Palo Alto Pounds Mountain View in 'Best Game of the Season'

It didn’t take long for the Mountain View Spartans to realize they had their hands full with Palo Alto. The Vikings’ athleticism allowed them to separate early with three first quarter touchdowns to pave their way to a dominating 46-14 performance, a season-high point total.

B.J. Boyd stole the show again, blazing past yet another overmatched defense, but the youth up and down the Palo Alto depth chart that has posed problems for the Vikings showed serious signs of improvement and maturity.

“It was our best game [of the season],” Palo Alto Head Coach Earl Hansen. “Everyone has improved across the board and the sophomores really picked it up.”

Less than a minute into the game, Viking senior runningback Morris Gates-Mouton broke free to the right, and behind a crushing block by Boyd, scampered up the sideline for a 63-yard score. Mountain View responded with a long 14-play drive, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown by junior runningback Marcus Jones. Jones racked up 86 yards and the lone touchdown on 19 carries.

“We battled and we fought today, but it was too late,” Jones said. “We’re going to go back to work on Monday and get this thing figured out.”

And it only took until the next play for Palo Alto to strike back. The kickoff gave the Vikings field position at the Mountain View 37-yard line, where quarterback Keller Chryst dropped back and lobbed the ball deep down the right sideline to a streaking Boyd. He blew past his defender, caught the ball, and cruised into the endzone. A few minutes later, Gates-Mouton would add another score from four yards out, giving the Vikings a 20-7 advantage after a quarter of play.

The next Palo Alto score looked straight out of a video game. Chryst took a short drop, and passed to Boyd running across the field to the left. Boyd snatched the ball, spun off his defender, ran forward a few yards, juked another defender to the ground, and then decided to cutback the full width of the field, running around the entire Mountain View secondary for a 58-yard touchdown. Boyd would add another touchdown late in the third quarter. He finished the night with three catches, all for touchdowns, for 138 yards.

“I know if I get into the open field it’s a touchdown,” Boyd said.

Unfortunately, the Spartans defense couldn’t rest yet. The Vikings regained possession with only a couple minutes remaining in the half, when senior tight end Austin Braff led them on another successful drive. First, he snatched a high pass from Chryst over the middle for a crucial third-down conversion, breaking tackles for a 24-yard gain. Then, after two short runs by senior Dre Hill, Braff reeled in another ball across the middle and ran up field for 24 more yards. On the next play, Chryst dumped it off again to Braff, who followed his blocks and ran in for a 22-yard touchdown. Thanks to some missed extra points, Palo Alto ran into the locker room on top 32-7.

“[We still have to work on] our consistency,” Palo Alto senior defensive tackle Nathan Hubbard said. “We have to play at a high level throughout the game, and finish.”

The third quarter was no different. Gates-Mouton broke away again, bursting up the left sideline, before pulling a cutback similar to Boyd’s, giving him a 68-yard touchdown. Gates-Mouton touched the ball five times, rushing for 146 yards and three touchdowns. Add that to Boyd’s third touchdown only a minute later, and the Vikings took a commanding 46-7 lead before putting it into cruise control.

A stiff Palo Alto defense showed up yet again, with senior defensive end Tory Prati, junior linebacker Erik Anderson, and sophomore linebacker Andrew Frick each sacking Mountain View quarterback Mike Butler, while sophomore Malcolm Davis swiped his second interception of the season. Butler was held to 10-for-22 passing for 115 yards, the interception, and a short touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.

Palo Alto will take on Los Altos High School at home next week on Friday at 7:30 p.m.