Cats deliver a message with 49-0 win over Paly
By Dick Sparrer
Butch Cattolico wanted his Los Gatos football team to deliver a message when the Wildcats opened the league season against Palo Alto last Friday night.
They did. And they didn't need Western Union to get the word out-- the daily newspaper took care of that.
"We wanted to serve a little bit of notice the rest of the league that we're coming," Cattolico said.
No doubt the other coaches got the message loud and clear when they picked up the paper on Saturday morning to read: Los Gatos 49, Palo Alto 0.
The game was touted as a battle between two undefeated teams in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. And it was. It's just that in the second half, it didn't look much like it.
Palo Alto, a team that had averaged more than 27 points a game in three wins to open the year, had just 24 yards passing and a minus-three yards rushing heading into the last six minutes of the game, and the Vikings were already down 49-0.
The Wildcats actually got off to a slow start, but they scored five touchdowns in 15 plays to open the second half and rolled from there to the victory.
"We didn't execute well in the first half," Cattolico said. "But the kids started executing and focused in in the second half." "It was not a bad night overall," he added.
Not bad at all for the likes of Trent Edwards and Chris Willard offensively, and Jon Espe and Kenny Heimer on the defensive side.
Edwards had another big night, hitting on 13 of 17 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns--getting most of that in the second half.
Willard the backbone
It was Willard who was the backbone of the Gatos offense in the win. The senior back rambled for 155 yards on 18 carries, and also caught a 26-yard touchdown pass.
"He had an outstanding night," said Cattolico of Willard, who scored three touchdowns in the win. "He really carried us in the first half."
But it was really the defense that played the biggest role in keeping the Cats in control in the first half.
"The defense played well the entire game," Cattolico said. "And Espe and Heimer just played outstanding."
Espe, the quick and powerful defensive lineman, led the Cats with 10 tackles, including a couple of quarterback sacks, and Heimer, the speedy noseguard, had a sack among his nine tackles.
Espe, who a week earlier had dropped a Monta Vista ball carrier for a 3-yard loss on the first play of the game, shot through for a sack and a 7-yard loss on the first play Friday night.
"The right tackle took a step back, and [Espe] was by him," Cattolico said. "The quarterback planted his back foot, and John hit him."
"That set the tone for our defense for the rest of the night," the coach added. "That pushed their quarterback back a step when he went to pass."
The Paly passer ended up completing just 3 of 18 passes for 24 yards, and he was intercepted twice--by Derek Tam and Stuart Gordon. And Cattolico credits the quarterback's troubles to the early sack by Espe.
"He comes ready to play," said Cattolico of Espe. "He practices like that all week."
The Wildcats stuck Paly after the opening kick off, then put together a quick scoring drive. Edwards completed two passes, Tam had a 7-yard run and Willard gained 41 yards on five carries, including an 11-yard touchdown run. Anthony Frangadakis kicked the first of his seven extra points, and it was 7-0 early.
In a hole
But the Vikings ran back the ensuing kick off 57 yards into Los Gatos territory. It was the kicker, Frangadakis, making the TD-saving tackle.
Paly couldn't move after the return, but a punt put the Cats in a hole at their own 3-yard-line.
"That one play changed the entire complexion of the first half," Cattolico said. "Our offense got backed up. It took away some of the things we wanted to do, and they started bringing some people."
"The ball seemed to be stuck in our end of the field," he added. "Things just didn't seem to be going well."
Gatos struggled with field position for much of the half before Edwards finally hooked up on a couple of passes and Tam carried for 10 yards to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Willard.
Los Gatos was dominating the game in yardage, but led just 14-0 at intermission.
"Our field position had been so bad we weren't able to take advantage of the difference in the offensive statistics," said the coach.
That all changed in the second half, though.
Charlie Clark ran back the second half kick off 29 yards to get the Cats going, and they didn't stop until they were up 49-0.
Edwards completed four passes for 54 yards, including a shuffle pass to Willard for 26 yards and a touchdown.
"At that point, we really started to play good football," Cattolico said.
Paly was out on three plays and a punt, and Edwards hit Scott Cohn for 25 yards and a touchdown.
Tam picked off a Paly pass, and Clark took off on a 21-yard touchdown run.
Edwards hits Furlo
Paly went three and out again, and Edwards hooked up with James Furlo for 32 yards and a score.
"He had to scramble around, then he threw 50 yards on a dead run for the touchdown," said Cattolico of Edwards.
Paly went three and out again, and Edwards hooked up with James Furlo for 32 yards and a score.
"He had to scramble around, then he threw 50 yards on a dead run for the touchdown," said Cattolico of Edwards.
The Los Gatos second team came on to drive for a touchdown early in the final quarter. Alex Rollin tossed 8 yards to Scott Drew, and Clark carried three times for 26 yards to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Dennis Freeman.
Paly put together an 11-play drive late in the game, but came up short when Perry Richardson recovered a fumble on the last play of the night.
Edwards tossed six passes to Cohn for 101 yards and hit Tam three times for 22 yards. Gino Gingery caught two balls for five yards, and Furlo, Willard and Drew each had a catch.
Clark supported Willard on the ground with 62 yards on six carries. Tam added 25 yards on three tries.
Cattolico was again pleased with the performance of the offensive line, praising the work of tackles Nick Crafford and John Allen, center Dan Holtzman and guards Ryan Johnson and Evan McDonald.
Joining Espe and Heimer as defensive leaders were Travis Howell, eight tackles; Chris McMorrow, Shaun Sullivan and Andrew O'Gorman, five tackles each; and Gingery and Andy Betzina, four tackles apiece.
Furlo, Charlie Kassees, Clark, Tam, Gordon, Eric Brown, James Gentry, Nick Scolari, David Fencl, Ben Miller, Theron McCarty, Ashton Van Tuhl, Barrett Carpenter, Drew and Drew Hoffman were others in on tackles.
Cats head to Gunn
Los Gatos, now 4-0 for the year and 1-0 in the De Anza Division, will be on the road this week to visit Gunn on Oct. 5, 3:15 p.m., in Palo Alto.
"They have an outstanding running back with good speed, and they have a good receiver," said Cattolico of the Titans.
But Gunn is a mediocre 2-2 this season, beating Los Altos and Lynbrook, but losing to Cupertino and Mountain View.
The Titans lost 34-13 to the Spartans last weekend... a week after Mountain View had lost 27-0 to Palo Alto.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
