The Palo Alto High School Viking varsity football team (5-2) suffered a loss on Friday night to the Wilcox High School Chargers (5-2), 13-42, at the Vikings’ Homecoming match.
According to Charger Head Coach Paul Rosa, the Vikings were initially difficult to play against due to the team’s defense.
“We haven’t played [Paly] in a long time,” Rosa said. “We weren’t really sure how they were going to defend us, so it took us a little while to get used to them. They came in and played tough early on.”
The first quarter began with both teams struggling to make significant progress on their first and second downs. An early successful pass gave the Vikings an advantage, as wide receiver Dylan Robinson secured a touchdown, though Viking junior kicker Lara Saslow failed to convert a placekick. Charger sophomore quarterback Kai Imahara managed to score a touchdown and secured an extra point , putting Wilcox in the lead at 6-7.
An effective pass to senior and wide receiver Jeremiah Fung kept the Viking’s defense going. At the end of the first quarter, the score was a tight 6-7.
The Viking’s defense intensified during the second quarter, but a fumble on fourth down, penalties, and missed opportunities prevented their offense from taking the lead.
“We definitely need to work on offense.” said Viking senior running back Joseph Kessler. “We had early penalties, early mistakes, and that can cancel drives. Against a team like that, who controls the ball and controls the clock, you can’t have that. I think we need to work on discipline more this week and trust our guys more.”
Viking Head Coach DeGeronimo said that the team could have still made a comeback at the halftime mark.
“It was a one-score game at halftime,” DeGeronimo said. “We just need to make plays, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
In the third quarter, the Chargers made adjustments to play more aggressively around Vikings’ defense, leading to a seven-point touchdown after a successful conversion and an extension of their lead to a score of 6-21.
According to DeGeronimo, the Vikings’ early plays lacked sufficient pressure.
The fourth quarter saw Chargers dominate with multiple touchdowns, bringing the score to 6-35. The gap was only narrowed to a score of 13-35 when a pass to Viking sophomore wide receiver Adam Maldonado set up a touchdown by Viking sophomore quarterback Justin Fung.
The Chargers secured their victory with a final touchdown, ending the game ahead by 29 points.
Kessler said the Viking loss was because the Chargers took more risks.
“We didn’t make the big plays that we wanted to tonight, and that’s the difference in the game,” Kessler said. “They did. We didn’t.”
According to DeGeronimo, both Viking coaches and players alike are focused on improvement for the future.
“We can reduce the penalties, that’s for sure,” DeGeronimo said. “Cut down on the drops, and we need to execute. We’ll have to go and take a look at the film and see what we need to improve, but we need to be able to establish the run, and when you get an opportunity to catch a pass, you’ve got to catch it. There were too many dropped balls tonight.”
Rosa said he appreciated the opportunity to play against Paly again after multiple years.
“Learning how to play against a new team—we used to play you guys a lot every year,” Rosa said. “But we haven’t played you guys [Palo Alto] in about, I think, five or six years since you moved up into the top division, so getting to play you again, I think it’s kind of cool.”
The Vikings are scheduled to play next at 7 p.m. Friday against the Menlo-Atherton Bears (5-2) at home.
