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Paly’s Brandon Escarsega-Calderon signals an incomplete pass after Adrian Faust batted down a ball at the line. Photo taken Oct. 15, 2021 by Karen Ambrose Hickey. -
Josh Butler, Palo Alto’s leading rusher the past two years, carried the ball a few times. Photo taken Oct. 15, 2021 by Karen Ambrose Hickey. -
Brody Simison ran the ball on offense and played safety on defense. Photo taken Oct. 15, 2021 by Karen Ambrose Hickey. -
Kai Bussey (27) makes a play while Charlie Hoke runs to help. Photo taken Oct. 15, 2021 by Karen Ambrose Hickey.
Palo Alto’s Brody Simison and Danny Peters shared an emotional embrace after the Vikings’ 49-0 defeat to Los Gatos on a homecoming Friday evening. The unbeaten Wildcats, 8-0 overall, 4-0 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, were simply too much to handle on both sides of the ball.
“Los Gatos is disciplined,” Peters said. “They broke the huddle and they’re on the line.”
Palo Alto (3-4, 1-2 De Anza) wasn’t very disciplined in the first half, committing a multitude of penalties, most of them illegal blocks, and was fighting uphill all evening, much to the chagrin of coach Nelson Gifford.
“We have to take accountability for our mistakes,” Gifford said. “Any time we get penalized, we have to self-reflect. We have to take that into account and do better.”
The Wildcats have a tough running back in junior Emiliano Mejia, who rushed for three short touchdowns of 5, 1 and 4 yards in the first half. He netted 66 yards on 11 carries, working limited minutes.
Los Gatos tallied three touchdowns in the second half, two of them coming on big plays – a 66-yard run by Caspian Bailey and a 68-yard hookup from quarterback Jake Boyd to Luke Pittock. Boyd’s three TD passes included a 15-yarder to Yuma Raux-Moriwaki and a 7-yard toss to Jake Ripp.
Ripp, a tight end/linebacker, is verbally committed to Boise State.
“I know Jake Ripp,” Peters said. “He’s the best player in the league. He controls their defense at middle linebacker.”
With a lack of a running game, Peters threw 35 times, completing 17 for 125 yards.
Simison, playing both ways, caught six balls for 41 yards. Playing safety for the first time, Simison intercepted a Boyd pass midway through the first half, returning it down the Paly sideline 50 yards to the Los Gatos 20. However, on fourth-and-3, an interception thwarted the threat.
“I was watching the tight end,” said Simison on his interception. “I read the route and knew I was solo.”
Simison ran a kickoff back after the Wildcats had gone up 42-0, taking the ball to the Los Gatos 39-yard line. Simison had a 12-yard reception to the Los Gatos 22, but a minus-9 yard sack of Peters put a halt to the Paly drive.
Paly wideout Blake Chase made a circus catch for 23 yards right before half and totaled three receptions for 36 yards.
Defensively, down lineman Adrian Faust batted down a Boyd pass, giving the ‘incomplete pass’ signal for an added touch. Faust was in on other tackles as the Vikings battled to the end.
Palo Alto has two league games remaining, beginning with Mountain View, which lost to Homestead, next week.
“We need to play hard every week,” Gifford said. “We need to focus on developing our skills.”
“We need to get together more,” Peters said. “We need to get rid of the distractions at practice.”
An emotional Simison added, “We have to have ‘the want-to.’ We have to want it.”
