So when the Wildcats took on Monta Vista on Friday night at Helm Field, head coach Butch Cattolico hoped to turn starting quarterback Alex Rollin loose and finally work on the passing game that the coach knows his club will need down the road.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out as Cattolico had planned.

Well, maybe unfortunately is the wrong choice of words. Because the reason Los Gatos couldn't throw the football is that almost before he knew it, Cattolico's Wildcats had opened up a 21-0 lead.

The coach knew it was a "terrible mismatch" for the Wildcats to take on the Matadors. The Cats were 2-0 and riding a 28-game win streak; the Mats were 1-1 and have struggled in recent years.

And when Derek Tam ran back the opening kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, Cattolico knew that the Matadors were likely in for a long night.

It got worse in a hurry. Monta Vista was forced to punt, and Drew Hoffman drove a blocker back into the punter, the ball dropping at the Monta Vista 8-yard line. Dennis Freeman promptly went eight yards for a touchdown.

The Matadors went three plays and out following the kickoff, and a 14-yard punt gave the Cats excellent field position again at the Monta Vista 37.

Rollin got a chance to throw, hitting tight end Cameron Fee for 12 yards. Howell ran for 10 yards and Freeman for 13 more before Howell blasted over from the 2-yard line for the third touchdown of the first quarter. Nick Reimnitz kicked his third extra point, and the Cats were up 21-0 - in a hurry.

"We wanted to work on our passing game, because we're going to need it this week," said the coach. The Cats will take their 3-0 record and 29-game win string on the road to Milpitas for a game on Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m. It will mark the season opener in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League for each club, and it just could be the game that will decide the division championship.

"It's going to be a real good football game," said Cattolico. "They have some awfully good players."

The Trojans have been good enough to open the season with three straight wins. Milpitas beat Live Oak 31-7, topped Newark-Memorial 38-14 and crushed Los Altos 40-7 last week.

"Their first-string defense is still unscored upon," said Cattolico. But the Los Gatos defense isn't too bad, either. The shutout over Monta Vista was the fourth straight, dating back to last year's Central Coast Section championship game.

"And we didn't have a turnover for the second game in a row," added the coach. "We seem to be pretty solid going into Milpitas, and we'll need to be."

Cattolico knew that Monta Vista wouldn't present much of a challenge last Friday night.

"I just didn't want us to have a letdown," said the coach. "But the kids didn't - they played real well. I don't think we lost our momentum."

Cattolico was pleased with the play of Rollin, even though the lopsided score meant that he couldn't throw as much as the coach would have liked him to. It was 21-0 before the end of the first quarter, and 35-0 at the half.

Rollin hit on 7 of 10 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.

"He's throwing the ball with good accuracy," said Cattolico. "That was a pretty good night for him."

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead with the three touchdowns in the first, then scored two more in the second quarter before the starters bowed out for the night.

A Tam interception, a 10-yard Rollin pass to Andy Betzina and a 25-yard run by Freeman set up Freeman for a 9-yard touchdown run.

Monta Vista failed to move after the kickoff, and Gatos went to work again. Danny Bates ran for 10 yards, then took a Rollin pass 32 yards for a touchdown. Two more Reimnitz kicks made it 35-0 at intermission.

Bates took an interception 48 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, and Brian Miguel ran 33 yards for a TD in the fourth to close out the Gatos scoring.

Freeman finished the night with 99 yards on nine carries, Miguel had 59 yards on two runs, Bates carried five times for 31 yards and John Davidge had 30 yards on three tries.

Fee caught three passes for 48 yards, and Bates, Scott Drew, Brett Cavanagh and Betzina each caught passes.

Howell and Andrew O'Gorman were in on nine tackles apiece to lead the defense, and Hoffman and Miguel were in on seven each. Eric Brown finished with five, and Drew, Brian Perin and Perry Richardson had four each.

Eric Pape, Shaun Sullivan, Betzina, Andrew Milman, Jon Comeau, Tom Dittmann, Mark Ericson, Liam Smith, Cavanagh, Matt Kinser, Chad Blanchard, David Kleinschmidt, Ivan Batinich, Greg Kelly, Bryce Murray, John Allen, Devin Scott and Nick Perrone were others in on tackles.

The starting offensive line of Allen, Logan Graff, Carter Wallace, Matt Rose and Hoffman played well, and so did back-ups Danny Starick, Smith, Perrone, Scott, Matt Furlo and Ryan Lecznar.