If there’s a first for everything, it seems like last year’s Paly football team holds them all. At the beginning of the 2006 season, all the team wanted was revenge over rival Los Gatos, who had made their previous season unpleasantly short. For the first time in 11 years, Paly triumphed over the Wildcats, and by an astounding score of 35-7. The Vikings went on to win the Central Coast Section title, a feat they had not accomplished since 1995.

On the way to their CCS title, the Vikings pulled off two major upsets; a gripping quadruple overtime match with the Palma Chieftains and a 23-21 victory over the formerly-undefeated Oak Grove team. As one of their biggest accomplishments of the season, Paly was, again for the first time, picked to represent Nothern California in the State Championship game for the first time in 80 years. Although Paly had their hats handed to them 42-28 by Southern California powerhouse Orange Lutheran, most of the team walked away happy with how their season went.

The Vikings aim to continue their streak of firsts by winning back-to-back CCS titles for the first time in more than two decades.

The Vikings have quite a challenge in their quest to stand up to their previous season.

“It’s a lot less experienced team than last year,” head coach Earl Hansen said, “There’s talent there, physical ability, we just need to channel it.”

This year, the Vikings are a young team with big shoes to fill. The team has undoubtably suffered from the losses of 15 seniors including stars such as Nick Goodspeed, Buddy Benedaret, and Will Fraizer, and will look to the remaining players from the 2006 season to pull together the new, less experienced squad Paly is armed with this year. Among these new senior leaders is fullback Sione Matele, who single handedly scored an unthinkable five touchdowns in Paly’s win over Palma in the 2006 CCS semifinals.

“Along with Sione, we’ll have James McCollough directing on defense,” said Hansen, “Jordan Jefferson taking Buddy [Benederet]’s place at tight end, and then of course Mike Scott will be a leader as well.”

Paly’s new starting quarterback will be junior Will Brandin (6’3″, 172 lbs.).

“He’s definetly got the potential,” said Hansen when asked about Brandin, “He’s a little light on the experience, but once he gets a few games under his belt he should be fine.”

In their first battle of the season, Paly faces Oakland’s own McClymonds High School in Oakland. McClymonds boasts the top lineman in the state, Allen Carroll, and promises to be an early-season challenge for the young team. The team has prepared long and hard for this game in order to start the season off on the right foot.

“We got some tape on them [McClymonds] early, were able to diagnose their strengths and weaknesses, and have been working around those,” said senior Michael Anderson, “They have the top lineman in the state so that will be a treat.”

But, like the team rankings, Anderson feels that not too much thought should be give to player ratings.

Junior tackle Ashraf El Gamal reports that the team has been working to tune their game strategy to match McClymonds’ strengths and exploit their weaknesses.

“To set up, we also put some of our biggest players on the defensive line, because McClymonds has a huge line,” said El Gamal.

Although they are ranked #8 in their sections and defending a CCS title, Paly players are feeling little pressure.

“We always want to strive to be number one, so I would say that’s what probably pushes us harder than anything,” said El Gamal, “We’re not too concerned with rankings. In the end, rankings don’t matter.”

Anderson, on the other hand, saw the rankings as more of a challenge.

“We have to work very hard to earn that #8 spot and we need to see how much the team really wants it.”