CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device
PALO ALTO — Adversity appeared to find Oak Grove at multiple points this fall.
A dreadful shutout loss on Aug. 31 while dedicating its field to legendary coach Ed Buller didn’t set the right tone. Another blowout two weeks later meant many could’ve written the Eagles off.
Even earlier in the week, a lockdown after the discovery of a homemade bomb on the campus parking lot forced Tuesday’s practice to be canceled.
Three days later, Oak Grove advanced to the Central Coast Section II championship game after a wild 40-36 affair on the road at Palo Alto.
“Coming into playoffs we just had to stay together, keep fighting no matter what through any adversity and just come out on top in the end,” Oak Grove junior Elias Herrera said.
Seventh-seeded Oak Grove (10-2), which is riding a nine-game win streak, gets a shot at avenging its 44-0 setback in the season opener to Los Gatos (11-1), the No. 1 seed in the bracket.
“That was all the way in August, it’s now November,” Oak Grove senior Malique Sumler said. “It’s a whole different season, it’s playoffs.”
The final will be a matchup of two of the section’s storied programs. Los Gatos will be appearing in its 19th CCS final, Oak Grove its 15th.
SEASON PASS DIGITAL OFFER
If you have not already, we strongly encourage you to sign up for a digital subscription, which gives you access to all content on the Mercury News and East Bay Times websites for just $1 a week. With your support, we can continue bringing these stories — and much more — to your screens. Here’s where to sign up for the season pass: Mercury News, East Bay Times.
No. 6 Palo Alto (7-5) got off to a disastrous beginning.
Herrera broke loose for a 44-yard touchdown on a fly sweep on the third play of the game. After the ensuing kickoff, Oak Grove junior Louis Barber stepped in front of a pass for a pick-six.
The Vikings trailed 13-0 barely three minutes into the game.
“We were down, they fought back,” Paly coach Nelson Gifford said. “There was no finger-pointing or guys being upset or anything like that. It was constant support and love, just commitment to playing.”
Twenty-four unanswered points by the Vikings turned things around before the end of the first quarter.
Paly sophomore Danny Peters tossed 7- and 83-yard TDs to Josh Butler and Jamir Shepard respectively. With 2:52 left, co-captain Kevin Cullen blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone. He intercepted a pass on the next play from scrimmage to set up a 31-yard field goal by Alex Wang to make it 24-13 with 27 seconds to go in the first quarter.
“Oak Grove is a helluva team and we battled all game, can’t say much else,” Cullen said. “They’ve got athletes, we’ve got athletes, it’s just about who can make the better play.”
The Eagles managed to reclaim a 26-24 lead before halftime, as Mateo De la Torre took a 2-yard pitch past the goal line on fourth-and-goal with six seconds left before intermission.
“Regardless of if we win, lose, things go bad, good, we’re going to stay together as a family,” Oak Grove coach Marcus Reese said. “We’re going to stay tight, supportive of each other. That’s something we’ve been working on all year long.”
A combined five turnovers in the second half continued the back-and-forth contest, including a fumble recovery by Paly senior Max Giovannotto, who moments later converted a fake punt that set up a 1-yard TD run by Butler to put the Vikings back ahead 30-26 with 8:13 left in the third quarter.
With Paly threatening just outside the red zone as the fourth quarter neared, Herrera picked off a pass that turned the tide.
Seven plays later, Oak Grove went up 33-30 on a 4-yard fly sweep by none other than Herrera and never trailed again.
“We kept pushing because we’ve been fighting for this all year, since the summer,” Herrera said. “We’ve just been pushing, grinding every day — nonstop.”
Herrera finished with eight carries for 108 yards, while Sumler paved the way with 25 carries for 184 yards.
Both found the end zone twice.
“We have playmakers all over the field,” Sumler said. “We were able to put guys in the right position to make plays, and we made plays off of them. Anybody makes mistakes, we’ve got to capitalize — and that’s what we did.”
Sumler scored a much-needed insurance TD from 11 yards with 5:31 left.
That’s because 17 seconds later Shepard, a Fresno State commit, split the secondary for an 80-yard touchdown to keep Palo Alto’s hope alive.
But Paly only got the ball back with 18 seconds, with any miracle comeback virtually out of the picture.
“This has been my second family for four years,” Cullen said. “I wouldn’t ask to go out on the field with any other group of guys. Every single one of them is a brother of mine. Some of my lifelong memories will have been made on this field with these guys … and it’s hard to leave.”
Oak Grove senior Michael Nunez sealed the triumph with an interception — the fourth by the Eagles.
Adversity appears to suit Oak Grove, which won’t back down next week in a rematch against Los Gatos.
“We’re a completely different team now,” Reese said. “We have a lot of players who came back from grades, injuries, that we didn’t have the first game, the first three games. That’s kind of our story, not just our players developing. And here we are.”
