But Sullivan more than made up for that in the 2005 season. He threw for nearly 2,500 yards, led the Wildcats to championships in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and the Central Coast Section and walked off with the division's Most Valuable Player award.

Sullivan, who at times during the season was compared to Los Gatos great Trent Edwards, now the starting quarterback at Stanford, completed 131 of 220 passes for 2,435 yards and 24 touchdowns to lead the powerful Gatos offense this fall.

The talented senior topped a list 18 players who shared 16 special awards on the all-league team in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL, and five of them were Wildcats.

Along with Sullivan, Gatos players winning special honors were A.J. Comeau, Outstanding Defensive Back; Bret Hampton, Outstanding Tight End; Dave Martini, co-Outstanding Wide Receiver; and Carlos Alonso, Outstanding Linebacker.

Rounding out the special honors list were Saratoga junior Alex Lagemann, co-Outstanding Wide Receiver; Homestead's Jay Atkins, Outstanding Offensive Back; Milpitas' Mike Almond, Senior of the Year, and Havelock Pomele, Sophomore of the Year; Palo Alto's Fred Koloto, Outstanding Lineman, and John Hall, Outstanding Defensive Lineman; Mountain View's Leshawn James, co-Outstanding Safety, and Brandon Hamilton, Junior of the Year; five players from Wilcox: Derome Fowler, Outstanding Offensive Player; Isaac Leatiota, Outstanding Defensive Player; James Strickland, Outstanding Offensive Lineman; Chris Wong, co-Outstanding Safety; and Matt Fultcher, Outstanding Quarterback.

Three Wildcats were among the 10 offensive linemen selected to the all-league first team in the division. Tackle Mike Tona, guard Vikram Shivaji and center Matt Nelson were Los Gatos players picked to the first line along with Augie Lagemann of Saratoga, Stephan Boles and Abdullah Qureshi of Wilcox, Tim Currie and Will Elmore of Palo Alto and Nick De Young and Jess Newman of Milpitas.

Sophomore Nick Kalpin of Los Gatos was named a first-team running back along with Brian Backo of Homestead, Will Frazier of Palo Alto and Alex Nelson of Mountain View.

Palo Alto's Nick Goodspeed drew the first-team nod at quarterback with Mike Gault of Los Gatos, Jose Rodriguez of Wilcox, Cooper Miller of Paly and Trevor Campbell of Mountain View the wide receivers. Brian Wilson of Mountain View was the first team tight end.

Eric Rowell and Rene Stephan Los Gatos topped the list on the all-league first team defensive line. The two Wildcats were joined by Tommy Slater of Wilcox, Nick Rosas and Tim Currie of Palo Alto, Matt Warmbrodt of Mountain View and Loren Wutzke of Milpitas.

Will Kapp and Robbie Comeau of Los Gatos were named first team defensive backs along with Scott Newberry of Saratoga, John Cimino and Antione Briggs of Wilcox, Dennis Pruzan of Palo Alto and Kevin Metzers and Shane Buenos of Mountain View.

Outside linebacker Karl Winkelman of Los Gatos earned an all-league first team berth. He was joined at the position by Kellen Brown of Wilcox, Teddy Jones of Paly and Colin Campbell of Mountain View.

Inside 'backers winning first-team spots were David Martinez and David Bridges of Wilcox, Roger Prince of Paly, Joape Pela of Mountain View, Anthony Garcia of Milpitas and Tom Andrews of Homestead.

El Camino Division

Monta Vista junior Marcus Woo was named the Most Valuable Player and Fremont senior Julius Mills was selected the Offensive Player of the Year when the coaches of the SCVAL's El Camino Division selected their all-league football team for 2005.

Woo, who led the Matadors to a 5-5 season and a 3-3 finish in the division, was joined on the all-league list by senior defensive lineman Hoo Hong, junior free safety Kota Kojima and sophomore linebacker Peter Kosulin.

Mills topped the all-league list for Fremont. The senior ran for 1,087 yards and scored eight touchdowns on his way to winning the Offensive Player of the Year award in the division. The Firebirds were also 5-5 for the year and finished 4-2 in the division, good for third place behind Santa Clara (6-0) and Los Altos (5-1).

Mills also had eight catches for 150 yards and two TDs, ran back two kickoffs for touchdowns and was in on 45 tackles. His rushing total ranks as the sixth-best of all-time at Fremont, he's just the seventh back in school history to top the 1,000 yard mark.

"Most remarkable is that he touched the ball 207 times and only fumbled twice," said Fremont coach Andy Walczak.

Nathan Cathcart, Shelton Swopes, Mark Pariaszevski, Donny Mena, Harold Su and Juan Arce were Firebirds who joined Mills on the all-league first team.

Cathcart, a first team fullback, becomes only the second player in Fremont history to claim all-league honors in three varsity seasons. The first was Steve Zankich (1975-76-77).

Swopes was named an all-league first team wide receiver after catching 13 passes for 271 yards (fourth best in school history) with Pariaszevski a first team center and Mena a first team guard. Pariaszevski finished the season as a defensive leader as well, with a school record 133 tackles. Mena is just a sophomore.

Su was selected as a defensive lineman after getting in on 70 tackles, "which is incredible for a D-lineman," said Walczak, and Arce earned a spot as a defensive utility player with 93 tackles. He had an impressive 39.5-yard punting average.