After capturing at least a share of three of the last four El Camino Division football titles in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, the Santa Clara Bruins are out to prove they belong in the upper De Anza Division this year.
Last week’s 28-3 triumph over Fremont in their 2019 De Anza opener was a step in the right direction. But the Bruins will face a more formidable challenge this Friday when they play host to longtime nemesis Palo Alto. The kickoff is slated for 7:15 p.m.
Palo Alto, which dropped its De Anza opener to defending division champ Wilcox 26-15 last week, has defeated Santa Clara the last seven times the two programs have clashed on the gridiron, including a 44-31 decision when they last met in 2016.
“Their offense is explosive,” Santa Clara coach Burt Codera said of the Vikings. “They have big-time athletes at skill positions, and their defense is fast and aggressive up front.”
The Bruins, who are off to a 4-1 start overall, are coming off of back-to-back El Camino Division co-championships, and took that title outright in 2015. But last week’s win over Fremont snapped a 17-game losing streak in De Anza Division play dating back to 2013.
Jojo Hernandez rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns, and Bailey Mungaray scored a solo TD to spur Santa Clara to its fourth straight win since dropping its season opener to Soquel 27-6.
Alan Molina’s 36-yard field goal accounted for Fremont’s lone points in the game.
“Overall, we played okay. We need to take care of the ball better, and clean up penalties,” Codera said. “We are a young team learning how to win.”
Like Santa Clara, the Monta Vista Matadors are hoping to get off to a 2-0 league start tonight when they welcome the always tough Saratoga Falcons for an important 7 p.m. El Camino Division showdown. Both teams enter the game with 4-1 overall records.
“The mindset we have going from game to game this year has been that we are playing for a championship,” Monta Vista coach Ceazar Agront said. “This week is no different. We will walk on to the field viewing the game as a championship game.”
Monta Vista opened its league schedule with a 37-15 win over Gunn, while Saratoga toppled Homestead 56-35.
“Saratoga has a strong passing game,” Agront said. “Their senior quarterback, Payton Stokes, can really play some ball.”
Stokes passed for 423 yards and four touchdowns in the Falcons’ win over Homestead, and has already thrown for 19 TD’s and over 1,700 yards this year. As a junior last year, he threw for 3,168 yards and 36 touchdowns.
“Gunn tested our run defense,” Agront said. “Saratoga will be looking to test our pass defense.”
Monta Vista’s defense came through with flying colors against Gunn, led by Sean Kim’s team-high 10 solo tackles and Henry Hodgkins’ eight solo stops, including four for losses. Priyansh Modi topped off the strong defensive effort with a fourth-quarter interception.
Simon Loeffler, Owen Lassa and John Masegian each rushed for a touchdown to spearhead the Matadors offensive assault.
In other SCVAL games slated for this Friday, Los Altos travels to Homestead for a 6 p.m. start, Lynbrook visits Cupertino in a 7 p.m. game, and Wilcox hosts Los Gatos in a major De Anza Division battle at 7. Fremont has a bye week.
Homestead dropped to 2-3 on the year following its loss to Saratoga, while Cupertino fell to 1-4 after Los Altos dealt it a 28-20 setback in its El Camino opener. Lynbrook had a bye.
Demarcus Oandasan connected with TD passes of 12 and 25 yards to Yuma Raux-Moriwaki, and scored himself on a one-yard sneak to account for Cupertino’s scoring in the loss.
“We were inside the five-yard line on two different drives and did not score, and we threw an interception in the end zone, as well,” said Cupertino coach Chris Oswald. “We left a lot of points on the field. This is the fourth week in a row we should have won, but we are our own worst enemy.”
Wilcox edged Palo Alto 26-15 last Friday night. Wilcox tight end Michael Fiaui dove to fall on top of a teammate’s fumble for the eventual game-winning touchdown in the end zone with 1 minute, 36 seconds left in the third quarter.
In a clash of contenders for the SCVAL De Anza Division title, Wilcox (3-2, 1-0) stuck to the ground, while Paly (3-2, 0-1) went to the air.
The contrast in styles resulted in the host Vikings enjoying a 15-10 edge at halftime, even though the Chargers ran more than twice as many plays going into the locker room — 41 to 20, to be exact.
“They’re dangerous,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said. “They’ve got guys that can go house at any time, and it happened to us a couple of times. I was happily pleased, though, with the way our defense hung in there and didn’t let those plays affect them later in the game.”
Wilcox senior Paul M. Rosa, the coach’s son, provided a 1-2 punch in the backfield after a two-game absence due to a groin injury suffered in practice. He rushed 30 times for 163 yards and an insurance touchdown from 2 yards out with 3:26 left in the game.
“I’m just excited to be back,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to get back ever since I got hurt, but I’m just glad that I could contribute to the win.”
Wilcox’s Isaiah Flores added 27 carries for 177 yards and a 2-yard TD on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter that briefly tied the game.
He refused to take any credit for the combined 407 rushing yards on 69 carries, including 71 yards on keepers by quarterback Geremy McCollough.
“It doesn’t matter who we put back there,” said Flores, who put the game out of reach in the waning minutes after booting his second field goal. “As long as our line keeps going, we’re able to push through.”
“We wanted to grind it out and kind of keep the ball out of their hands,” Rosa said. “I think the game plan was good, we just put the ball on the ground, which kept the game tight.”
On the game-changing fumble recovery by Fiaui late in the third quarter, Palo Alto free safety Kevin Cullen hustled to tackle Flores at the 1-yard line, forcing the ball loose in the process.
The bounce benefited Wilcox, which was coming off a stunning 35-31 loss at Pittsburg the week before. The Chargers host Los Gatos (5-0, 1-0) this Friday, possibly able to claim a stranglehold of the SCVAL De Anza.
Staff writer Vytas Mazeika contributed to this roundup.
