Publication Date: Friday, December 02, 2005
Paly plays for CCS football title tonight
Paly plays for CCS football title tonight
(December 02, 2005) Vikings seek redemption against Los Gatos from an earlier 63-28 loss
by Keith Peters
Palo Alto football coach Earl Hansen knows this about tonight's Central Coast Section Medium School Division championship game against Los Gatos: it won't be like last time.
In the team's first meeting this season, the Wildcats pasted a 63-28 loss on the Vikings at home. That cost Paly its first SCVAL De Anza Division title since 1992.
While the Vikings have had three weeks to get over that stinging defeat, redemption has to be on their collective minds tonight in the rematch at Foothill College, Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Palo Alto (10-2) will be playing for its first CCS title since 1995, while Los Gatos (10-2) will defending a section crown.
Defense will be the key for Paly, which blanked a good Terra Nova team last week in the semifinals, 17-0. Los Gatos, meanwhile, was squeaking past St. Ignatius, 3-0, in the other semifinal.
The Wildcats were able to put pressure on Los Gatos quarterback Danny Sullivan and limit him to 9-of-22 completions for a sub-par 122 yards. Sullivan completed 16 of 19 for 301 yards and four TDs against Paly in the first meeting when the Vikings turned the ball over five times.
Paly likely will throw the ball less than in the previous meeting, unless its ground game grinds to a halt. Junior running back Will Frazier gained 99 yards against Terra Nova and a career-best 163 in a 33-26 overtime win over South San Francisco in the first round of CCS. Frazier has to be equally productive against Los Gatos for Paly to have any kind of chance at pulling the upset.
Boys basketball
Palo Alto opened its season with an easy 61-13 romp over King's Academy on Wednesday in the opening round of the James Lick Invitational. Senior Kheaton Scott led the Vikings (1-0) with 20 points and 13 rebounds while senior guard Jeremy Lin dished out eight assists while just playing half the game.
Senior Steven Brown added 17 points for Paly, which is missing two starters (Cooper Miller and Brad Lehman) still playing football.
Mid-Peninsula (2-3) got 24 points from junior Jamar Williams and 11 from junior Bruce Grady in a 48-43 win over Terra Nova in the second round of the Redwood Christian Tournament. Williams is averaging 24.2 points in the Dragons' first five games.
Menlo (2-0) got 24 points from junior guard Beau Heidrich and 18 from senior guard Blake Schultz in a 75-68 nonleague win over host Evergreen on Tuesday.
Menlo-Atherton (1-0) opened with an 85-18 romp over Burton as senior Gorjan Hrustanovic tossed in 20 points for the Bears.
Woodside Priory (1-0) gave first-year coach Al Klein his first win as senior Hap Plain scored 18 points to lead the Panthers to a 47-25 nonleague win over San Francisco Christian.
Gunn (0-2) got 30 points from junior Peter Jordan but the Titans dropped a 64-60 nonleague decision to host St. Francis.
Girls basketball
Menlo-Atherton (1-0) got 16 points from Karley Marty in a 57-31 season-opening win over Notre Dame-Salinas in the first round of the Gator Classic in Atherton. In other games, Sacred Heart Prep (0-1) fell to Urban, 46-37, and Palo Alto (0-1) dropped a 53-45 decision to Convent of the Sacred Heart despite getting 15 points from Bre Clay.
In nonleague action, Castilleja (1-2) bounced back from a 48-28 loss to visiting Menlo to beat Crystal Springs on Wednesday, 40-29, behind 20 points from freshman Ericka von Kaeppler.
Soccer
Annie Roberts scored twice to pace Castilleja (2-0) to a 3-0 nonleague win over host Cupertino and Allie Crandall had two goals for Menlo (2-1) in a 3-1 nonleague triumph over host Sacred Heart Prep.
The Menlo boys (2-1) picked up a pair of nonleague wins this week, 1-0 over El Camino and 4-1 over Sacred Heart Cathedral. Tristan Sansbury scored twice in the SH Cathedral win to pace the Knights.
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