Many were surprised when Central Coast Section ruling seeded the Palo Alto Vikings’ football team a lowly No. 6 in the Medium Division Playoff bracket. Few were surprised when the team advanced to the bracket championship.
The win sets up a Los Gatos-Palo Alto Championship, a rematch of the game three weeks ago in which the Vikings won, 17-14.
Senior running back Sam Tompkins-Jenkins and senior quarterback Will Brandin both accounted for multiple touchdowns, leading the Vikings to knock off the No. 2 seeded Monterey Toreadors, 38-16, in dominating fashion Friday night.
“We had the momentum [coming off a blowout of Leigh] and just didn’t back down,” senior linebacker Sean Keohane said. “We’ve been playing this good in practice, so it was just a matter of making it happen on the field.”
The Vikings did indeed “make it happen” on the field. While both teams were stopped on their first two drives and it looked as if there was a possibility of a day-long defensive battle, it soon became obvious that this was not going to be the case.
After a handful of Tompkins-Jenkins runs put the Vikings into Toreador territory, they faced a crucial fourth-and-six. Brandin threw a clutch pass to junior wide receiver Joc Pederson along the sideline to save their scoring chances and then another long pass to senior Will Holder to put the Vikings inside the ten-yard line. When Tompkins-Jenkins was hit for a loss on third down, the Vikings thought better of trying to force a touchdown and instead opted to kick a field goal. Holder, who also doubles as the team’s place kicker, gave the Vikings the lead with a 27-yard boot.
After a strong defensive stop which included a sack from senior defensive end Andy Maliska and multiple pass deflections from senior cornerback Paul Brown, the Toreadors pinned the Vikings at their own two-yard line with a perfectly placed punt.
The Vikings, however, proved distance could not deter them. Brandin gave the Vikings some space when he hit senior tight end Steven Garguilo for 28 yards. After Tompkins ran twice for eight yards, Brandin hit junior Pederson to put the Vikings in Toreador territory. After Garguilo caught another long pass, Tompkins-Jenkins found a hole on the left side. He walked into the end zone untouched, setting the score at 10-0.
“Anytime you drive the distance of the field like that, the whole team gains a lot of confidence,” Brown said. “We basically proved that they could not stop our offense.”
The Vikings’ defense certainly felt the boost of confidence. After stopping the Toreadors on their first three plays, Gargiulo, also a defensive player, blocked the punt. A Monterey player recovered the loose ball, but the Vikings had perfect field position.
From the Toreadors’ own 21-yard line, it only took two plays for the Vikings to put up more points. After Brandin scrambled for six yards, Tompkins-Jenkins again ran it in from 15. The lead was beginning to look insurmountable for the Toreadors.
Junior safety Scott Wittie picked off Monterey’s first pass attempt of the next drive and once again gave the Vikings great field position. From nine yards out, Brandin threw to Holder completing a not-so-uncommon fade route, making it 24-0.
The Vikings have scored at least five touchdowns on the play throughout the year.
“I think we’ve ran it [the fade route] just about every game from in the red zone,” Holder said. “It’s basically impossible to defend when we run it right.”
The game turned into a rout when Tompkins-Jenkins busted out a 54-yard touchdown run on the first play of the Vikings’ next drive. Tompkins-Jenkins finished the game with 137 yards on 19 carries.
The Vikings made it 38-0 when Brandin squeezed one in to Gargiulo from 11 yards out. Brandin finished the night 12-17 for 178 yards.
The Toreadors ended the Vikings’ two-and-a-half game scoreless streak when they scored twice in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, both on long touchdown passes and both against the Vikings’ second-team defense.
In the other semi-final game, Los Gatos knocked off first No. 1 seeded Pioneer, 24-20.
“Los Gatos knows how we play and we know how they play,” Keohane said. “It’s just going to come down to execution.”
Three weeks ago, Palo Alto slipped by Los Gatos in a 17-14 victory. The team is looking to repeat, and take home the CCS crown.
“We probably know each other as well as any two teams in the league,” head coach Earl Hansen said.
The game will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6 at San Jose City College.