By Vincent Liu

The Mountain View High football team’s high-octane offense fell flat last Friday in a 14-7 loss to Pioneer in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs.

The loss ended the Spartans’ season at 8-3 and continued their postseason futility.

Mountain View hasn’t won a playoff game since 1996 and prior to that, the Spartans hadn’t won a postseason contest since 1981.

Mountain View came into Friday’s game as the third seed - Pioneer (6-5) was No. 6 - and had the advantage of hosting the game at Foothill College.

But as the game proved, seeding can be misleading.

Pioneer’s massive line, which averages just more than 230 pounds per starter, flattened a Mountain View rushing attack that boasts two seniors who each gained more than 1,100 yards this season. Trevor Hooper and J.D. Nelson found little room to run against Pioneer and were held to a combined 48 yards.

Three of the Mustangs’ backs rushed for more than that, taking advantage of their team’s superior size up front. Pioneer ran for 219 yards in all.

The Mustangs’ put together two long scoring marches in the first half by staying almost exclusively on the ground.

The first drive covered 74 yards and featured 12 consecutive running plays. The next time it got the ball, Pioneer galloped 80 yards to pay dirt with 15 runs and only two passes. The two drives ate up almost 14 minutes of clock.

Trailing 14-0 with 4:29 left in the half, Mountain View went to the air for its touchdown. Two plays after dropping a pass at the Mustangs’ 1-yard line, Jonathan Lam redeemed himself by grabbing an 18-yard toss at the 13. On the next play, Hooper took a screen pass and dove into the end zone with five seconds left. Hal Ellison’s extra point narrowed the gap to 14-7.

Mountain View head coach Dan Navarro then made an adjustment at halftime to slow down Pioneer’s ground game.

“We stacked our line to the strong side and moved our secondary up to dare them to throw the ball,” he said.

The strategy worked. With their runners contained, the Mustangs had to punt four times in the second half and failed to add to the lead.

The Spartans’ offense, however, fared no better. Their best chance to tie the contest came early in the fourth quarter when a wide-open Ryan Wilcox, streaking down the left sideline, dropped a perfect spiral by quarterback Sean Manson that could have resulted in a 41-yard touchdown.

Mountain View had two more possessions after missing this opportunity, but never came near the end zone.

Manson, the junior quarterback who usually passes fewer than 10 times per contest due to his team’s potent run game, was forced to throw 29 times. He completed 16 of his passes - several other attempts were dropped - for 160 yards and a score. His leading receivers were Hooper and Wilcox with seven and six catches, respectively.

Although Navarro was concerned about Pioneer’s size before the game, he was nevertheless disappointed in his teams inability to run the ball.

“We didn’t run well, could not sustain our drives, and couldn’t stop them when it counted,” said Navarro, who guided Mountain View to the SCVAL El Camino Division championship this season.