Los Gatos Weekly-Times Smith leads Los Gatos to frosh-soph football win By Dick Sparrer It was Derek Smith Day at Los Gatos last Friday. Well, not really, but it certainly appeared that way when the Los Gatos frosh-soph football team hosted Mountain View in a nonleague game. The Spartans were sure kind to the sophomore running back... or maybe it was Smith who was unkind to Mountain View. At any rate, Smith ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns, picked off a pass and returned a kick off 57 yards to set up his second score. Mountain View took the early lead in the game, but Smith took off on a 63-yard touchdown run, and Jason Rosa kicked the extra point to give the young Wildcats a 7-6 lead. The Spartans came back to block a punt and fall on it in the end zone for a touchdown to take a 12-7 lead at the half. "We just didn't play well at all in the first half," Los Gatos coach Scott Downs admitted. The coach told his players as much during the halftime break, and indicated that they'd better work things out before returning to the field for the third period. It seems they did just that. Smith started the second half off right with a 57-yard return deep into Mountain View territory. A play later he scored on a 12-yard run, and Rosa converted again to put Gatos on top 14-12. "That seemed to ignite us," Downs said. The Cats got the ball back later in the period and started to move. Charlie Clark had an 11-yard run, and Ryan Downs broke free for 15 yards to set up a two-yard TD run by Smith. Rosa kicked the extra point, and the Cats were in control at 21-12. "But they started to challenge right in the end," the LG coach said. The Spartans started to move, but Bret Maryon came up with a key fourth down sack to stop the threat. Gatos fumbled, though, and Mountain View started to drive again. The Spartans moved to the LG 10, but Smith knocked down one Mountain View pass, then picked off a pass in the end zone to clinch the win. Smith led the ground show with his 141 yards. Downs had two carries for 18 yards and Clark carried four times for 14 yards. Trent Edwards completed just one pass, an 18-yarder to tight end Geno Gingery. Mike Vyhnal led the defense with eight tackles, and Markus Willard had a quarterback sack among his six tackles. Maryon finished with two sacks, and Matt Benedetti had one. Los Gatos, now 2-3 for the year but 0-1 in league, will host Saratoga on Oct. 16, 5:15 p.m. The Falcons are 2-0 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The young Cats opened the season with a win over San Lorenzo Valley, but had lost three straight heading into last Friday's game. Gatos lost to Oak Grove and Leland, then fell 35-12 to Wilcox in the division opener last week. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.