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WG slips to 0-2 after 12-0 loss to Fremont
By Dick Sparrer
The halftime intermission had to come as a welcome respite for the defensive unit of the Willow Glen football team last Saturday afternoon.
After all, the Rams' "D" had spent all but 49 seconds of the second quarter on the field in Willow Glen's 12-0 nonleague loss to Fremont.
Willow Glen punted the football deep into Fremont territory late in the first period, and the Firebirds took over at their own 11 with eight seconds left before the first buzzer.
Took over, indeed.
Fremont took off on a methodical 18-play, 89-yard drive that quarterback Delainy Durgin capped with a 5-yard TD run with 49 seconds left in the half.
The Rams, who had run just seven offensive plays to that point, got off just two more before quarterback Justin Johnson finally just took a knee to send Willow Glen into the locker room to regroup.
But the Rams, who had just 19 yards of total offense in the first half, didn't fare that much better in the second. Willow Glen finished with just 88 total yards in the 12-0 loss.
"In fairness to Willow Glen, [head coach Bob Parker] had to discipline two of his best players," Fremont boss Ron Demonner said. "My hat's off to him for doing the right thing."
Johnson ended up completing just 5 of 18 passes for 66 yards, but kept pitching right to the end despite having a number of passes dropped by his receivers.
"Their quarterback hung in there like a tiger," said Demonner.
Willow Glen's deepest penetration of the day was the Fremont 37, and the Rams didn't get there until the final play of the game.
The Rams made it to the Fremont 49 in the first quarter on a 10-yard run by Steve Lopez and again in the second period when Johnson hit Robert Campos with a 7-yard pass and a personal foul was tacked on the end of the play.
A 6-yard scramble by Johnson and a 5-yard run by Adrian Morales gave the Rams a first down at the Fremont 49 in the fourth quarter, but a loss and three errant passes forced Willow Glen to turn the ball over on downs.
Willow Glen made a late scoring bid after stopping the Firebirds with a goal line stand late in the game. Fremont faced a first-and-goal at the 5-yard-line, but key stops by Ryan Radjabi, Morales, Chris Stevens and Doug Dionne stopped the Firebirds at the one.
Johnson hooked up with Matt Morrow for 24 yards, hit David Estrada for 20 and went back to Morrow for 18 more to the Fremont 37. But time ran out on the Rams.
Willow Glen finished the day with just 22 net yards rushing to go with Johnson's 66 yards in the air.
Lopez was the tackling leader for the Rams with 11 stops and Dionne was close behind with 10 tackles. Stephens, just a sophomore, had a quarterback sack among his eight tackles.
Estrada supported with six tackles for the Rams and David Sabala-Klein, Amir Faraj-Perry, Doug Ungari, Mark Sarinana and Robert Campos got in on three each.
Doug Mummey, Richard Salas, Morrow, Joe Sparacino, Morales, Evan Ball, Jason Garcia, Steve Nakatsu, Frank Sarinana and Tista Perri were also in on tackles for the Rams.
Willow Glen, now 0-2 in the young season, will play its home opener this week. The Rams will host Silver Creek on Sept. 21, 3:30 p.m., in a nonleague game. The Raiders are 2-0 following a 19-7 win over Mount Pleasant last Friday.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
