Coming off a 1-0 upset win over top-seeded Santa Cruz on Wednesday, Palo Alto, the 15th seed, knocked off the 8th seeded Branham Bruins 1-0 on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division II boys soccer tournament.
After Branham’s (17-4-3, 9-2-3) beating of Archbishop Mitty in the first round, Vikings’ coach Don Brigg’s scouting report heavily focused on San Jose State bound striker Craig Hertler. Hertler led CCS in scoring this year with 25 goals and was bound to have a strong presence in this match-up.
The Vikings (11-8-4, 7-4-2) once again had their hands full. With senior defender Roy Newman away on college visits, the task of stopping Hertler fell to sophomores John Christoperson and Greg Stewart, along with junior Bubba Pagurian.
“Coming into the game we knew that Hertler would be a good player, so when we got out there I just played him pretty physically,” Stewart said. “Other than being very strong and fast, it seemed like Hertler didn’t want to play through the air, so I just tried to make him work extra hard for the 50-50 balls.”
This technique seemed to work. Hertler only had two opportunities to do some damage in the first half. However, in the first 15 minutes of the game the Vikings and Bruins battled it out in the midfield as both teams failed to put together successful offensive attacks.
Eventually, Palo Alto took control of the midfield as senior Ari Memar and freshman Jenner Fox passed balls into the corner for sophomore Adam Zernik. Zernik’s crosses continually bounced around in the 18-yard box and were cleared back to Paly for the offense to start over.
In the 27th minute, Zernik set off a series of attacks on the Branham defensive line. Zernik lofted an amazing cross to Fox who headed the ball just over the crossbar.
In the 29th minute, freshman Elliot Sanborn was subbed in to utilize his unique throwing talent. From nearly the halfway mark, Sanborn flipped the ball to the far post where it was cleared out by the Branham defense. Two minutes later, Sanborn was presented with another opportunity as Branham miffed a goal kick. Sanborn’s perfect flip throw sailed to the far post, but again, Branham cleared the ball to the sideline. This time, Sanborn’s throw bounced off the near post and was cleared by the Branham defense. These three throws were the closest either team came to scoring in the first half.
Palo Alto got started quickly in the second half as three minutes in junior striker Matt Steigar found himself in the open field with only the goalie to pass. Suddenly, a Branham defender came out of nowhere and took Staiger’s legs out from under him. This set up designated free kicker Zernik with a beautiful chance just outside of the 18. Zernik lined up the kick nicely, but Branham’s goalie knocked the ball wide right.
“We were having some trouble converting,” Zernik said. “We had a couple opportunities with corner and free kicks along with Elliot’s throw-ins, but we couldn’t convert on them.”
The second half proceeded much like the first as again, the teams battled it out in the midfield. Fox, Memar, and Zernik slowly began dictating the pace as in the 22nd minute Zernik found junior Scott Ostrau for what was nearly a goal.
Then, in what was Hertler’s third and final time with the ball, he launched a shot that forced sophomore goalie Peter Johnson to dive for the save. With such strong defense from the Palo Alto defenders, Hertler was ruled a nonentity in the most important game of Branham’s season.
“We just shut him down,” Christopherson said. “He couldn’t do anything to hurt us. We have a solid back four, especially when you have someone like Patrick [Alonis] sweeping if anything gets through.”
As the clock ticked down, the last ten minutes of this intense quarterfinal match-up involved Zernik’s crosses, Alonis’s through-balls, and Sanborn’s throw-ins. These attempts all punctured the Branham defense, but somehow none made it into the back of the net.
Soon enough however, one of Zernik’s crosses bounced around in the 18-yard box long enough for the Vikings to finally convert. When Branham failed to clear the ball after several seconds in the box, Alonis charged through three Branham defenders and hammered the ball to Steigar who poked it past the Bruin keeper.
Up 1-0 with only stoppage time left, Palo Alto immediately switched to a heavy defensive scheme. Branham had one opportunity off of a free kick near the half way marker, but Johnson made a nice save.
Palo Alto will play either St. Francis or St. Ignacius on Wednesday, February 21 at Milpitas high school for a spot in the finals.