SAN JOSE — Instead of the high-scoring game that was expected on the basis of comparative scores, defense ruled Friday night at Santa Teresa where the Saints improved to 4-0 with a 17-0 win over Hillsdale.
The previous week Santa Teresa scored 41 and allowed 35 in an overtime win over Pioneer while Hillsdale beat Woodside 40-30. But on this occasion both defenses played well, especially Santa Teresa’s, which recorded a shutout to emphasize that point.
“We challenged the defense,” Santa Teresa coach Steve Papin said. “We base our team on defense. We challenged them and they stepped up.”
The Saints came up with five turnovers, four interceptions and a fumble recovery. Cornerback Isaiah Rivera had two of the pass thefts, Robert Estrada one and sophomore Jalen Karriem another one, that he returned 76 yards for a touchdown.
Hillsdale running back Dante Allendorf, who rushed for 244 yards last week against Woodside, managed 82 hard-earned yards on 23 carries.
“We try to take away what they do best,” Papin said. “This week we took away the running back and competed in the secondary. So we played a complete game on defense.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Rivera’s first interception gave the Saints a first down at the Hillsdale 32. Five plays later Brenton Gaches tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Casey Carr on a third-down play with 5:14 left before halftime.
Hillsdale set out to drive for an equalizer and picked up three first downs before Casey Strezo’s pass on third-and-seven was picked off by Karriem, who turned on the burners and ran it back all the way for a touchdown that made it 14-0 at the half.
“I thought both defenses played really really well tonight,” Hillsdale coach Mike Parodi said. “We put our defense in such a disadvantage all night, so many short fields for a myriad of reasons. When we made them drive we played really well. When we gave them a short field … it’s hard to play good defense for 30 yards, you know what I mean?”
Carr’s 31-yard field goal in the final minute of the third quarter was the only score in the second half.
Santa Teresa finished with 188 yards of total offense, 150 of it on the ground. Hillsdale (2-2) had 136 yards rushing and 76 passing, completing only 10 of 29 passes with the four interceptions.
“They’re so athletic that windows are smaller,” Parodi said. “Lots of athletes on the field. They’ve got three down linemen and eight dudes running all over the place. They get after it and play hard. They’re a fun defense to watch.”
Ideally, against some other team rather than your own?
“Hey, it’s football, that’s what we signed up for,” Parodi said. “A great experience for our kids as we get a few weeks closer to league. We’re in the De Anza, we’re going to play against great defenses all the time. I hope we learn our lessons now in September before we hit the October rush.”
Santa Teresa goes into its bye week feeling good about itself at 4-0.
“I’ve only been 4-0 once in my coaching career and that was at Independence (in 2018),” Papin said. “We were 4-0 and ended up 10-0, so that’s the goal. We get a bye next week and then play Christopher, probably the best team in our league. So we’re going to treat Christopher as a two-week process.”
