The 16 Paly seniors played their last game on the “Hod Ray” field tonight but fell short against the Wildcats 35-21.
The Vikings came out to an early lead in the start of the game, scoring a touchdown on the first drive of the game. Marcus Brown (‘14) caught a 55 yard pass from Keller Chryst (‘14) to get to the 25 yard line. Andrew Frick (‘14) ran the ball in for the touchdown.
The Vikings defense then stopped the Wildcats from getting a first down, forcing Los Gatos to punt. Paly fumbled the punt, and the ball was recovered by the Wildcats. They went on to score a touchdown, tying the game at seven all.
Later on in the quarter, Paly drove the ball back down the field, completing a 41 yard pass to Brown. Before the Vikings were able to score; however, the Wildcats intercepted a pass from Chryst. Los Gatos went on to score a second touchdown, making the score 14-7.
Los Gatos had difficulty stopping Paly from driving the ball down the field as Keesean Johnson (‘14) caught a touchdown pass from Chryst, tying the score at 14 all at the end of the first quarter.
The Wildcats came out strong in the second quarter, scoring a touchdown within the first minute to increase their lead to 21-14. Soon after the Los Gatos scored again with three minutes and thirty-nine seconds left on the clock in the second quarter.
Chryst suffered from a rough tackle a few seconds later. He left the game and sat out for the rest of the game for precautionary reasons. Oliver Svirsky (‘16) took his place.
The first half ended with Gatos in the lead by 14 points.
Paly was able to score another touchdown in the middle of the third quarter, making the score 28-21 with Los Gatos in the lead.
The Wildcats scored again in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter and the score remained the same for the rest of the game, 35-21.
Despite the loss, Coach Earl Hansen felt as though the team played well.
“Under the circumstances I think we did a really good job,” Hansen said. “These guys played their hearts out. I am proud of all those guys, they played really hard.”
Svirsky agreed with Hansen, believing the team tried their best despite the multiple injuries.
“Even though some of our stars went down, we fought ‘till the end and we gave it our all,” Svirsky said.
The team is now focused on what they need to do to get ready for their next opponent.
“We practice everyday and we have to get better everyday,” Hansen said. “Next week is a new opponent. If we win that we go into the playoffs.”
Chryst suffered a mild concussions and it is unknown how long he will be on the sidelines. The Vikings will play Santa Clara next Friday for the last league game of the season.
