Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos speedster Alan Rosa ran for 1,882 yards in 1997 to set a new school rushing record.

Gatos honors its champions

Rosa is the league's best offensive player

By Dick Sparrer

It's a road they travel almost every day.

But there was something very special about the late-night trip the Los Gatos football players took down Santa Cruz Avenue back on Dec. 5--it was the traditional procession of a Los Gatos team that had just won a Central Coast Section football championship.

Head coach Butch Cattolico had made similar trips through the years, but none was any sweeter than this one. Because this was a team that lost its first three games of the season but rallied to win 10 straight to claim league and CCS championships.

The Wildcats posted a 6-0 record to claim the title in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, then they won three straight in the post-season to take the CCS Division III crown.

"This was as balanced a team as we have ever had," Cattolico said, and he's had some awfully good teams at Los Gatos.

"I think they just might rate up there among the best," he added. "And they all realize what made them a good team is that they could rely on one another. All the pieces just seemed to fit."

Of course, as with any team, some pieces were bigger than others. And senior running back Alan Rosa was probably the biggest of them all.

Rosa may have been just 5-feet-11 and 186 pounds, but he put up gigantic numbers for the Wildcats. He carried the football 299 times for the Cats to run up a school-record 1,882 yards.

"He's the new king on the block," said Cattolico of Rosa, who passed Trevor Wilson on the Los Gatos all-time rushing list. Wilson ran for 1,832 yards in his senior year at Los Gatos and Dion Mejia ran for 1,816.

Rosa also pulled in 18 passes for 247 yards, and ended up as the Gatos scoring leaders with 26 touchdowns, 22 extra point kicks, four field goals and a two-point conversion.

Cats are all-league

So it came as little surprise to see Rosa win the De Anza Division's outstanding offensive player award. He topped a list of 15 Wildcats who earned all-league honors after the sensational 1997 season, including five who won special awards.

Enzo Iacomini was named the league's outstanding linebacker with awards going to Charlie Cucco as the outstanding offensive lineman, John Stengele as the outstanding wide receiver and Chris Cavanagh as the outstanding junior.

Junior quarterback Ryan Sorahan, senior wide receiver Anthony Fitzgerald and senior tackle Mike Manson each won spots on the all-league first team offense.

Claiming all-league first team honors on the defensive unit were inside linebacker Austin Glover, outside linebackers Steve LaBarbera and Fred Luminoso, lineman Austin Neale and defensive back Justin Lehnert. Junior tackle Matt Klemchuk and senior tight end Vince Posner were each named to the all-league second team.

Team honors

But the honors didn't end there for the league and CCS champions.

Rosa was selected as the team's most valuable player, with Iacomini winning the outstanding defensive player award and Stengele and Sorahan sharing the outstanding offensive player award.

Cucco was picked as the team's outstanding lineman, and Glover was the named the most inspirational player.

Luminoso was honored with the scholar athlete award, and he and Fitzgerald shared the team's most improved player award.

Posner and Beau Narragon were presented coaches awards and Iacomini, Glover and Cucco were honored as co-captains.

Statistical leaders

Iacomini completed an outstanding senior season. The inside linebacker led the team with 128 tackles, including 89 solo stops and five quarterback sacks. Glover was next on the tackle charts with 123, and Neale finished with 101.

Manson was the squad's sack leader with 10, and Neale was in on seven.

Lehnert was in on 95 tackles, with Cucco in on 90; Cavanagh, 84; LaBarbera, 71; Manson, 62; and Luminoso, 43.

Sorahan turned in some impressive passing numbers for the Wildcats. The junior passer hooked up on 90 of 139 passes for 1,871 yards and 16 touchdowns--all of that in just over 10 games.

His favorite target was Fitzgerald, who pulled in 33 passes for 669 yards and seven touchdowns. Posner snagged 27 aerials for 557 yards and three TDs, and Stengele had 21 catches for 440 yards and five scores.

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