The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Mats outlast Rams in defensive struggle

By DICK SPARRER

Monta Vista and Willow Glen combined to score 75 points in the first week of the high school football season. So when the two clubs got together under the lights at Willow Glen's turf field last Friday, it promised to be a pretty offensive evening.

The defenses, it seems, had other ideas.

Monta Vista was coming off of a 35-13 win over Yerba Buena, but could score just 10 points against the Rams on Friday night. Willow Glen, though, after opening the year with a 40-0 triumph over Fremont, could score only six.

The result is obvious--a 10-6 victory for the Matadors. And in the aftermath, the coaches had nothing but praise for their opponents.

"Willow Glen has a real, real good football program, and I'm real, real proud of the kids," said Monta Vista boss Jeff Mueller after the win. "We played very physical football tonight."

"They do a lot of things, and they have a lot of weapons on offense--and they have the big quarterback who can really throw the ball," said Willow Glen coach Andy Penwarden of QB Alex Atkins and the Mats.

Atkins completed 9 of 14 passes for 79 yards to move the Matadors down the field, but it was the running game that was the key for Monta Vista, and it was junior fullback Matthew Moustakas who led the running game.

Moustakas carried 17 times for 99 yards and scored the game's only touchdown.

"They're fullback hurt us," said Penwarden of Moustakas. "And they're pretty physical up front."

The offensive line of tackles Chris Kong and Ahmed Naguib, guards Mike Moustakas and Salman Ahmed and center Bryan Frediani led the surge that sparked the Monta Vista offense to 173 yards of total offense.

"We have three or four guys who can run the ball, so we're trying to do a little more of that this year," said Mueller. "It gives us an added dimension."

Kota Kojima and Marcus Woo are other offensive threats for the Mats. Kojima picked up 30 yards on nine carries, but Woo was held to just nine yards on six tries.

"We put an emphasis on stopping him," said Penwarden.

"They double-teamed him all night," added Mueller.

Still, Woo was able to pull down four passes for 31 yards to lead all Monta Vista receivers. And it was one of those receptions that helped the Matadors score their only touchdown of the night.

Peter Kosulin sacked Willow Glen quarterback Juan Baron--one of five first-half sacks for the Monta Vista defense--to force the Rams to turn the ball over on downs at the Matador 25. The Mats then marched 75 yards on 10 plays to score. A 16-yard pass from Atkins to Woo and a 28-yard run by Moustakas set up a 1-yard TD run by Moustakas over left guard, following another Moustakas into the end zone. Allen Sze's kick made it 7-0 with 3:26 left in the half.

Monta Vista stopped Willow Glen cold for the rest of the half, thanks to sacks by Trevor Sambyal, Ruby Murugesan and Naguib.

"We made some [defensive] plays, and the coaches made some good calls," said Mueller. "And our defensive ends played huge games," he added, praising the work of Sambyal and Murugesan.

Monta Vista moved in for a score on its first possession of the second half after Murugesan recovered a fumble at the Willow Glen 44. A nine-yard run by Kojima and a pass interference penalty moved Sze into position to kick a 35-yard field goal with 6:19 left in the third period.

That's how it remained until the fourth quarter when Willow Glen scored to cut the lead to 10-6 with 6:42 left to play.

Willow Glen gave it a final shot late in the game, but Kojima and Matthew Moustakas came through with big defensive plays to stop the threat.

The Matadors were able to run out the clock for the win.

Billy Guardino had three grabs for 32 yards and Kojima and Matthew Dee each had a catch for Monta Vista.

Kosulin ended up as the defensive leader for the Matadors with nine tackles, including a sack, and Woo had five. Andrew Kahng and Kevin Berstein had four tackles apiece and Sambyal added three. Murugesan, Kong, Mike Moustakas, Matthew Moustakas, Dominic Camilliari, Guardino, Naguib, Kojima, Frediani and Ahmed were also in on tackles.

Monta Vista will go after its third straight win in the young season when the Matadors host Prospect in a non-league game on Sept. 22, 3:15 p.m.

"They'll be gunning for us," said Mueller, whose Matadors beat up the Panthers 42-24 last year at this time.