LOS GATOS — As emotional as it is each year in embracing his seniors for the final time, Jeff Carnazzo had a message for the core of players — 40 plus — who are returning next season.
“To the young guys, that’s the level we have to get to,” the Palma football coach said. “One year from today, we are going to be back in the Open Division playing these kinds of teams. In our off-season program, that’s how we make that happen.”
While one play never determines a game, there were three plays that changed the complexion of the game Friday, as Los Gatos ran off 24 unanswered points in a 45-21 decision over the Chieftains in the Central Coast Section Open/Division I semifinals.
Palma, who came into the postseason as one of four teams in the CCS to post an undefeated regular season, won’t be playing for a section title for the first time since 2022.
“This is one of the most memorable years in my 35 years of coaching,” Carnazzo said. “To go undefeated in league, that’s not easy in the league we’re playing in. We took some big strides this year, especially up front. My brand of football. I really love playing that kind of football.”
The undefeated regular season was the first for Palma in 28 years, while the postseason appearance stretched its section record to 41 consecutive years.
“Certainly you don’t go into a game thinking this is your last game,” said Carnazzo, who took the Chieftains to the county’s first CIF State title in 2023. “It’s hard to say goodbye, especially to the 13 seniors, who helped mold this program.”
Having won its eighth Gabilan Division title in 12 years, Palma posted its first undefeated league season in 10 years, averaging over 40 points a game during the regular season.
For most of the first half, it squared up evenly with the No. 3 seeded Wildcats (9-3), opening up a 14-7 lead in the second quarter on the second of three Eli Dukes’ touchdown runs.
“You have to tip your hat to the other team,” Carnazzo said. “We played a really good football team. But we are a dam good football team. We belonged on the field with them.”
The sequence of events that changed the game started with an unsportsmanlike penalty on top of a holding penalty, pushing Palma from midfield back to its own 25-yard line midway through the second quarter in a 14-14 game.
“That was big,” Carnazzo said. “We were driving. We had the ball and we had some momentum. It was 14-14. There is a scenario that if we go up just before the half, and get the ball to start the second half, maybe it looks different.”
Instead, the Chieftains were forced to punt, pinning Los Gatos back inside its 10-yard line, only to see them go 90 yards in less than two minutes on the strength of quarterback Callum Schweitzer, taking a 21-14 lead.
With Palma looking to run out the clock in the final 48 seconds, a fumble gave the ball back to the Wildcats offense, who ended the half with a 27-yard field goal and a 10-point halftime cushion.
Los Gatos, who has rattled off eight straight wins, scored on four of its five offensive possessions in the first half, only failing on its opening possession when Joe Viarengo intercepted a pass for the Chieftains.
“We could not have scripted a better start,” Carnazzo said. “We get the turnover, go down and score, then counter their score. There are some things that I did that will keep me up at night.”
Carnazzo was referring to the start of the second half when the Chieftains were moving the chains behind Duke’s 186 yards on the ground, before he called for a deep pass that was intercepted and returned 91 yards for a pick six.
“I’m kicking myself for taking that shot,” Carnazzo said. “We had moved the ball to midfield. It’s still a two-possession game. It could have been different.”
Instead, the Chieftains (11-1) were staring at a 17-point deficit in the third quarter against an team that scored on six consecutive offensive possessions.
Dukes, who chalked up 104 yards on 20 carries in the first half, provided a spark in the third quarter, breaking off runs of 12 and 15 yards before capping the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 10.
The Chieftains defense, though, had no answer for Schweitzer, who picked apart the defense, while Los Gatos’ ground game began to wear them down.
“That’s a potent offense,” Carnazzo said. “That quarterback isn’t the MVP in the CCS for nothing. He’s dynamic. But what impressed me the most was their running game. We kept rotating linemen in. They got after us and wore us down in the second half.”
Dukes finished the season with 2,479 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns, accounting for 37 touchdowns on the season, two off the single-season team record of 39, set in 2016 by Emilio Martinez.
With two consecutive 2,000-plus yard rushing seasons, Dukes, who has offers on the table from Cal, Stanford and Oregon State, will go into his senior season with 7,740 yards, accounting for 73 touchdowns.
“We have 35 juniors coming back,” Carnazzo said. “We have some really good freshmen in the program. Four or five of those guys will be up next year. This (feeling) should drive our off-season program.”
