It was early in the third quarter. The Palo Alto High football team was already trailing visiting Mitty by four touchdowns en route to a 41-7 loss to the Monarchs in a nonleague football game Friday night.
Vikings quarterback Jackson Chryst was faced with another long fourth down, trying to spark some kind of momentum for his squad.
He dropped back and was forced to throw early as the pressure was right in his face, as it had been all night long. The pass was intercepted, and Chryst took a blow to the head to further the punishment. The play was a microcosm of the night for Palo Alto.
Chryst finished with 99 passing yards, while Paul Jackson III rushed for 77 yards on 17 carries for Palo Alto.
The Vikings (1-2) travel to Oak Grove for a 7 p.m. Friday nonleague contest before returning home to open SCVAL action against Santa Clara.
Mitty (2-1) had their foot on the pedal all night, rarely abandoning their run game, totaling 245 yards rushing.
The two stars of the night were Mitty tailback Zondre Faraj-Washington, who seemed virtually unstoppable, and quarterback Phillip Tran.
Faraj-Washington carved the Viking defense for 124 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, while Tran confidently threw two more touchdowns.
Chryst rarely had time to set his feet and get off a confident throw. With their running game mostly stifled, Chryst was clearly doing all he could to compete, but was unable to overcome the turnovers and missed opportunities in the red zone.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Chryst threw a 5-yard touchdown pass and avoided the shutout, finally allowing the Viking fans in attendance to cheer, however brief the moment.