M-A takes down Paly

With the win, the No. 2-seed Bears (10-2) advance to the CCS Open Division I championship game to face top-seed Wilcox this coming Friday at Independence High School at 7 p.m.

“I feel relieved,” M-A senior nose tackle Noa Ngalu said. “I feel relieved that we have another week of playing.”

M-A hit Palo Alto (10-2) with a double whammy. The overpowering rush fronted by Ngalu — who was in on two sacks — and senior middle linebacker Daniel Heimuli was in Paly’s backfield all day long, while the secondary used consistent dime packages to relentlessly double team receivers.

The formula kept the heat on Vikings quarterback Jackson Chryst, whose high-percentage passing tempo has been Paly’s bread and butter all season. M-A, however, held the younger brother of former Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst to 174 yards on a season-low 17-of-36 passing, one touchdown and two interceptions.

“I think we defended pretty well,” M-A cornerback Justin Anderson said. “We all knew it was going to be a passing game. … So all week at practice we went out and prepared for it, and it turned out well.”

M-A kept No. 3 Palo Alto pinned in its own territory through most of the first half, giving its offense time enough to mount a 10-0 halftime lead. When the Vikings at last got on the board in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, M-A came right back over the top, ran the ball down their throats and put the game away.

The Bears didn’t muster much offense, outgaining the Vikings 247-231. But they produced big plays when they needed them.

Senior running back Deston Hawkins had best showing with 19 carries for 136 yards, including carries on all seven plays of M-A’s 75-yard scoring drive, diving in for a 1-yard touchdown behind an up back block for the game’s final score with 6:27 to play.

“We should have done that earlier,” Bears head coach Adhir Ravipati said of the ground game.

Unable to produce a first-down through its first two possessions, M-A benefitted from a bad punt in its own territory midway through the first quarter to take over at the Palo Alto 33-yard line. On third-and-19, Bears quarterback Jack Alexander scampered for a 12-yard scramble, just enough to get into field goal range for senior Anthony Waller.

Waller responded by dialing up a career-best 47-yard field goal to put the Bears up 3-0.

Then the turnover bug bit, keeping M-A from scoring on its next possession. Running back Jaeden Barker took a carry from the Palo Alto 12 and looked bound for the end zone, but coughed up a fumble at the goal line. M-A got the ball back a minute later after a three-and-out, but Alexander started the second quarter by being intercepted by senior Wes Walters.

The Vikings took over at the M-A 25, but went backward before Bears junior safety Joe Posthauer broke up a fourth-down pass to force a turnover on downs.

“We had a whole (defensive) group out there that really did a good job,” Ravipati said. “When you’re able to make a team one-dimensional, you only have to worry about one thing.”

M-A took over at its own 29 and proceeded to drive 71 yards on 10 plays, capped by a dazzling touchdown catch by wide receiver Troy Franklin.

The matchup with Palo Alto had special significance for Franklin, who resides in East Palo Alto and grew up going to school in the Palo Alto Unified School District through eighth-grade.

The sophomore had dropped a long pass earlier in the drive that possibly cost his team a score. Franklin made up for it when Alexander lofted a 26-yard pass into the end zone. Palo Alto cornerback Damion Richard-Valencia stayed with Franklin step for step, and had inside position as the two went up for the jump ball. But Franklin’s athleticism won the ball, as he got up and over the defender to make a strong-handed grab, tumble to the ground and maintain possession for the score to put M-A up 10-0.

“I always think I’m about to catch the ball,” Franklin said. “My mindset is no one can stop me. So I just went up and got it.”

The M-A defense hammered away at Chryst through Palo Alto’s final possession of the half. The Vikings took over at their own 45, and moved into M-A territory for the second time on the afternoon on an 11-yard keeper by Chryst with just over a minute to go in the half.

Chryst advanced on third-and-20 with a 26-yard pass to senior Paul Thie to the M-A 14. But the Bears defense went on lockdown, as senior defensive end David Tafuna produced a sack on first-down, followed by Chryst throwing up a prayer that was intercepted by safety Treavon Norton, who took the pick at he M-A 5 and returned it to the Palo Alto 8.

The half ended on a missed 25-yard field goal attempt by Waller.

Palo Alto went three-and-out on its first two possessions of the second half. The Vikings moved the ball into Bears territory to start the fourth quarter, but third- and fourth-down pressure from Ngalu forced a turnover on downs. M-A turned over the ball on the first play of the following possession on Barker’s second fumble of the day, giving Palo Alto the ball back at the Bears’ 37.

Chryst then averted Palo Alto being shut out for the first time this season, following rushing gains by Aiden Chang of 17 and 3 yards with a 7-yard touchdown pass to junior Junacio Henley on one of the few 1-on-1 chances the Vikings saw all day.

M-A now advances for its second appearance in a CCS championship game in the past three years. The Bears claimed the Open Division I championship in 2016 with a 17-0 win over Milpitas. This year’s title-game opponent Wilcox fell to M-A in the first round of the CCS playoffs in 2016.

“We’ll enjoy this for the next couple hours,” Ravipati said. “Then we’ll turn around and prepare for Wilcox.”