The first-ever meeting between Palo Alto and Serra in the Central Coast Section football playoffs won't be one the Vikings will want to remember after the visiting Padres held them to a single touchdown after halftime and rolled to a 52-35 victory in the opening round of the Open Division playoffs on Friday night. Fifth-seeded Serra (9-2) will advance to the semifinals against No. 1 seed Bellarmine (10-1) while Palo Alto finished 8-3 -- wrapping up a strong 10-year run with a 99-26-2 record.
Also advancing in the Open Division on Friday were Mitty and St. Ignatius, making the semifinals an all-West Catholic Athletic League affair. SI routed Palma, 49-14; Mitty blanked Oak Grove, 24-0; and Bellarmine took care of Terra Nova, 33-14.
Palo Alto knew Serra would run the ball nearly every play and that standout Eric Redwood will get most of the carries. The Vikings, however, still couldn't stop Redwood, who scored four touchdowns and set a Serra single-game record of 288 rushing yards. The teams were tied at halftime, 28-28, but Paly couldn't get on the scoreboard until junior quarterback Keller Chryst ran it in from 14 yards out with 40 seconds left in the game. Chryst had an earlier TD run to give Paly a 14-6 first-quarter lead and threw a 25-yard scoring pass to De'Antay Williams to give the Vikings a 28-21 lead just before halftime.
Instead of taking a lead into halftime, Paly gave up a two-yard run by Redwood just before intermission. The Padres came out in the second half and put up 24 unanswered points to end Paly's season by snapping the Vikings' six-game win streak. Palo Alto had been allowing just 19.1 points a game and had given up more than 30 just once this season -- until Friday.
CCS Open Division
First round
Serra 6 22 10 14 -- 52
Palo Alto 14 14 0 7 -- 35 Paly -- Tolbert 28 pass from Chryst 28 pass to Tolbert (Foug kick)
Serra -- Kazakoff 14 run (run failed)
Paly -- Chryst 1 run (Foug Kick)
Serra -- Redwood 1 run (Cassidy run)
Serra -- Redwood 43 run (Toms kick)
Paly -- Tolbert 82 run (Foug kick)
Paly -- Williams 25 pass from Chryst (Foug kick)
Serra -- Redwood 2 run (Toms kick)
Serra -- FG Toms 45
Serra -- Malepeai 28 run (Toms kick)
Serra -- Arco 70 run (Toms kick)
Serra -- Redwood 2 run (Toms kick)
Paly -- Chryst 15 run (Foug kick) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Serra, Redwood 30-288, Arco 11-128, Cassidy 7-35, Kazakoff 3-14, Malepeai 2-34, Mcgee 2-0. Paly, Tolbert 13-100, Frick 1-13, Ju. Gates-Mouton 3-9, Chryst 11-3, Anderson 1-1, Ja. Gates-Mouton 1-1. Totals: Serra 55-499; Palo Alto 30-127. PASSING: Serra Kazakoff 0-20-0; Paly, Chryst 12-225-0-214. Totals: Serra 0-2-0-0; Palo Alto 11-25-0-214. RECEIVING: Serra 0-0; Paly, Williams 4-68, Tolbert 3-51, Ja. Gates-Mouton 2-61, Johnson 2-40, Davis 1-9. Totals: Serra 0-0; Palo Alto 12-229. Records: Serra 9-2; Palo Alto 8-3
posted by Palo Alto Online on Nov 16, 2012 at 9:51 pm
