Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by Scott Lechner Defensive standout Kenny Troquato-Perrotti puts pressure on the Alvarez quarterback during third-quarter action in last Friday's CCS playoff game at Los Gatos. The Wildcats pulled out a 28-10 win over Alvarez to advance to the CCS semifinals. Cats beat Alvarez, face Dons Winkleman's TD sparks Cats to win By Dick Sparrer Ben Winkleman certainly won't be running any plays at tailback for Los Gatos this week. And the big junior won't even be running at fullback when the Wildcats go through practice sessions in preparation for their Friday night clash with Aragon. But the 205-pound defensive end looked every bit like a running back last Friday when he powered his way into the end zone to help the Wildcats to a 28-10 win over Alvarez in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs. Winkleman picked off a fourth-quarter pass and rambled 20 yards for a key touchdown for the Wildcats. It was the touchdown that helped the Cats all but clinch the victory over the new school from Salinas. Gatos led just 14-10 when Winkleman stepped in front of a screen pass and ran it in for the score. "He ran right over a guy," said Cattolico. "He was pretty happy when he got into the end zone. Come to think of it, so was I." The touchdown put the Cats up 21-10, and they cruised from there to the victory and into the second round of the CCS playoffs. Los Gatos will take on Aragon on Nov. 27, 7 p.m., at Westmont in a key second-round game. The winner will face the St. Ignatius-Monterey winner a week later in the CCS Division III championship game. Aragon enters the game with a 9-1-1 season after a 56-14 drubbing of Westmont last Saturday afternoon. The Dons pounded the Warriors, taking a 56-0 lead midway through the second period. "They're good, but they're not that good," said Cattolico, referring to Aragon's domination of the Warriors. Cattolico is hoping his club's defense can corral the mighty Dons. And, after all, the Wildcats have been playing pretty solid defense in recent weeks. "Our defense has just been superb for quite a while," said Cattolico. "We're quite pleased with the way they've been playing." Except for one big play, a 73-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, the Cats held the Alvarez offense at bay most of the night last Friday. "We played well against what I thought was a real solid football team," said the coach. The defense held Alvarez to just 141 yards though the air, including the 73-yarder, and to only 78 yards on the ground, much of that coming on a fourth-quarter drive that ran out the clock. What's more, the Cats forced five turnovers in the game, including two interceptions by Chris Cavanagh and the key interception by Winkleman. "All week long in practice, Ben had been waiting out there for the screen," said Cattolico. "I told the kids he was going to get one. He intercepted one every day in practice." But Winkleman didn't just make the interception; he ran over the Alvarez quarterback to get into the end zone for the touchdown. It was the beginning of the end for Alvarez. Actually, the visitors scored first in the game on the 73-yard bomb in the second period, but senior speedster Adrian Rangel got the TD right back when he returned the ensuing kick-off 97 yards for a score. "He went up the middle and then just broke loose," said Cattolico of Rangel. Ben Frazier kicked the extra point to tie the game 7-7. But Alvarez ran back the Gatos kickoff 45 yards and moved in for a field goal to take a 10-7 lead on the final play of the half. "We came out and played really well in the second half," said the Gatos coach. "We didn't make the mistakes we did in the first half." Cavanagh, who Cattolico said was "absolutely expectional" in the win, picked off a pass to open the third period. After Brandon Fennema picked up five yards on first down, Gatos went to the air. "We noticed that anytime we would run for five or six yards on first down, they would bring their safeties up on us," said Cattolico. So the Cats called the flea flicker, and it went for 68 yards and a touchdown. Senior quarterback Ryan Sorahan gave the ball to Rangel, who pitched back to him. Sorahan tossed to a wide-open Cavanagh for the touchdown. Frazier's kick made it 14-7. That's when Winkleman stepped up with his interception and touchdown. Alvarez ran two plays after the kickoff before Kenny Troquato-Perrotti forced a fumble that Kellen Durose caught in the air. Justin Narragon carried three times for 12 yards, and Sorahan tossed to Kevin Krug for four more before Fennema went over from the four. Alvarez moved the ball down the field late in the game, but Briston Lowry and Steve Smith teamed up for a quarterback sack on the final play of the game to clinch the Gatos win. Cattolico cited Lowry for an outstanding game. The noseguard led the club with 17 tackles, including a couple of sacks. Chris Brown finished with 12 tackles and a sack, and Winkleman had 10 tackles and a sack to go with his interception. Austin Neale was in on 11 tackles, Durose had 10 and recovered a fumble, Cavanagh had seven and two interceptions, Brian Edwards had seven tackles, Matt Klemchuk had six, Rangel five and Fennema four and a fumble recovery. Sorahan completed 12 of 18 passes for 240 yards, hitting Cavanagh five times for 135 yards. Fennema had three catches for 62 yards, Max Hirschman two for 24 and Krug two for 20. Fennema led the ground attack with 13 carries for 65 yards, and Narragon added 48 yards on nine tries. "Our tailbacks combined for over 100 yards," said Cattolico. "They did a real good job of carrying the ball up the field for us." The coach was also pleased with the work of Klemchuk, Brandon Chapatte, Kevin Mullen, Durose and Neale in the offensive line. "I thought the kids up front played their best game," he said. "They did a good job protecting our quarterback and opening up holes." [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 25, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.