But despite its impressive heritage, a Westmont football team had never won a game in the Central Coast Section playoffs--that is, until last weekend.

Now a CCS victory is a recent memory since the Warriors opened CCS with an impressive 27-19 victory over Mountain View in the first round of the Medium School Division playoffs.

It was something of an upset for the Warriors, co-champions in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. The squad, coached by veteran local coach Tony Santos, entered the playoffs as the No. 6 seed and had to open against Mountain View, the No. 3 seed and champs of the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The clubs entered the game with matching 7-3 records, but it was Westmont prevailing to advance to the semifinals against Palo Alto on Nov. 27, 7 p.m., at Milpitas Sports Center.

Paly, the runner-up in the rugged De Anza Division of the SCVAL, is coming off of a tight 15-14 win over Monterey in the first round. The Vikings, seeded No. 2 in the division, and the Warriors will match 8-3 records on Saturday night.

The only common opponent for the two clubs this season was Mountain View. Westmont beat the Spartans by a touchdown last Saturday afternoon in Mountain View--Paly hammered the Spartans 35-17 in the second week of the season.

So Westmont will be an underdog this weekend. But the Warriors seem to like that role. They were underdogs when they beat Lincoln 33-26 on the final night of the regular season, and they were underdogs when they beat Mountain View last Saturday.

"That was a good win," said Santos, whose club trailed 19-6 at intermission against the Spartans. "I challenged them in the second half. I told them, 'I believe in you, let's challenge them, and let's leave our best stuff on the field.' "

Westmont came out strong and pinned Mountain View at its own 1-yard line with a punt. The Spartans couldn't move and punted back to the Warriors. Chantz Staden ran the punt back to the 15, and Westmont struck quickly with a scoring toss from Kevin Pham to Casey Modiri. Kevin Blakely kicked the first of three extra points, and the Warriors trailed just 19-13.

Blakely chipped the kickoff to the Mountain View 30, and the Spartans couldn't handle the ball. Matt Nelson was there to recover the fumble, and the Warriors were in business again.

Pham went back to Modiri with a 10-yard TD toss, and Blakely's kick put Westmont on top 20-19.

"All of sudden momentum was on our side," said Santos.

Westmont scored again on a 37-yard scoring strike from Pham to junior Ryan Kanzaki, and the Warriors had the win all but wrapped up.

Pham finished the day hitting on 13 of 19 passes for 188 yards and the three TDs.

"He played a great game," said Santos of Pham, who has thrown for more than 1,330 yards this season. "The kid just loves football."

Daniel Weller, who opened the scoring for Westmont with a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter, finished with 155 yards on 17 carries.

In all, Westmont rolled up 401 yards of total offense in the win, working behind an offensive front of Will Evans, Kyle Portus, Ramsey Habib, Tyler Porras, Jeff Andrews and Brad Davis.

Leading the defense in the game, as they have much of the year, were seniors Justin O'Connor and Arthur Esterkin. O'Connor led the Warriors with 21 tackles and has been in on 91 tackles in six games since becoming eligible.

"What a difference he's made on the defense," said Santos of the senior linebacker.

Esterkin got in on 16 tackles in the win and strong safety Stefan Fowler also played well.

"It was a solid defensive effort," said Santos.

Westmont has lost only three times this year--22-19 to Scotts Valley and 41-12 in the preseason, and 13-7 to Santa Teresa in league play. Leigh won the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division title and Santa Teresa shared the Santa Teresa Division crown with Westmont and Lincoln.

"We have great team chemistry this year--like Band of Brothers chemistry," said Santos.

Westmont has already exceeded the expectations of Santos this year. The coach predicted a competitive season, but because of what he called "limited varsity experience," he figured his Warriors for a 6-4 season.

But the young players from a team that posted a 9-1 record and tied with Branham and Lincoln for the frosh-soph championship have blended nicely with experienced veterans to make the Warriors overachievers this fall.