In a rematch of last year’s Central Coast Section championship game, the Palo Alto Vikings football team suffered its first loss of the season, going down 27-7 to the Oak Grove Eagles in a rainy affair Friday night.
The Vikings (2-1), looking to continue their recent success by expanding upon their two-game winning streak, met a determined Eagles squad, with a record of (3-0), whom were just as eager for revenge after last year’s loss in a playoff game of the CCS finals.
Both teams in Friday’s game featured highly-touted running backs and similar strategies, however only the Eagles had reason to celebrate at the game’s end. The Vikings’ offensive unit struggled to gain momentum while their defense could not hamper the efforts of the Eagle’s consistent running game.
“We didn’t sustain blocks in the first half, and then we had a nice drive for a score (in the second half),” head coach Earl Hansen said. “We just need to start better.”
Paly’s offensive struggles in the first quarter seemed to foreshadow the rest of the game.
Senior running back James McCullough’s fumble on the first play from scrimmage was a demoralizing blow to the Vikings. It seemed inevitable that Oak Grove, with good field positioning and stellar running back Nevin Gardiner, would run the ball in for a score. However, Viking junior cornerback Harry Woolson came up with a timely interception on an errant throw from the Eagles’ quarterback and returned the ball to the Eagles 30 yard-line.
Four plays later, kicker Tyger Pederson missed his 48-yard field goal attempt, short and wide left.
After an Oak Grove punt, Paly had another shot to get its offense moving and taking an early lead. Their efforts were cut short when junior quarterback Will Brandin was stripped from behind by an Oak Grove defender inside Paly’s own 30 yard-line.
“Our line needs more of a push. We need to be more aggressive and play Paly-style football,” injured running back Samuel Tompkins said in the first quarter from the sideline. “It just matters how motivated our players are.”
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Oak Grove chose to run the ball this time. After six plays and five handoffs to Gardiner, the Eagles were first on the board, 6-0.
The roar of thunder and flashes of lightning gave Viking fans something to cheer about during the first half of the game, while the light rain kept Viking play-calling conservative and comparatively grounded. Senior Paly receiver Mike Scott, normally a favorite target of Brandin’s, managed to catch only two passes for 15 yards. Instead, senior Sione Mataele took the brunt of the work. Mataele managed 20 yards on seven carries, far below his average statistics.
With less than two minutes to go in the second quarter, the Oak Grove quarterback fired a bullet into the back of the end zone. Woolson deflected the pass, only to have the ball land in an Eagle receiver’s hands, sending Paly into the locker room at halftime, with a 14-point deficit.
As the game continued, Oak Grove continued to plow its way toward the end zone. The Eagles opened up the third quarter with a clock-draining, seven-minute drive, capped off by another Gardiner touchdown run on his 25th carry of the night.
“Our defense was solid in the first half. But when they stopped passing and gave it to their guy up the middle, we had no answer,” senior Viking linebacker Jordan Jefferson said.
When Brandin hit Holder on a screen pass in the third quarter, the Vikings showed a glimmer of energy and continued on to string together what would be their biggest plays of the night. At about mid-field, a composed Brandin completed a third-down pass to Jefferson. When McCullough broke into the secondary and was tackled on the one yard-line, Brandin kept the ball to himself and dove in for Paly’s lone score of the night, cutting the Eagle lead to 21-7.
The Paly defenders seemed worn out after spending the better part of the night on the field. In the fourth quarter, Eagle playmaker Stacey Long weaved his way through traffic for a 25-yard score, and solidified the victory for Oak Grove.
The Vikings will try to prove Friday night’s game a fluke when they face the Los Gatos Wildcats next Friday, Sept. 28. This will be the Vikings’ first league game. Paly tamed the Wildcats last year for the first time in 11 years, and will look to do so again in this year’s faceoff. The upcoming game will determine the fate of the Vikings’ season, especially if they hope to reenact last year’s success.
“Everyone’s going to have to step up,” Woolson said. “Our game against Los Gatos is going to be our most intense yet.”