The Paly varsity football team defeated Carlmont, 33-7, in its season opener on Sept. 9.

"I’m thrilled for the game plus the upcoming season," said Kira Cohen, 11 years old, one of the hundreds of people cheering in the stands.

The Paly team was psyched at the beginning of the game.

"We’ve got a young team, but we’ll come out strong," said Paly assistant coach Steve Foug.

It was no different 160 feet on the other side of the field.

"We got our guys really fired up," said Carlmont assistant coach Marcus Farhad.

The Paly teachers were just as passionate.

"They’re enthusiastic and so fired up. I see Will Frazier and Roger Prince every day and they are very pumped up," said Jeff Billing, a Paly math teacher and cross-country coach.

Of great interest was how junior Nick Goodspeed would make his debut as head of the young squad.

"Goodspeed is stepping up and taking charge," said Paly senior center and defensive end Cameron Savaree-Reuss. "He’s got good running backs plus a good all around group, and the juniors have a lot of energy to contribute."

Goodspeed’s young season seemed already over after he injured his ankle in the process of being hit with 1.5 seconds left in the first half. However, he shook it off and came right back into the game in the Viking’s first drive in the second half.

According to Stacey Kofman, the athletic trainer for the Vikings, it was just a bruise.

"He’s fine. It looked worse than it was," Kofman said. "As far as we know, he’ll be fine for the season."

The first two drives of the game set the tone as Goodspeed threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to culminate a 10-play, 70 yard drive.

Motivated by an early lead, the Paly defense put the pressure on Carlmont senior quarterback Tony Houseal as Paly junior defensive back Maurice Williams came up with an interception to the delight of an electrified crowd.

On just the second play of the second quarter the Vikings struck again with a 27-yard pass to Will Frazier with 11:25 minutes left in the second quarter. However, both teams were then locked into a game of attrition as each team came up with an interception. The Scots took advantage of theirs as they marched 80 yards to a touchdown being helped by two Paly penalties leaving the score 13-7 in favor of Paly.

However, Paly controlled the rest of the game as Goodspeed found Roger Prince and Maurice Williams in the end zone as well as running one in himself.

"Our offensive line dominated giving up no sacks, and it feels good to win the season opener at home," said Tim Currie, one of four captains on the Paly squad.

Winning the season opener brings great promise and confidence to the team and the fans.

"We have a good running game, and there’s a lot of hope for the rest of the season," said Kofman.

Ali Lake, 13, one of many fans, summarized the satisfaction of the onlookers.

"It was five bucks [to attend], so it’s pretty much worth it."

Paly will next host Burlingame at 7:30 pm Friday, Sept. 16.

Voice reporters Adam Heeger, Helen Sims, Jim Shen, Jennifer Audet, Emily Schickli, and Carissa Caryotakis contributed to this article.