Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by George Sakkestad Los Gatos wide receiver Chris Cavanagh goes high to pull down a pass from Ryan Sorahan in last Friday night's 21-14 victory over Homestead. Cats battle back for victory Cavanagh, Sorahan lead Gatos to win By Dick Sparrer It was closer than anyone expected it to be. And it was certainly closer than Los Gatos football coach Butch Cattolico had hoped it would be. Still, a win's a win, and Cattolico walked away smiling after his Wildcats pulled out a hard-earned 21-14 victory over Homestead on the Gatos field Friday night. "We took what we could get, and we got the win," said a relieved Cattolico after the victory. "In the end, our kids stepped it up a little bit." Los Gatos came from behind with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull out the 21-14 win. But through three periods, Cattolico was definitely concerned. "They executed their game plan," said Cattolico of Homestead. "They must have had the ball 40 minutes. It was one of those games when we seemed to be on defense the whole night." That's almost true. Homestead ran 56 plays to just 34 for the Wildcats. But once the Cats took control of the football, it didn't take them long to score. Homestead kept the football for the first 11 plays of the night before Chris Cavanagh stepped in to steal the ball away from the Mustangs. He forced a fumble and recovered it himself, and the Cats started to move. Ryan Sorahan tossed 15 yards to Troy Towner and 47 more to Cavanagh to set up Justin Narragon for a 1-yard TD run. Mike Cook kicked the extra point, and the Cats had taken a 7-0 lead even though they had held the football for just a minute and a half. Cavanagh and Sorahan were two of the players who really stepped up, according to Cattolico. "Right now, those two are just carrying us along," said the coach. Sorahan completed six of eight passes for 188 yards, throwing for one touchdown and running for another. And Cavanagh was tough on both sides of the scrimmage line. He hauled in four passes for 153 yards, and was also in on 15 tackles. Twice he stole the football away from Homestead ball carriers. "[Cavanagh] was really the hero of the night," said Cattolico. But before Cavanagh could become the hero, the Mustangs threatened to steal the win away. Homestead put together a 13-play drive for a second-period touchdown. Then the Mustangs recovered a fumble at the Gatos 18 and scored eight plays later to take a 14-7 lead at the half. "They started bringing everybody in after they got the lead," said Cattolico. The Mustangs put together a 14-play drive to eat up most of the clock in the third quarter, and Cattolico was starting to worry. But Sorahan and Cavanagh calmed their coach with clutch efforts in the fourth. Sorahan calmly hit Max Hirschman for 20 yards, then, after a sack, went on top to hit Cavanagh for 80 yards and a touchdown on the first play of the fourth period. Down 14-13, the Cats lined up for the extra-point kick. The snap was high, but holder Matt Torres "came up out of his stance and placed the ball right on the tee," said the coach. Cook drilled the game-tying point. "It was a great play," said Cattolico of Torres' effort. "And it was a big play." Cavanagh came through on the defensive side moments later when he came flying up to steal the ball away from the Mustangs. "One adjustment we made at the half was to bring Chris up over the middle of the ball," said the coach, "and we told him to go for the football." He did, and the Cats had the ball again. Homestead got the ball back on a fumble, but couldn't move. The Mustangs elected to go for a first down on fourth-and-one at their own 13, and they came up short. Narragon carried four times to get the ball to the one, then Sorahan went in for the TD. Cook's kick made it 21-14. Brandon Fennema had runs of 16, 33 and five yards as the Cats worked the clock. Then Sorahan knelt down twice to preserve the win. Fennema ended up the leading ground gainer with 78 yards on seven carries. Narragon added 60 yards on 14 tries, and Cavanagh picked up 10 yards on two runs. Chris Brown led all Gatos tacklers with 17 stops. "He has really stepped up and done a great job for us since we moved him to inside linebacker," said Cattolico of Brown. Cavanagh had the 15 tackles to go with his two fumble recoveries, and Austin Neale was in on 10 tackles. Kellen Durose had nine stops, Briston Lowry and Ben Winkleman eight apiece and Fennema seven. Kenny Troquato-Perrotti got in on four tackles, Adam Dallas four and Adrian Rangel, Ryan O'Gorman, Matt Klemchuk and Brian Edwards had three each. The Wildcats, now 2-2 in the division and 4-4 for the year, will try to climb over the .500 mark for the first time this season when they host Palo Alto on Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 4, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.