Photograph by Jeff Kearns

Los Gatos running back Justin Narragon breaks free for a big gainer against Monta Vista. Narragon ran for 166 yards and three touchdowns in the 31-0 Gatos victory.

Wildcats win, despite calls

Narragon races for 166 yards, three touchdowns

By Dick Sparrer

Butch Cattolico and his coaching staff spent most of last week preparing the Los Gatos football team to take on an opponent--the Monta Vista Matadors.

But he thought that when the Wildcats took the field for the Friday night game at Cupertino, he would recognize their opponent by the purple jerseys the Monta Vista players were wearing.

Little did he know that the Wildcats' toughest opponent that night would be wearing black-and-white stripes.

Los Gatos pounded Monta Vista 31-0 in the season opener in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. But the win came after a scoreless first period and after flags were flying as often as the football.

"We had 12 penalties in our first three games," said Cattolico, whose club is now 4-0 in the young season. "On Friday night, we were called for 13 penalties."

The coach was admittedly not pleased with the officiating in the game, despite the lopsided Los Gatos victory. But he was pleased with the performance of his club in the face of such adversity.

"The kids really played well," said Cattolico after the win that came in spite of the personal fouls, the unsportsmanlike conduct, the offsides, the holding...

But not flags nor Matadors could stop the Wildcats. Los Gatos rushed for 270 yards and passed for 134 more on the road to the victory.

Senior speedster Justin Narragon led the vaunted offensive attack with 19 carries for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Vince Caviglia supported Narragon's effort with eight runs for 54 yards and a TD, and Derek Smith added 31 yards on seven tries.

Sophomore quarterback Trent Edwards hooked up on five-of-seven passes for 69 yards, and senior Matt Torres completed two-of-three passes for 42 yards and also ran twice for 14 yards.

But it was the defense that was especially impressive last Friday. The Cats held the Matadors to just 33 yards rushing on 31 attempts and to just 27 yards on four pass completions.

"The defense is really playing strong," said the coach.

Jared Allen was the defensive leader for the Cats with 16 tackles, including a couple of quarterback sacks. He also recovered a fumble.

Briston Lowry had a sack among his 11 tackles, and Nick Skrabe and Brian Edwards were each in on nine tackles. B. Edwards and Shane Rogers each picked off Monta Vista passes.

Bern Winkelman, John Glage and Markus Willard were in on eight tackles each for the Cats, Caviglia got in on six and Scott Soucy and Rick Esparza were in on five apiece.

Penalties continually stopped Gatos threats in the first period, but the defense rose up to stop the Matadors cold.

The Cats finally started a scoring drive that wasn't stopped by penalty late in the first quarter.

Narragon carried three times for 44 yards to set up his own score, a 20-yard TD run on the first play of the second period. Ben Frazier kicked the extra point, and at long last the Cats had a 7-0 lead.

Once more the defense stopped Monta Vista cold, and the Matadors faced a fourth down on their own 37. They tried to draw the Cats offside, but failed. Then the Mats tried a quick snap instead of dropping into punt formation. But the Wildcats were not surprised, and stopped Monta Vista short of the first down.

Gatos took over on downs at the MV 37, and Narragon broke the first play 37 yards for a touchdown. Frazier's second kick made it 14-0.

"We had one more good drive near the end of the half," said Cattolico.

Narragon went for 5 yards before Smith flipped a halfback pass 23 yards to Joey Warren. Smith ran for 3, Narragon for 8 and Torres for 8 more.

But the Cats stalled, largely because of another penalty flag, and had to settle for a field goal attempt. Frazier parted the uprights from 37 yards out with 21 seconds left in the half to give the Cats a 17-0 lead at intermission.

B. Edwards intercepted a Monta Vista pass not long after the second half kickoff, and the Cats went to work again. Caviglia carried twice for 23 yards to set up Narragon for an 8-yard TD run. Frazier converted to make it 24-0.

"At that point, the defense was really taking over," said Cattolico. A couple of quarterback sacks and an incomplete pass forced the Matadors to punt the ball away.

Los Gatos went to work one more time for a final score. Torres tossed to Winkelman for 25 yards, and T. Edwards went to Warren for 25 yards, then for 15 more to set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Caviglia. Frazier's last kick made the final score 31-0.

Warren ended up with four pass receptions for 62 yards, and Winkelman (25 yards), Smith (18), Narragon (15) and Kevin Krug (15) had one catch each.

Steve Smith joined the solid defensive effort by getting in on three tackles and Jason Rosa, Warren, Kyle Shaffer, Dan Kramer, Ryan Callahan, Jon Espe, Mike Vyhnal, Brandon Chapatte, Geoff Sholly and Bret Maryon were also in on tackles.

Los Gatos will take its 4-0 season record up against Saratoga this week. The clubs will collide on Oct. 8, 7:30 p.m., at Helm Field.

"They're really improved," said Cattolico of the Falcons, who are 3-1 after pounding Los Altos 53-21 last Friday. "They played Valley Christian just about even, and they've gotten a lot better [since the beginning of the year].

"They play pretty good defense, and they throw the ball real well."

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