The Palo Alto High School flag football team (13-1) defeated the Homestead Knights (7-9) 37-7, in their Senior Night game on Monday at home, logging their fifth win in a row and remaining undefeated in league.
According to Viking head coach Bradford Exantus, the team had a shaky start to an important game for the seniors.
“The mindset wasn’t where it needed to be at the beginning of the game,” Exantus said. “But as the game went on, they locked in and we were able to focus on winning the game.”
This improvement throughout the game was evident, as the Knights scored their only points just three minutes into the game on a designed quarterback run.
The Knights’ lead was short-lived, with Vikings’ sophomore quarterback Eleanor Wells connecting deep downfield for an explosive 48-yard touchdown. After their strong offensive showcase, the Vikings strung together a few stops to keep the Knights out of scoring range. By taking advantage of the Knights’ lackluster offense and scoring their second touchdown of the game, the Vikings entered halftime with a 13-7 lead.
“Our communication has improved a lot,” Wells said. “These past couple of games we’ve been knowing the plays and executing them well.”
In the second half, the Vikings consistently found separation downfield, but a combination of overthrows and drops led to numerous missed big-play opportunities. Quarterback Eleanor Wells spoke about how the Vikings could improve in this area.
“Most of the time it’s on me, because I have to know where my receivers will be and how fast they are running,” Wells said. “But also, we do [catching] drills, and that will definitely be a focus next practice.
Though the Vikings left quite a few points on the table, they were still successful on multiple deep shots. With the Vikings completely bottling up the Knights’ offense in the second half, the perpetual cycle of Knights’ turnovers and Viking scores became demoralizing for the Knights.
The Vikings opened the fourth quarter with a goal-line stand, and followed up their stop by mounting a tedious touchdown drive, crushing the Knights’ hopes and effectively milking the clock.
Throughout the entirety of the game, the Vikings struggled with their point-after-touchdown conversions (PAT conversions). Of the six Viking touchdowns that were scored, only one of them was accompanied by a successful PAT conversion.
According to sophomore defender Lucy Ybarbo, the Knights’ defense was much stronger than the other teams they have faced this season.
“We struggled on PATs today because Homestead had a stronger defense than we are used to, and most of our touchdowns came from long passes where we outran the defense,” Ybarbo said. “Homestead held a great formation in defense, which prevented us from converting our PATs.”
Heading into their final four games of the season, the Vikings will attempt to stay undefeated in the league and finish the season with only one loss, while also growing their momentum to propel themselves deep into the postseason.
The Vikings are set to play against the Lynbrook Vikings (0-12) at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at a neutral site.
