Game of the Week: Woodside looks to take next step toward PAL Ocean football title

“We had to go back to last year’s film (of Woodside) to see anything,” Holden continued. “They’ve kind of bludgeoned everyone they play.”

And that’s a how a team finds itself 6-0 on the season and opened Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play with a 31-0 shutout of Hillsdale last week.

The Wildcats’ offensive numbers have been spectacular this season. The 31 points against Hillsdale was a season-low for a team that is averaging nearly 45 points per game. Last week was the only time the Wildcats have not scored 40 or more points.

“People love to see touchdowns. See big offensive plays,” said Woodside head coach Justin Andrews. “But the unsung hero has been our defensive play, 100%.”

But Woodside has been an equal-opportunity punisher on both sides of the ball. Led by senior linebacker Isaac Pech, who has a team-leading 45 tackles, the Wildcats are completely shutting down opposing offenses. Hillsdale managed just 20 yards of offense last week. Three weeks ago, in a 56-6 win over Santa Clara, the Wildcats held the Bruins to 99 yards. Castro Valley had 229, Mountain View 124 and Westmont 150.

And it’s not just Pech. JJ Lange and Daniel Torres have been lockdown cornerbacks and Andrews’ defensive end Carlos Latu had his way 1-on-1 against Hillsdale.

“Defensively speaking, [the Hillsdale game] was one of the best (defensive) games I’ve ever been part of. We were so dialed in. It felt like we were everywhere,” Andrews said. “A pack of piranhas. Everyone just flying to the ball and making plays.”

And yet, Woodside’s best defense against Half Moon Bay might be the Wildcats’ offense. Andrews doesn’t want to let Half Moon Bay’s grind-it-out offense to get in a rhythm. He wants to control the ball, keep the ball out of the Cougars’ hands, finish drives and make HMB play from behind.

“A lot of that (slowing the HMB offense) is going to fall on our offense. Try to put some points on the board and not allow them to get that slow strangulation when they get a lead,” Andrews said. “Half Moon Bay has proven they can be pretty damn explosive. They have a diverse bag of tricks. Just thinking you have to load up on the scrum (running game) alone (is foolish). They are a lot more versatile than that.”

Half Moon Bay (0-1, 4-2 overall) comes into the game a wounded animal. If the Cougars have a shot at sharing the Ocean Division title, they will have to win out after they were stunned in triple overtime by Milpitas last week, 31-28.

“We weren’t as tidy as we wanted to be against Milpitas,” Holden said, mentioning three turnovers and a rare inability to run out the clock with the lead.

Things started well for the Cougars against Milpitas as they scored on their first two drives of the game. But they didn’t score again until the first overtime period.

“We 100% put the blame on our offense. I’m the offensive coordinator, I’m not going to hide that from them,” Holden said. “We had plenty of opportunities to win the game and we didn’t cash them in.

“We’ve had three turnovers two times this year. Guess which games we lost?”

Holden said the secret to beating Woodside is no different than any other team. Assuming the teams’ talent roughly matches up, the difference usually comes down to execution and discipline. Holden believes if his team cleans up the mistakes on offense and they get key stops on defense, the Cougars have a chance to be in the game.

“Typical Half Moon Bay drives — 13, 14 plays, milk the clock (on offense),” Holden said. “(Defensively) we have to generate some stops. We can’t give up 50.

“Woodside is winning on offense. They’re winning on defense, they win on special teams. … They just kind of hammer you up front … and all of the sudden, it’s not a game anymore.”