October 13, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

No game is more important

by Keith Peters

The most important game in Palo Alto's football season is the Vikings' next game: Wilcox.

It's not that Paly head coach Earl Hansen doesn't like to look ahead and see Los Gatos, Milpitas and Homestead there. Simply, there is no more important game.

First, eliminate Los Gatos. The Wildcats can match Palo Alto in size and talent, and likely have more of both. Los Gatos comes to town Oct. 22.

Second, Milpitas is no longer that someone-jumping-out-of-closet-yelling-boo kind of opponent. The Trojans likely proved that in their 14-2 loss to Saratoga last weekend, the same Falcons' team that Paly defeated a week earlier. Milpitas comes to town Oct. 29.

Third, Homestead is a run-oriented team that features tailback Chris Morris. Stop Morris and you stop the Mustangs. They host the Vikings Nov. 2 at Fremont High.

"These are all big games coming up," he said. "They're huge."

That brings us back to Wilcox (1-1, 3-1-1), a 38-7 winner over Homestead last weekend. A victory on the Chargers' field this Friday at 7:30 p.m. will go a very long way in Palo Alto's playoffs hopes this season.

This is Paly's directional game of the year. A win sends the Vikings in one direction while a loss could send them the other way.

"We have to contain their Veer (offense)," Hansen said of Friday's formula for success. "They have speed and size, but they can't throw. We have to hold our line of scrimmage, and don't make stupid errors."

Palo Alto brings a 2-0 SCVAL De Anza Division record (4-1 overall) into the game. The Vikings are tied with Los Gatos for the division lead while the Chargers are anxious to put their 21-0 loss to Los Gatos (two weeks ago) to rest and move ahead toward grabbing one of three automatic CCS berths.

One of those should go to Paly, if the Vikings take care of business. That means fewer penalties and mistakes than they had in their 22-13 victory over Gunn last Friday night in the first-ever night game between the two rivals at Paly. It was the 40th meeting between the schools. Paly now leads in the series, 27-13.

The Vikings dropped touchdown passes and nullified others with penalties. The result was Paly being forced to tally from a 13-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to win.

"This was a game we should have put away in the first half," Hansen said. "We can't do this against a good team and expect to win."

After Gunn had gone ahead on Kevin Gordon's 53-yard scamper just into the fourth quarter, Paly senior quarterback Nathan Ford threw an interception to kill the potential go-ahead score. The Vikings' defense held, and Ford got a second chance. He made the most of it by lofting a 16-yard scoring strike to senior wideout Matt Wismann, who made an acrobatic catch for a 16-13 lead.

Paly made another defensive stand to put the ball back into Ford's hands, something opponents need to stop doing if they expect to win. Ford moved his team quickly downfield and put up an insurance score with a four-yard toss to Ted Way.

Ford finished with 18 completions in 25 attempts for 209 yards and two touchdowns. His poise down the stretch was equally important.

Way, meanwhile, was one of many Vikings who played both ways against Gunn, doubling as a linebacker. Tim Currie, Nabil Balamane, John Ginanni, Roger Prince, Fred Koloto and Wismann also had fine efforts, as did center Trevor Bisset in his first outing of the season after being sidelined by an injury.

Ginanni, who began the season as a wide receiver, has since been moved to running back. As the team's fastest player, his speed in the backfield has been a boon to the Vikings. He scored from six yards out to give Paly a 7-0 lead and had another TD run nullified by a penalty.

Despite the closeness of the game, Hansen was never too concerned.

"I was never worried about losing that game," he said. "It was just a matter of time before we scored."

The fact that Paly's defense was able to contain Gunn's 240-pound running back Darius Johnson also helped, in addition to giving Titans' sophomore QB Tucker Laurence virtually nothing through the air.

These are the kinds of efforts that need to continue for Palo Alto to duplicate its CCS championship appearance of a year ago.

Gunn (0-2, 1-4) will host Lynbrook on Friday (3:15 p.m.) in a nonleague game.
Terra Nova 16, M-A 6

The Bears (0-3, 1-4) will go after their first PAL Bay Division win when they play host to Carlmont (1-2, 2-3) on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Jeremy Jordan had a huge game for M-A with 136 rushing yards on 20 carries, but Terra Nova held quarterback Clark Hagman to a season-low 38 yards.
Aragon 40, Menlo 18

The Knights (1-2, 3-2) will be out to end a two-game losing streak Friday when they travel to San Mateo (0-2, 1-4) for a Bay Division contest.

Menlo gave up 272 rushing yards to Aragon, a 137 to junior Dominic Williams, who scored four TDs. Matt Moone rushed for 83 yards and Jeff Langskov threw for 109 yards for the Knights.
St. Elizabeth 20, SHP 13

The Gators (2-3) rallied to tie the game at 13 before visiting St. Elizabeth scored a late TD to win. Hudson Smythe gained 74 yards on 18 carries and scored on an 11-yard run to pace the Gators, who host Salesian on Saturday (2 p.m.) in a homecoming game.

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