Last week, after being blown out at home 42-7 by the Los Gatos
Wildcats (3-0-1), the pressure was on the Vikings when facing the
Mountain View Spartans (3-2) early Friday evening in their second
league match.

Head coach Earl Hansen and the Vikings, however, were able to pull
out a victory by taking advantage of the Spartans inability to keep
their hands on the ball.

Junior starting quarterback Will Brandin returned from a third
quarter injury against Los Gatos to rush for three touchdowns in
Paly’s fourth straight win against Mountain View. After Paly’s
initial unsuccessful drive, Brandin and the Viking offense
efficiently dismantled the Spartans while the Viking defense forced
three fumbles and two interceptions.

“Winning a tough game on the road after the last two weeks is huge
for us,” Hansen said. “It was a huge confidence builder.”

Paly scored on their second drive after Brandin, senior wide receiver
Mike Scott, and senior running back Brandon Boyd managed to move the
ball 60 yards in 15 plays. Brandin ended the drive by sneaking in
from the one to even the score at 7-7. Brandin finished the game
completing 75% of his passes, going 15-20 for 159 yards, and one
interception. Scott caught eight passes for 119 yards, while Boyd
filled the starting running back role left by senior Sione Mataele
with 74 yards on 21 carries.

“Sione was sick all week,” Hansen said. “Brandon stepped up and made
some big plays for us.”

Paly held Mountain View to 204 yards through the air with two
interceptions and an astonishing combined 18 yards rushing on 19
carries. In addition, Paly forced three Mountain View fumbles that
gave Brandin and the offense excellent field position throughout the
game. The Vikings, however, did not capitalize on all of their
opportunities. Hansen enjoyed seeing the defense playing
aggressively and hitting hard, but was slightly disappointed with the
offense’s inability to find the end zone on three of the five forced
turnovers.

“They loved getting the turnovers, they played to get them and played
well today,” Hansen said. “I think we could of scored once or twice
more and put the nail in the coffin a little earlier but the two
interceptions at the end were big.”

Thanks to another Mountain View fumble, Paly began its next drive
late in the second quarter with a short field. Again, the
combination of Brandin, Boyd, and Scott moved Paly 42 yards to the
one-yard line, where the offensive line propelled Brandin into the
end zone, bringing the score to 14-7. The Vikings’ final offensive
touchdown was delivered by Brandin’s third and final one-yard run
with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter Paly scored on a Scott interception as 64
yards and several breathless defenders later Paly found themselves
with a two touchdown lead. However, Mountain View returned senior
Tyger Pederson’s kickoff 89 yards, and two minutes later had closed
the gap to 28-21.

As expected, the Spartans kicked an onside kick and recovered it at
the Paly 40-yard line. With 1:42 remaining, the Spartans were 20
yards away from tying the game up when junior safety Will Holder made
the second interception of the day and took it 78 yards to the
Mountain View two-yard line. With 32 seconds remaining, Brandin took
a knee to preserve Paly’s 28-21 victory.

“It was a big win for all of us; losing the last two games like we
did was tough,” Brandin said. “We needed to get back on the winning
side, so this was great for all of us. Plus, it was a tough league
game. Hopefully we can keep it going in our next couple games.”

Paly plays Milpitas at home next Friday at 7:30.