Wildcats roll to big win over Leigh

By Dick Sparrer

The Los Gatos football seems to be getting better every week. And right now, that's not especially good news for the Santa Clara Bruins.

Santa Clara will visit Helm Field for a nonleague game on Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., and the Bruins come to town a week after the Wildcats rolled up 528 yards of total offense and 49 points in a lopsided 49-20 victory over a talented Leigh squad.

That win followed an even more one-sided 49-7 victory over Leland when the Cats ran up 483 yards on offense. But scary as it might sound to the Bruins, Gatos coach Butch Cattolico thinks his Wildcats looked even better in the second game than they did in the first.

"The important thing," said Cattolico after the win over Leigh, "is that I think we improved over last week."

Gatos had three backs near or over 100-yard mark and quarterback Trent Edwards threw for 161 yards, all improvements over the first game of the season.

"We are very balanced," added the coach.

Los Gatos really spread the football around last Friday night.

T. Edwards led the offense with 10 completions in 13 pass tries for 161 yards and a touchdown.

"He had not throw many bad balls," said Cattolico of his junior quarterback, who is 21 of 27 over the first two weeks of the season.

Derek Smith led the ground attack with 135 yards on 18 carries and he also pulled down five passes for 48 yards. Joey Warren supported with 97 yards on nine tries, and he had a catch for 25 yards.

Fullback Nick Skrabe had a big night with seven carries for 98 yards, and Chris Willard contributed with six carries for 28 yards.

But it was Brian Edwards who was the key player in the Gatos win on Friday.

The speedster carried five times for 29 yards and two touchdowns, and he caught two passes for 66 yards, one of them for 25 yards and a TD. He also had three punt returns for 120 yards, including a 73-yard return for a touchdown.

Of course, no team goes for over 500 yards on offense without an impressive display by the offensive line.

"The kids up front did a great job," said the coach. "Trent had a lot more time to throw the ball, and we were opening up some pretty big holes."

Tackles Nick Crafford and Casey Sargent, guards Nick McAlpine and Adam Toeniskoetter and centers Matt Benedetti and Dan Holtzman led the charge offensively.

"Those six kids really did a good job of blocking," added the coach.

As pleased as Cattolico was with his offense, he was just as happy with the performance of his defensive unit against the explosive Longhorns, led by speedster Antwon Guidry.

Guidry finished the night with 140 yards, scoring two touchdowns and passing for another. But other than that, the Wildcats stopped Leigh cold.

"I thought the kids did a real good job of containing Guidry," said Cattolico.

Markus Willard was the tackling leader for the Wildcats with 10 stops. Skrabe, Ken Heimer and Scott Soucy were in on six tackles each and John Glage and Mike Vyhnal were in on five apiece.

He was especially pleased with the play of the Gatos defensive secondary that allowed just one pass completion.

"The secondary has given up just three pass completions in two weeks," he said.

Scott Cohn, Jason Rosa, Tony Berry, C. Willard, Shane Rogers, B. Edwards, Travis Howell, Stuart Gordon, Jon Espe, John Allen, Matt Newell and Randy Reilly were others in on tackles in the win.

The Wildcats threatened to score the first time they touched the football. The Cats drove deep into Leigh territory, but fumbled the ball in the end zone and the Longhorns recovered.

But Gatos got the ball back quickly when Rosa recovered a Leigh fumble on the Longhorns' second snap.

An 11-yard run by Smith and an 18-yard pass from T. Edwards to Geno Gingery surrounded a 15-yard penalty, then B. Edwards went 10 yards for the first of his four touchdowns. Anthony Frangadakis kicked the first of his seven extra points.

But not for long. Leigh didn't field the ensuing kick off, and Rosa was there to cover the football at the Leigh 25. T. Edwards quickly tossed to B. Edwards for the 25 yards and the touchdown, and the Cats were up 14-0.

"It seemed like we had the ball the whole first quarter," said Cattolico. The Cats almost did. They ran 21 plays to just five for Leigh in the first period.

Los Gatos put together a 91-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. A 45-yard run by Warren and a 39-yard run by Smith set up the 1-yard TD blast by Smith.

Leigh threatened before the half, but the Gatos defense held firm at its own 3.

A 41-yard pass from T. Edwards to B. Edwards set up an 8-yard touchdown run by B. Edwards in the third quarter.

Guidry's 68-yard TD run got Leigh on the board in the third, but Gatos answered with two touchdowns.

Espe stripped the ball from Guidry's hands, and M. Willard recovered for the Cats. Warren hauled in a 25-yard pass from T. Edwards, then Smith went 21 yards for a score.

Gatos stopped Leigh after the kick off and the Longhorns punted the football away. But B. Edwards ran it back 73 yards for a touchdown to make it 42-6.

Guidry's 47-yard touchdown pass to Chris Orozco cut the lead to 42-12, but Gatos scored one more time.

Skrabe appeared on his way to a touchdown before fumbling at the end of a 29-yard run. But tight end Matt Johnson was there to jump on the football in the end zone for a touchdown.

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