The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Tough day for Monta Vista in season opener

By Mike Barnhart

Monta Vista's season opener did not go as the Matadors had planned--not even close.

Gunderson turned three second-quarter takeaways into touchdowns and rolled to a 34-7 home victory over Monta Vista last Saturday afternoon.

"We did not play well," Monta Vista coach Jeff Mueller said. "We gave them 21 points on turnovers and we were losing 28-0 at half."

The Matadors never did climb out of the huge halftime hole, but they did score their first points of the season. Making his varsity debut, junior quarterback Justin Rahn connected with senior receiver Matthew Dee on a 19-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Drew Constant kicked the extra point.

"Justin played OK for his first game, but he was running for his life," Mueller noted of his quarterback, who led the frosh-soph team to a league championship last fall. "He was being forced out of the pocket by a big defensive tackle that was a man among boys out there."

Gunderson senior Roger Rose scored three touchdowns, including a 44-yard interception return in the second quarter. Earlier in the period, Grizzly Anthony Watson scooped up a fumble and ran it back for a 32 yards for a touchdown, and Gunderson tallied a short scoring pass. The pass was set up when a Monta Vista return man muffed a kickoff.

Monta Vista will try to even its record against Willow Glen on Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m., at Cupertino High. It will be the first game for the Rams under new head coach Ron Capurso, who led San Jose to a 4-5 record last season.

Willow Glen went undefeated in the West Valley Division last season and finished with a 9-1 overall record.