It was fourth down from Paly’s one-yard line in overtime for the South San Francisco Warriors. With the fates of both teams’ seasons on the line, the two sides lined up on their respective sides to await the snap of the ball.

With South San Francisco senior quarterback Eric Moore running a bootleg, Paly senior Cooper Miller delivered a hit that knocked the ball loose, and junior defensive lineman Will Elmore recovered it to put the Paly football team into the CCS semifinals for the third straight year.

"The seniors in the huddle were saying, ‘Do it for us. We want to keep on playing,’" said Paly senior wide receiver Cooper Miller. "Our team’s feeling really good right now."

The Vikings were again playing without junior quarterback Nick Goodspeed, who is out for the remainder of the season due to inflammation in his shoulder.

"If it doesn’t get better in about two weeks, I’ll probably need surgery," Goodspeed said.

For the second straight game, Jon Koepfgen started in place of Goodspeed.

On the first play from scrimmage of Paly’s first possession, junior running back Will Frazier started things off with a blistering 57-yard touchdown run. But the Warriors kept pace when junior running back Tony Moran ran it in from five yards out. Miller capped off the first quarter with a 30-yard touchdown catch from Koepfgen.

The Warriors continued their surge with a 30-yard field goal and two rushing touchdowns by Moore and Moran.

That’s when the Play defense stopped the Warriors’ offense for good.

"Our defense tightened it up when we needed it," assistant coach Steve Foug said. "We only gave up a field goal in the entire second half."

The offense stepped up as well with junior running back Maurice Williams running in for a five-yard touchdown while sophomore running back Sione Matele fought his way in from two yards out.

"Our O-line did an awesome job, and they established the running game," said Miller.

The running game was the backbone of the offense gaining over 220 yards behind running backs Frazier, Matele and senior Roger Prince.

With the score tied and under a minute left in the game, senior wide receiver Michael Hill caught a pass at the one-yard line, but two Warrior penalties reversed the play.

In overtime, the Vikings won the coin toss and got the ball on the 1-yard line with four plays to score because of tie-breaking procedures. Three plays later, Frazier ran into the end zone giving the Vikings a seven-point advantage, setting up Miller and Elmore’s heroics on the next possession.

The Vikings next face Terra Nova at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26 at Foothill College in the CCS Medium School Division Semifinals.