By Richard
Paolinelliÿ
MaxPreps.comÿ
They won't know for certain until
December 10, when the section administrator's across California make their
official decision, but the Palo Alto High football team appears to be headed
for the inaugural state Division II championship game on December
16.ÿ
The Vikings' completed an amazing,
if not improbable, run through the Central Coast Section's Open School
Division football playoffs last weekend with a 23-21 victory over Oak Grove,
the top seeded team in the division.ÿ
Palo Alto running backs
Sione Mataele (22 carries, 105 yards, 2 TDs) and Will Frazier (21-100-0)
powered the Vikings' offense while the defense turned away a first and goal
early in the game without yielding a single point to lead the way to the title
at Foothill College in Los Altos. ÿ
The No. 3-seeded Vikings (12-1)
won their three playoff games by a combined total of seven points - their
largest margin of victory was a three-point win in four overtimes against No.
2-seeded Palma in the semi finals - after opening the playoffs with a 23-21
win over Aragon.ÿ
But Friday's victory over Oak
Grove was made all the sweeter by the fact that the Eagles had defeated the
Vikings 35-14 when the teams last met on September 22.ÿ
The way to the state title game
opened up for the Vikings less than a day after the celebrations of their
section championship began.ÿ
The Manteca Buffaloes upset Colfax
34-14 Saturday at the Sac-Joaquin Section's Division V championship game,
knocking out the team that figured to battle Palo Alto for Northern
California's berth in the D-II title game and all but officially punching the
Vikings' ticket to Carson.ÿ
It appears that, of the four CCS
champions crowned over the weekend, Palo Alto will be the only team to advance
to a state title game in Southern California.ÿ
Coming into the section's Large
School Division playoffs as the No. 7 seed and carrying a 6-4 record into the
postseason, Milpitas had virtually no chance of a state title berth,
especially with powerhouse De La Salle from across the bay sitting in their
way, but the Trojans still had their sights on a section
title.ÿ
After upsetting No. 2 Woodside
12-6, the Trojans (9-4) romped over No. 6 Santa Teresa 47-6 and downed No.
8-ranked Piedmont Hills 39-21 to capture the CCS section
crown.ÿ
Milpitas' run through the playoffs
wasn't nearly as surprising as the fact that none of the top three seeded
teams managed to make it out of the first round in the large school division
and No. 4-seeded Leland needed overtime just to reach the
semifinals.ÿ ÿ
After starting the season 1-1-1,
including a stunning 41-21 loss at home to Palma, St. Ignatius rebounded to
win six of seven and earn the top seed in the CCS Medium School
Division.ÿ
The Wildcats (10-2-1) never looked
back, rolling through Aptos (28-14) and Los Altos (33-14) before dispatching
Los Gatos 35-20 in the section championship game Friday night at Foothill
College.ÿ
The Wildcats may not have shown
enough to land a berth in the Division III championship game, even if the
presumptive NorCal favorite Cardinal Newman is defeated by Hayward on December
8 in its final game, but having recovered from a slow start and captured a
section crown may be sufficient enough for the Wildcats.ÿ
Separated only by a few miles of
pristine Monterey Bay coastline, Seaside and Pacific Grove traveled 70 miles
north to San Jose on Saturday for the CCS Small School section championship
game.ÿ
The Spartans of Seaside (12-1)
rumbled over King City 62-12 in their opener and sent Burlingame packing 28-12
in the semi-finals. The Breakers (10-3) had a pleasure cruise by comparison,
blanking Monterey 28-0 before routing Willow Glen 50-14.ÿ
But when the two teams met at San
Jose City College on Saturday, the Spartans were carrying the emotional
baggage of having lost in the last two section title
games.ÿ
They were not about to suffer a
third-straight defeat.ÿ
Michael Avila took the opening
kickoff and ran it all the way back for the opening score of the game and
Seaside simply never looked back, exorcising the demons of playoff failures
past with a 28-14 victory over Pacific Grove.ÿ
ÿ
