Edwards throws for three TDs in Gatos win
Trent Edwards a southpaw?
By Dick Sparrer
Not really, but the talented Los Gatos quarterback added another dimension to his already multifaceted game last Thursday night when he threw one of his three touchdown passes left-handed in the Wildcats' lopsided 52-12 victory over Los Altos.
"His form wasn't that great... I'm going to have to talk to him about that," said Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico with a laugh after the win.
Edwards dropped back for a screen pass late in the second half. Under heavy pressure from the defensive charge, his only chance was to wing the ball with his left hand. So that's just what he did.
Chris Willard hauled in the southpaw toss and raced for a 15-yard touchdown that gave the Wildcats a 38-0 lead at intermission.
"He did that all by himself," said Cattolico of Edwards' lefty toss. And little did the Gatos senior know at the time, but he was following the example set by his coach some 35 years ago.
Cattolico, an all-North Coast Section quarterback at Pittsburg High School in 1966, admitted to completing a couple of southpaw throws during his senior season.
"We were more of a sprint-out-type team," said the coach. "But, yeah, I completed a couple of passes left-handed."
It's not exactly something that Cattolico will have Edwards practice in the weeks to come, but it added a little fun to a night where the outcome of the football game was a forgone conclusion almost from the start.
More impressive than his off-handed completion, though, was Edwards' ability to read the defense as early as the first play of the night.
"They came at us with a brand new defense," said Cattolico of Los Altos. "When he stepped up to the line, he said, 'Hey guys, they're running a four-four,' and he called an audible."
Edwards went on to complete 9 of 11 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cats to the easy win--and he ran up those numbers playing less than two quarters.
Going in, the Gatos game plan was to get second team players some action with the first team. So, as early as the second quarter, Edwards was sharing time with back-up quarterback Alex Rollin. Edwards saw no playing time in the second half with his club already up 38-0 at the break.
"One of our goals for this game was to start running some of the kids from the second team with some of the kids from the first team," Cattolico said. "We didn't want to make wholesale changes; we wanted to get a good look at some of the kids running with the starters."
Los Gatos started subbing in the second quarter, and that led to 13 different backs carrying the football, two quarterbacks completing pass and five receivers making catches. And it meant a whole lot of Cats were getting in on tackles.
"A lot of people got to play, and a lot of people got to make tackles," said the coach, indicating that 24 Cats got in on tackles in the win.
It was Willard leading the cast of 13 backs with 11 carries for 89 yards. Derek Tam added 37 yards on two tries, Dennis Freeman had a run for 27 yards, Brian Miguel ran three times for 23 yards, and Barrett Carpenter carried twice for 18.
The backs were running behind a solid offensive front led by tackles Nick Crafford and John Allen, guards Ryan Johnson and Evan McDonald and center Dan Holtzman.
"They just play so well," said Cattolico of the offensive line.
Edwards completed the nine passes and Rollin hooked up on 2 of 7 tosses for 18 passes. Scott Cohn pulled in four aerials for 84 yards, Willard had three grabs for 82, Gino Gingery caught two passes for 23, Tam had a catch for 14, and Chris McMorrow caught a pass for 13.
Another Los Gatos offensive weapon also had a pretty impressive night. Place-kicker Anthony Frangadakis booted a 32-yard field goal and also hit one 7 of 7 extra points. He is now a perfect 43 for 43 on point after kicks this season.
Jon Espe was the defensive leader for the Wildcats in the win over the Eagles. The big senior tackle got on in on eight tackles, including a pair of quarterback sacks.
Gingery and Andrew O'Gorman were in on five tackles apiece for the Cats, and Scott Drew, Brett Cavanagh and Shaun Sullivan were in on four each. Ben Miller, Ken Heimer, Tam and Andy Betzina were each in on three tackles.
Drew Hoffman, Tom Dittman, Carpenter, Perry Richardson, Dave Fencl, James Gentry, Travis Howell, Stuart Gordon, Eric Brown, Andrew Milman, McMorrow, James Furlo, Cohn and Frangadakis also were in on tackles.
Los Gatos opened up a 21-0 first-quarter lead.
A 41-yard toss from Edwards to Willard set up a 7-yard TD toss from Edwards to Gingery, and Edwards hit Cohn with a 23-yard touchdown pass.
A 17-yard punt return by Tam, a 32-yard run by Willard, a 20-yard Edwards pass to Willard and a 17-yard run by Tam set up Willard for a 1-yard TD blast before the end of the period.
It was a 38-yard pass from Edwards to Cohn that put Frangadakis in range for his 32-yard field goal, and Willard scored from the 13 after his own 35-yard punt return.
Gatos made it 38-0 before the half when Edwards tossed his left-handed TD pass to Willard.
A 5-yard pass from Rollin to Cohn, a 15-yard run by Tam, a 5-yard run by Charlie Clark and a 9-yard run by Miguel set up the next score, a 10-yard TD dash by Howell.
Clark scored the final touchdown on a 2-yard run following his own 9-yard dash, a couple of runs by Miguel for 14 and a 13-yard pass from Rollin to McMorrow.
Los Gatos, now 7-0 for the year and 3-0 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, will take to the road this week to visit Santa Clara on Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m., at Townsend Field. The Bruins are 1-3 in the division and 3-4 for the year following a 42-28 win over Gunn last week.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
