 |
|
|
|
|
Cats roll over Gunn, now prepare for Wilcox
By Dick Sparrer
Trent Edwards spent more time watching the game than playing it when Los Gatos made the long trip to Palo Alto to play Gunn last Friday afternoon.
So did Jon Espe, Kenny Heimer, Chris Willard, and Gino Gingery.
In fact, most of the Los Gatos starters were out of the game before the buzzer ever signaled the end of the first half last Friday. But then, the Titans couldn't have taken much more of the awesome attack of the Los Gatos first string.
The Wildcats stormed out to a 49-0 first-half lead and coasted from there to a 56-7 victory over Gunn. The win was the second for the Cats in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, and their fifth straight this season. Los Gatos had opened league play a week earlier with a 49-0 victory over Palo Alto.
But Gatos head coach Butch Cattolico knows that things won't be as easy for his Wildcats this week as they've been the last two weeks. Los Gatos will host powerful Wilcox on Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m., at Helm Field, and Cattolico is expecting a real test.
"They're looking good," said Cattolico of the Chargers, who rolled over Milpitas 33-21 last Friday. "This is a big game for us. Wilcox is an awfully good football team.
"They have a running back with a lot of speed, and they have their big receiver back," added the coach. "We'll be all right if we execute. But if we get into a one-on-one game with them, we're going to be in trouble."
Los Gatos was never in any trouble last Friday. In fact, the only time the Wildcats had any trouble moving was during the bus ride in commuter traffic on the way home.
The Cats scored on their first possession, then scored at will throughout the first half.
"They came out in an all new defense," said Cattolico of the Titans. And Edwards went right to work to pick it apart.
The talented senior quarterback, who completed 12 of 15 passes for 183 yards before retiring for the day in the final moments of the second quarter, hooked up on three passes for 48 yards, including two to Gingery.
Willard carried three times for 17 yards, including the last 2 yards for the touchdown, and when Anthony Frangadakis kicked the first of his eight extra points, the Cats were up 7-0. Frangadakis has now booted 29 of 29 extra points this fall.
Moments later, Gunn punted the ball back to the Cats, and it didn't take them long to score again. Willard ran for 12 yards, then Edwards hit Scott Cohn with a 27-yard touchdown pass. Cohn finished the day with five receptions for 76 yards.
Gatos got the ball back on the first play after the kick off. Drew Hoffman deflected a Gunn pass that Travis Howell intercepted and ran down to the one. Willard shot in for the score, and the Cats were up 21-0 halfway through the first quarter.
The Titans then put together their best drive of the half, moving down to the Gatos 10 before turning the ball over on downs.
The Cats were held scoreless on their next possession, though, and punted for the only time in the game.
The Titans couldn't move after the punt and kicked the football back to the Cats. Derek Tam ran back the Gunn punt 20 yards, and Edwards, who was 6 of 6 for 95 yards in the first quarter, tossed a 26-yard TD pass to Gingery.
Chris McMorrow picked off a Gunn pass moments later, and a 17-yard run by Charlie Clark set up a 1-yard TD run by Willard.
Edwards took the Cats to the end zone again on their next possession with passes to Cohn for 14 yards and Willard for eight setting up a 20-yard TD toss to Tam.
At that point, the Cats kept it on the ground. But still the Titans couldn't stop them. Howell ran for 16 and Willard for 22 more before Howell cashed in with a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 49-0.
Clark picked off a Gunn pass before the half, and Los Gatos send in the second team before intermission.
The officials mercifully ran the clock in the second half, but the Cats still scored one more time. An 18-yard run by Barrett Carpenter set up a 13-yard touchdown run by Adam Breslin.
Gunn finally scored on an 83-yard touchdown pass in the final period to avoid the shutout.
Edwards led the offense with his 183 yards passing, and back-up quarterback Alex Rollin hit on 1 of 3 passes for 11 yards. Cohn had the five catches, and Gingery snagged four passes for 70 yards. Howell had a catch for 20 yards, Tam had one for 20, Scott Drew had one for 11 and Willard had one for 8.
Clark led the ground attack with 74 yards on six carries had Willard added 65 yards on 10 tries. Howell carried twice for 19 yards, Carpenter once for 18, Tam once for 14, Breslin twice for 13, Dennis Freeman twice for 11 and James Furlo twice for 8.
James Gentry returned a couple of punts for the Cats and Pat Michaelson had a 25-yard kick off return.
Heimer led the defensive effort with nine tackles, and Espe had a quarterback sack among his seven tackles. Howell also finished with seven stops for the Cats, and Eric Brown had five. Hoffman had four tackles, including a sack, and deflected the pass that Howell intercepted.
Gingery and Perry Richardson each had three tackles and a sack, and Stuart Gordon was in on three stops. Evan McDonald also added a sack.
Cohn, Furlo, Clark, Tam, Andrew O'Gorman, Ashton Van Tuhl, Shaun Sullivan, Nick Scolari, Jeff Oleson, David Fencl, Ben Miller, Theron McCarty and David Towson were also in on tackles for Los Gatos.
|
|
|
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
