As reported in the scores thread, Palma came from behind with a halftime deficit of -4 points which extended to -11 points late in the 3rd qtr, yet, somehow, overcame at least a half-dozen holding penalties on mostly big gains, and while having lost its star runner (Martinez) early in the game, but getting a very big running game by its wirey number two back, Torkelus (sp), who consistently put Palma in good scoring position, Palma came back with two scores during the last 1:55 mins. of the 4th qtr with a 25 yd TD pass and then with 0:45 seconds left in the game, a 35 yrd TD run by Torkelson after a Faringello interception to beat Monte Vista Christian 35-25 at Salinas High's "Pit." (I'm assuming Palma uses the Pit when Salinas isn't in order to save money by not playing in its usual house: The Salinas Sports Complex.)
Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville), who had a winning pre-season and all wins during league against mostly lowly ranked teams, which, for me, usually spells early doom when such a team goes up against higher ranked opponents, did a good job adjusting to competition against a higher calibre team by holding Palmas scoreless until the final seconds of the 1st quarter. I sat on the MVC side of the field and, since there is no 8-lane track between the sidelines and the spectators, it was nice to see and feel MVC's energy level and confidence building and their crowd really getting into the game each time the 1st half scoring see-sawed back and forth with 4 lead changes before MVC ended the 1st half on top 18-14. A poster on the scores thread when mentioning this game noted that the Palma QB seemed to be having trouble much of the night. I had my field glasses on the cause of most of the QB's trouble all night, it was this 260 pound mountain of muscle, aka MVC's #72 right tackle, who all too often was either hitting the Palma QB either just before or just after the passed ball left the QB's fingers. Whereas Palmas colors are red and gold, me thinks when the QB took off his shoulder chest and rib pads post game, the colors he was looking at were more like black and blue.
Other than a game going on, tri-tip sandwiches (BBQ'd by Palma's boosters club) being eaten in the stands looked pretty big and good, and, actually, the cheerleaders routine was worth watching, nine pony-tailed girls doing an amazing, and an amazingly fast, array of insync kicks, leaps, fall-downs, get-ups and spinning moves, probably the fasted moving cheer or dance team I've ever seen, I swear if Palma's Torkelson had 40 or more quickly-snapped carries during the game, the Palma cheerleaders had three times as many moves during the halftime show, all memorized and executed perfectly. Scary moment of the evening came with only a few seconds left on the game-ending clock when a MVC back, running down the sidelines at full tilt was hit straight-on by a Palma defender, the Palma player getting the worst of it in a collision that sounded like a car wreck, the kid laid out and apparently unconscious for about 5 minutes. It's really eerie, after sitting though 2-hours of non-stop noise, to be in a hschool football stadium with about 2,000 buzzing people in it, with the place slowing becoming stone cold dead silent and then staying that way until the player was revived as, collectively, everyone in the stands starts breathing again. Fortunately, the Palma kid walked of the field arm and arm with two of his teamates, but yeh, amidst all the fun and thrill, moments like that are sickening, especially when you think that had it been otherwise, a young high school boy could have been seriously injured or permanently incapacitated. Such a great game, but also with such great risk. Muds
