Los Gatos Weekly-Times Cavanagh leads Wildcats to a win over the Vikings By Dick Sparrer Chris Cavanagh can do it all. And last Friday night, he certainly did. The Los Gatos senior was catching the football, running the football, kicking the football ... even tackling guys who were carrying the football. And he did enough of it to lead the Wildcats to an important 23-7 win over Palo Alto on Saturday night at Los Gatos. The win was important because of what Saratoga had done on Friday night on the same field. The Falcons ripped Wilcox 28-6 to create a virtual three-way tie for second place in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Milpitas clinched the championship with a 40-0 win over Homestead, and Saratoga locked up no worse than a second-place tie with its win over the Chargers. Wilcox and Los Gatos need wins this week to finish in that second-place tie. The Chargers face Homestead on Nov. 12 at Fremont, and the Wildcats visit Monta Vista on Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m., at Cupertino. Los Gatos would likely make the Central Coast Section playoffs regardless of the outcome of Friday's game. But head coach Butch Cattolico is gunning for a victory for a number of reasons: it would secure a share of second place, a sixth win would help the Cats for playoff seeding, and a win would give Los Gatos momentum heading into the post-season. The Wildcats have a little momentum now after a solid performance last Saturday against Paly. "We played really, really well," said a pleased Cattolico after the win. "It was quite comparable to the way we played against Saratoga." And the guy leading the Wildcats to the win over Paly was Cavanagh. "He had his usual night," said Cattolico of the senior. Cavanagh caught three passes for 41 yards and two touchdowns, he carried the ball three times for 14 yards, he returned five punts for 79 yards, he ran back a kickoff 10 yards, and he punted three times for a 34-yard per kick average. What's more, he was among the defensive leaders with nine tackles. "I don't know where we'd be without him," said the coach in praise of Cavanagh. But there were others who contributed greatly in the Gatos win. Senior quarterback Ryan Sorahan completed 9 of 13 passes for 182 yards and the two TDs to Cavanagh, a 27-yarder and a 3-yarder. Brandon Fennema rambled for 142 yards on 19 carries, and he also hauled in two passes for 25 yards. Fennema scored the final Gatos touchdown of the night on a 2-yard run. "He had quite a night, too," said Cattolico of Fennema. Justin Narragon supported with six carries for 22 yards on the ground, working behind the solid offensive line of tackles Matt Klemchuk and Brandon Chapatte, guards Kellen Durose and Austin Neale, center Kevin Mullen and tight end Troy Towner. The coach also praised fullback Aaron Wagman for his blocking. Wagman added two catches for 36 yards. Towner had a reception for 54 yards early in the game, and Max Hirschman had a catch for 26 yards. Neale led all tacklers with 11 stops, including a couple of quarterback sacks. Brian Edwards had eight tackles, including one that forced a fumble recovered by Chapatte, and Briston Lowry had eight stops. Ben Frazier kicked three extra points for Gatos in the win. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 11, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.