Palo Alto High School, the CIF-State Division I playoff bowl champs in 2010, is again looking for a new football coach.
It joins cross-town Gunn in advertising for a new leader for its program. Jake Halas has been the Vikings coach the past two seasons, compiling an 8-15 overall record, including a 5-7 record in 2015. He has resigned.
"I have stepped down as head coach," Halas said by email. "Several factors contributed to this difficult decision. But the bottom line was family. With three young boys at home, I felt it was time to redirect my focus.
"I'm just taking a break for a while. I still have a lot of coaching left in me. I plan to continue teaching PE here at Palo Alto High while supporting the school any way I can."
Palo Alto joins cross-town Gunn High in the ranks of schools looking for a new head football coach. At Gunn, coach Shinichi Hirano also resigned, as has been reported by multiple media outlets.
Halas' brood at home includes twins. He resigned from the Paly softball job he held for five years when they were born. The young coach also stepped down as D coordinator after another son was born a few years after the Vikings won the state playoff bowl title, only to return as head coach when Earl Hansen retired after the 2013 season.
The Vikings won a playoff game in 2015, defeating a formidable Salinas team 42-38. Paly was then eliminated from the playoffs the following week by SCVAL-De Anza foe Milpitas, 42-0.
The veteran Earl Hansen retired following a 6-6 season in 2013. Three years earlier, on Dec. 17, 2010, Paly pulled off a monumental upset under Hansen, defeating Centennial-Corona 15-13 in the state playoff bowl title game, played in the rain and mud of the Home Depot Center in Carson. The Vikings’ 14-0 record was the best in school history.
Centennial entered the game 14-0 and ranked fifth in the nation and had, at that time, the most prolific offense in state history, averaging 54.8 points per game.
Halas had a big hand in that upset, as he served as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator under Hansen from 2008 to 2012.
No doubt a fond memory for Halas, in addition to the playoff victory against Salinas in 2015 and the stunner against Centennial, was his first win as the head Vikings coach, coming on a last-ditch field goal at Terremere Field in Redwood City against rival Sequoia.
