Senior night for the Palo Alto Vikings (7-2, 5-1) saw 20 seniors play their final game at home, sending the Los Altos Eagles (1-8,0-6) home with a 74-14 defeat.
The Vikings wasted no time on offense, scoring in just three plays after forcing the Eagles to punt. Running back Morris Gates-Mouton (’12) broke out on first down, with a 29-yard run from the halfway line, followed by a 12 yard dash from Dre Hill (’12). Hill finished off the drive by punching in a eight yard touchdown.
The Eagles were not able to produce offensesively, punting the ball away once again. Justin Grey (’12) returned the ball 55 yards for a touchdown and put the Eagles in an early hole. However, Los Altos  quarterback Lambie Lanman (’14)  responded with a pass to receiver Bemi Onipede (’12) who broke through the Viking secondary, before being brought down by Paly receiver B.J. Boyd (’12). Despite the second effort by Boyd, the Eagles punched through for a touchdown of their own, bringing the deficit to 13-7.
“Early on we were not covering the slants very well our man coverage, we had problems early on, ” defensive coordinator Jake Halas said. “They scored on our first d[defense] on a quick slant. Other than that we were pretty sound. We got everyone a chance to play and everyone played.”
On the ensuing kick-off, Viking receiver Gabe Landa (’12) picked up the squib kick and returned it for 60 yards and a touchdown, completing the two point conversion afterward.
Down 21-7, the Eagles were stopped once again by the Viking defense, including a sack from tackle Chris Martinez (’12). From this point forward, the floodgates opened with a long pass from Paly quarterback Keller Chryst (’14) to Boyd, who completed the play for 59 yards. The touchdown came on the next play as Hill powered his way into the end zone for a 29 yard touchdown.
An accidental kneel by Eagle punter, turned the ball over to the Vikings at their own seven, followed by a touchdown from Mouton and a nine yard touchdown by Hill on the next Paly drive. With a 41-7 lead, the Vikings were in complete control of the game, and only increased their lead by deflecting an Eagle punt at the 10 yard line which landed in the hands of Andrew Frick (’14) who ran in the short touchdown.
With 34 seconds left in the second quarter, Hill burst out for a 34-yard touchdown run, giving the Vikings a 55-7 lead into the half.
Boyd opened the second half by receiving the kickoff and running 75 yards for another touchdown. Justin Gates-Mouton (’13) made brought in a 60 yard touchdown run, followed by a 4-yard touchdown by Matt Christ (’13) to make it 74-14.
Tied for first in league with Milpitas, the Vikings will travel to Milpitas next week, to play a crucial game to determine the winner of the group. Despite the strong performance, Hill believes there is still work to be done, to prepare.
“We are going to come out with our minds strictly focused on Milpitas, on their offense and their defense,” Hill said. “They have got a nice offense so we have to get our defense prepared, we have to keep our defense off the field and let our offense do what they do best.”