Saratoga News

Sports

Panthers glad they won't see Woo again

By Dick Sparrer

Carlos Boles has seen enough of Marcus Woo to last him a career.

The Prospect coach stood by last Friday afternoon to watch the Monta Vista back run up 283 all-purpose yards to lead the Matadors to a 34-21 non-league victory over the Panthers in Cupertino.

"Woo had a great day," said Monta Vista coach Jeff Mueller of his senior standout. "He's elusive and he works hard in practice. I wouldn't want to have to tackle him."

"He's had two great days against Prospect," Mueller added. "I know Carlos doesn't want to see him anymore."

Boles agreed.

"Yeah, we don't want to see him again," said Boles. "But we did better against him today than we did last year. We were able to contain him a little better."

A year ago Woo caught eight passes for 267 yards and four touchdowns to drive the Mats to a 42-24 win over the Panthers. This year he only scored three times--on an 80-yard run, a 6-yard reception and an 84-yard kick-off return.

But while Boles wants nothing more to do with Woo, Mueller likely feels the same way about Prospect wide receiver Kendall Hendon. The stingy-fingered 6-foot-2, 175-pound speedster, who scored a touchdown in last year's clash with the Mats, caught nine balls for 161 yards and a touchdown last Friday.

"He's special," said Boles of Hendon. "He gives us a lot of opportunities."

Still, as good as Hendon was on the hot Friday afternoon, it was Woo who wooed the crowd with his quickness and elusive broken field running.

He took off on an 80-yard TD scamper midway through the first period to give Monta Vista the early lead, and he caught a six-yard scoring toss from 6-foot-5 quarterback Alex Atkins to make it 19-0 midway through the second quarter.

When the Panthers answered back with a touchdown a few minutes later to trim the lead to 19-7, Woo took the wind out of Prospect's sails with an 84-yard kick-off return for a score.

Woo finished the day with 120 yards on nine carries and he caught four passes for 79 yards.

Atkins had a solid day for the Matadors, hitting on 8 of 18 passes for 156 yards. He found Matthew Dee twice for 56 yards and Billy Guardino twice for 21 more.

Boles was impressed with the performance of his quarterback, senior Zach Stevenson.

"He's solid for us," said Boles. "What hindered him today is that he was playing on a soft ankle so he couldn't sprint out the way we usually like him to. We had to try the shotgun."

Still, Stevenson was impressive, completing 16 of 21 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns. Nine of his completions when to Hendon, but Natniel Taye caught two for 35 yards and a TD, Jeremy Eseroma had two for 26 and Kyle Koke (12 yards), Joseph Clayton (10) and Perett Fiaavae (18) had one each.

Both offenses were impressive on the day. Monta Vista finished the afternoon with 336 yards of total offense. Prospect countered with 281 total yards with tackles George Hicks and Ryan Eseroma, guards Randall Sandrich and J.D. Snyder and center Chris Walter leading the way up front.

The coaches, though, each had praise for their defense.

"The defense is doing a lot of good things for us right now," said Mueller, whose squad recovered two fumbles, picked off a pass and sacked Stevenson four times.

And Prospect?

"The defense made all the plays in the second half to give us the opportunity to get back into the game," said Boles, whose club gave up just one touchdown in the final two quarters.

It was almost enough to get the Panthers back into the game.

Monta Vista had scored first on Woo's 80-yard run, then the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs at the Prospect 28.

A 53-yard pass from Atkins to Woo off a fake punt got the Matadors into the red zone, and Kota Kojima went over the left side for the score.

A 15-yard toss from Atkins to Guardino and a nine-yard run by Matthew Moustakas set up a six-yard scoring pass from Atkins to Woo. Walter shot through to sack Atkins on the two-point try, but the Mats were up 19-0.

Stevenson tossed twice to Hendon for 25 yards and once to J. Eseroma for eight before Taye made a one-handed grab on Stevenson's 19-yard pass to the corner of the end zone. David Matusewicz kicked the first of his three extra points to cut the lead to 19-7.

It wouldn't stay that way for long. Woo took the kick-off on a hop at his own 16 and raced 84 yards for a score. Kojima ran in for the two-point conversion and Monta Vista would lead 27-7 at the half.

A fumble recovery by Kenny Bake set up a 40-yard scoring toss from Stevenson to Hendon in the third quarter to make it 27-14, but once more Monta Vista answered back, this time with a drive that Moustakas capped with a five-yard run up the middle.

There was no quit in the Panthers, though. Stevenson's 10-yard pass to Clayton and 35-yard toss to Hendon set up a three-yard TD dash by Kwasi Achiaw. Matusewicz's kick made it 34-21 on the final play of the third quarter.

A pass interception by Hendon with 5:47 left to play gave Prospect one last gasp. Stevenson hit Fiaavae over the middle for 18 yards to the Monta Vista 6-yard line, but a fumbled snap was recovered by the Mats and Monta Vista ran out the clock for the win.

"That fumble killed us down here," said Boles. "And we had the perfect play called."

Hendon was the defensive leader for the Panthers with seven tackles and a pass interception. Koke and David Cervante got in on five tackles apiece and Snyder, R. Eseroma, Walter, Chau Pham and Clayton had four each. Snyder recovered a fumble and Walter sacked the quarterback.

Paul Michael Davis had a sack among his three tackles and Bake had three stops and a fumble recovery. Fiaavae added three tackles and Shane Jennings, J. Eseroma, Edwards Lewis, Chris Johnson, Nick Kinder and George Hicks were also in on tackles.

Prospect, now 1-2 in the young season, will open league play in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League on Sept. 30 when the Panthers visit James Lick at 1:30 p.m.

"Hopefully we can play well," said Boles. "We've been getting punched first and have had to play of holes."