skilled blocking of injured senior Troy Boyland.

"He's [Troy] hurting the run game for sure," Halas said. "We need him in the run game."

Later in the fourth quarter, Bono's third interception set up another Bush touchdown rush with 35 seconds remaining, to put the game away.

"We didn't come out to play hard," Paly head coach Earl Hansen said. "We assumed that we could win."

Paly will look to get back in the win column next Friday back on its home field against Gilroy at 7:30 p.m.