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Young Wildcats lose game of inches
By Dick Sparrer
It was a game of inches. It's been said so often, it has become a sports cliché.
But last Friday night, the cliché became reality when the Los Gatos frosh-soph football team missed a touchdown by inches on the final play of the game against Wilcox, and the Wildcats lost a 35-28 heartbreaker to the Chargers.
"I thought the kids deserved to win," said disappointed head coach Scott Downs after the loss. "I told them after the game, 'you played well enough to be champions.'"
The Wildcats still might be the champions in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, but now they need some help. The loss dropped the Cats to 3-1 in division play, while Wilcox improved to 4-0. Gatos now needs Saratoga to upset Wilcox in the final week of the season to create a first-place tie.
It almost seemed like the team that had the ball last would win Friday night's decision, and that just about came true for the Cats.
The game bounced back and forth with Wilcox taking the 35-28 lead with 1:50 left to play.
The Wildcats battled back, using a no-huddle offense as they drove from their own 35 to the Wilcox 1 with 13 seconds left.
Downs already had the play selected for the two-point conversion when the Cats hit the line for what appeared to be a touchdown. But while the Gatos players threw their arms in the air to signal the TD, the officials didn't. The clock ran out with the Cats inches short of the goal line.
Wilcox took an early 7-0 lead, but Gatos cut it to 7-6 when Charlie Clark ran 4 yards for a touchdown after Kenny Heimer had blocked a punt deep in Wilcox territory.
The Chargers went up 14-6, but the Cats tied it when Steve Sweeny tossed 11 yards to Chris Willard for a touchdown, and Clark ran for the two-point conversion.
Wilcox ran back an interception for a touchdown, but Heimer blocked the extra point.
A 35-yard halfback pass from Clark to Peter Kiszka set up a 20-yard touchdown run by Scott Cohn to tie the game.
Once again Wilcox scored, but Clark answered quickly with a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Sweeny hit Willard for two points on a fake PAT, and the Cats led 28-27.
Wilcox scored again to take a 35-28 lead. Gatos managed to drive back, but came up inches short.
Clark led the running attack with 105 yards on 24 carries, and Willard came through with 93 yards on 11 tries. Cohn carried three times for 28 yards.
Sweeny had a big night, hooking up on 10 of 15 passes for 75 yards.
"He had a career night," said Downs of his sophomore quarterback. "He was really on the money. He was cool under pressure, and was a real leader."
Kiszka had three catches for 48 yards, and Stuart Gordon had two catches for 33 yards. Willard added two receptions for 19 yards, and Clark had a catch for five.
Nick Crafford, Evan McDonald and Ben Miller led the charge in the offfensive line.
Heimer was the defensive star, getting in on 12 tackles, recovering two fumbles, blocking a punt and blocking a PAT. Eric Brown was in on 10 tackles, Travis Howell nine and Kiszka eight. Matt Cooke had four tackles and recovered a fumble.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
