Publication Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
CCS FOOTBALL
Paly has its hands full in semifinals
Paly has its hands full in semifinals
(November 23, 2005) by Nathan Kurz
The Palo Alto football team somehow survived a scare from one Peninsula Athletic League opponent, but if it wants to return to the Central Coast Section title game for the second time in three years, it will need a flawless performance to advance past another surging team from the PAL.
After edging pesky South San Francisco 33-26 in an overtime thriller, the third-seeded Vikings (9-2) will host seventh-seeded Terra Nova (7-4) at Foothill College on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the CCS Medium School Division. Terra Nova tied for second in the rugged PAL Bay Division with South City.
The seeding disparity, however, does not tell the whole story. Terra Nova is arguably the hottest team in the CCS, riding a six-game win streak after routing No. 2 Westmont 47-13 on the road. Westmont eliminated Paly from the playoffs last season, 31-10.
In the last meeting between the two schools, Palo Alto fell 10-0 at Terra Nova in a Division III first-round game in 2001.
Early in the fall, the Tigers were both decimated by injuries and struggling to break in new quarterback Jack Forbes, leading to a 1-4 early season swoon.
But with its players healthy and its quarterback seasoned, Terra Nova is riding a wave of success with its recent string of victories, outscoring its opponents 241-61. Four of those opponents -- Woodside, Burlingame, Half Moon Bay and Westmont -- qualified for the CCS playoffs.
The Tigers' offensive star has been running back Daniel Porter, who has rushed for 1,343 yards on 182 carries and scored 18 touchdowns-four each in back-to-back games earlier this year.
Given the way Palo Alto struggled to stop the second-string running back of South San Francisco, it might be asking too much of the Vikings to slow down Porter.
The Warriors' John Mark Henderson, filling in for the injured Sam Seuma'ala, rushed for 129 yards on 22 carries as South San Francisco piled up 268 yards on the ground and outgained Palo Alto in total offense, 378-246.
Palo Alto also clearly misses quarterback Nick Goodspeed, who coach Earl Hansen revealed last week would miss the rest of the playoffs as a result of lingering soreness from a slightly separated right shoulder four weeks ago.
Backup Jon Koepfgen struggled in his third career start, completing only two of 10 passes for 48 yards. One was a 30-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Miller. Koepfgen also threw an interception that led to a South San Francisco score late in the first half.
On the bright side, junior Will Frazier had a breakout game with a career-high 163 yards rushing and two touchdowns, providing just the spark the Vikings needed with the passing game rendered ineffective.
Frazier's 56-yard touchdown run on his first carry nearly equaled Palo Alto's team rushing total from a 63-28 loss two weeks ago to Los Gatos.
"Frazier had the game of his career," Miller said. "I haven't seen him run like that, even in practice. We knew we were going to need a better run game."
With or without Frazier's running, Hansen and the Vikings won't be able to negate the loss of Goodspeed this week if the Palo Alto defense can't play more consistently.
Palo Alto allowed South San Francisco to score on four of five first half possessions in building a 23-19 halftime lead but held the Warriors to only a field goal in the next 24 minutes and stuffed them in a decisive goal-line stand in overtime.
Frazier's four-yard touchdown run capped Palo Alto's first possession of the extra session (which begins from the 10-yard line in high school as opposed to the 25 in college), putting the pressure on South San Francisco to score. Three rushing plays netted the Warriors nine yards, so the Palo Alto defense faced a fourth-and-one with the game on the line.
Warriors' quarterback Eric Moore, who hurt the Vikings with his arm and his feet all game, ran a bootleg left, but Miller snuffed out the play, hit Moore from behind, causing a fumble and leading his team to an emotional victory.
"He was getting away from me all game," Miller said. "I couldn't let him get away again. He's a big guy. Finally he ran with his back away from me."
Miller's big hit negated a game's worth of agony for the Vikings, who nearly allowed the lower seed pull off the upset when Frazier coughed up the ball with 2:25 remaining at the South San Francisco 39.
The Warriors' offense then quickly advanced to the Palo Alto 23 with just over a minute left, but an offensive pass interference penalty stalled the drive and a fourth-down Hail Mary heave fell incomplete to force overtime.
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