Enduring tradition. Unparalleled excellence. Perfect collaboration. Each of these attributes can be used to describe the culture of head coach Earl Hansen’s past and current Viking football teams. Entering the 2008-2009 season, Paly knew that from tradition come expectations, from expectations come results, and from results come playoff successes.
The Vikings worked all year to get to the Central Coast Section (CCS) Championship game with the hope of beating their despised rivals, the Los Gatos Wildcats. Late Saturday night, however, the Wildcats proved too much, ending the Palo Alto season Saturday night. Despite coming off four consecutive victories, the Vikings fell short by a score of 23-29 as Wildcat junior quarterback Nick Hirschman willed his team to victory with three touchdowns.
“We were confidant the whole game,” junior linebacker Jared Beeson said. “Both sides of the ball – offense and defense – did a sound job. But sometimes the team that doesn’t play as well comes out on top. Overall it was a hard loss to take because I feel like we played better than they did.”
Los Gatos (10-3), who had previously lost to Palo Alto (9-4) in the regular season finale, 14-17, before making their surprising playoff run, played with impressive vigor for the full 60 minutes. Without a doubt Los Gatos’ passion can be attributed to the memory of teammate Michael Halpin, who died on Tuesday, Dec. 2 due to an unexpected heart defect. Fueled by the alarming death of their teammate, the Wildcats outscored Palo Alto 15-3 in the fourth quarter to take their 11th CCS title in school history.
Through the first and second quarters, the game proved to be a battle for field position as the scale tipped from Wildcat, to Viking, and eventually back to Wildcat again. After a vicious hit and sack on Paly senior quarterback Will Brandin, Los Gatos took over deep in Viking territory. Nine plays and 38 yards later, Hirschman completed a shovel-pass-like throw after evading some pass rushers to senior tight end Brian Comstock, putting the Wildcats up, 7-0.
“Their quarterback was much more mobile this time around,” senior defensive end Andy Maliska said. “He was deceptively quick and made the throws when they needed them.”
After the Wildcat score and subsequent kickoff, it was now the Vikings’s turn. With the Paly defense quivering on the sideline for a snippet of open space that would allow senior running back Sam Tompkins-Jenkins to get loose, the Vikings put together an efficient eight play, 65-yard drive that consumed more than five minutes of clock. Tompkins-Jenkins capitalized on his offensive line’s renewed effort and scored on a 9-yard burst to pull the Vikings to 6-7.
Working off the spark of energy supplied by Tompkins-Jenkins & Co., the Viking defense put together stops on six of the next seven Los Gatos drives. Senior linemen Steven Gargiulo, Maliska and junior A.J. Castillo were instrumental in the stingy Viking defense, as were senior linebacker Sean Keohane and Beeson. The endless motors of those five players helped the run-stuffing unit combine on 11-tackles behind the line of scrimmage while also adding three sacks.
“We prepared for the fact that they knew all of our sets so we knew that if we wanted to beat them we had to play physical,” senior lineman Ashraf El Gamal said. “We ended up dominating both lines, but they got lucky on a couple tipped balls and tossups.”
With time ticking down in the second quarter, Los Gatos capitalized on excellent field position, taking the ball 31 yards and into the end zone on three plays. The Wildcats carried this momentum into the second half behind a 14-6 lead. After completing just one pass longer than 20 yards in the first half, the Vikings managed to catch the Wildcat secondary sleeping right out of the gate. Brandin connected with senior slot receiver Will Holder on a 72-yard touchdown that brought the score to 13-14. Brandin would eventually complete 11 of 21 passes for 279 yards while Holder hauled in five catches for 144 yards.
Following another impressive defensive stand that involved a sack from Castillo and a jarring hit from Gargiulo, the Vikings went to work on offense. Thanks to the Wildcat secondary’s inability to cover any Paly wide receiver and a surprising play calling from Hansen, Palo Alto used Brandin’s arm to set up the run. Paly, in what would eventually develop into a trend of the night, lived and died through the air as Brandin drove the Vikings 62 yards before misfiring on three consecutive passes to finish the scoreless series.
Los Gatos failed to do anything with Paly’s gift of a turnover-on-downs, and the Vikings moved ahead 20-14 on Tompkins-Jenkins’ 9-yard dash. While Tompkins-Jenkins scored two touchdowns, Paly’s star running back seemed to be missing something from his usual elusiveness and burst. Tompkins-Jenkins failed to reach 100 yards for the first time in four games as he rushed for 78 yards on 18 carries, posting a 4.3 yards-per-carry average.
With the Viking defense tiring as the fourth quarter approached, the Wildcats moved 79 yards in three plays. Paly senior cornerback Paul Brown made a near-highlight tip of the ball, but as Brown fell down, the ball sprang right into Los Gatos receiver Jake Hackman-Salazar’s hands 79-yard gain to the Vikings 7. Two plays later Hirschman snuck in from the 1-yard line to finish off the series, 21-20.
“I think the big momentum-changing play of the game was that tipped ball,” Brown said. “Our defense had strung a couple stops together and then they finally threw it on third down. I don’t know what happened, I had my hand on the ball and forced it down and next thing I know he [Hackman-Salazar] is running down the sideline. I think that play gave them the game.”
Palo Alto bounced back with a fake reverse hand off to Brown before Brandin heaved a 37-yard completion to Holder. Holder would end the drive by regaining the lead on a 22-yard field goal, 23-21.
Los Gatos faced a long field and a limited amount of time as 66 yards and a nasty Viking defense stood between them and victory. Hirschman, who gave Paly fits with his elusiveness all night, scrambled and found Wildcat junior Brian Comstock for a 34-yard gain. Three plays later on the Palo Alto 9-yard line, Hirschman allowed himself a one-step drop before high-hopping over the line of scrimmage. After the Wildcats regained the lead, 29-23, a wave of eerie silence passed over the Palo Alto crowd.
Reminiscent of last year’s 14-7 victory over Menlo-Atherton, it felt almost impossible that Brandin & Co. would fail in their second consecutive last-second comeback for a CCS championship victory. Unfortunately for Palo Alto, the 2008 team threw one deep pass too many and fell just short as Brandin’s heave was intercepted by junior defensive back Sam Bowers. The Wildcats prevailed through the physically and notably emotionally turbulent week, sealing the deal and taking home the 2008 CCS crown.
“We knew coming into the game that they weren’t going to roll over for us,” senior linebacker Frasier Petersen said. “They played hard, made few mistakes, and pulled out the win.”
Luckily for Hansen and the future of Palo Alto football, there is the involvement of an already strong core of juniors and a profusion of underclassmen talent. Paly will look to these up-and-comers to avenge the loss next year.