The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Lea Tauriello

Winning Team: Willow Glen's Miguel Campos, looking for running room in a recent win over San Jose, romped in for a touchdown to help the Rams to a 47-6 win over Mt. Pleasant in the league opener last weekend.

Rams 'dominate' Cardinals

Nelson helps Rams to win in league opener

By Dick Sparrer

For Nick Nelson, a trip to Mt. Pleasant last Friday was a homecoming of sorts.

But when the Willow Glen football player returned to his former high school, he wasn't exactly a welcome guest.

Of course, he wasn't exactly what you'd call a polite visitor, either.

Nelson returned to his former high school for the Friday afternoon game and played a key role in leading the Rams to a lopsided 47-6 win over the Cardinals.

Nelson blocked a Mt. Pleasant extra point, blocked a punt and scored a two-point conversion to help lead the Rams to the victory in the league opener for each club in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Actually, Nelson was just part of the cast of characters that put together an impressive showing against the Cardinals.

"The kids came out just gunning," said Willow Glen coach Bob Parker. "The kids just dominated the game."

It started quickly. Miguel Campos picked off an MP pass, and a few plays later sophomore quarterback David Macchi hit junior wide receiver John Fernandez for an 11- yard touchdown. Nich Holt kicked the extra point, and the Rams were up 7-0 in a hurry.

But Mt. Pleasant answered right back with a touchdown pass on a fourth-and-five. The Cardinals tried to tie with an extra-point kick, but Nelson blocked the kick and the Rams held on to a 7-6 lead.

That's how the first period ended. But things turned quickly in the second period.

DeWitt Willis capped a drive with a two-yard TD run, and just after the Willow Glen kick-off, Holt intercepted a pass to give the Rams possession again.

On a fourth-and-one, Macchi hit Willis with a short pass, and the big back broke the play for a 52-yard touchdown.

But the Rams weren't finished yet. Macchi went to Willis for 19 yards and a touchdown before the half, then hit Nelson for the two-point conversion to make it 27-6 at intermission.

Willow Glen came out and dominated the third quarter. The Rams took the second-half kick-off and ate up nine minutes of the clock as they drove the length of the field for a touchdown. Macchi capped the drive when he hit Shaun Thompson on a one-yard TD pass. Holt's kick made it 34-6 heading into the fourth period.

Macchi tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Jackman, and Campos ran 15 yards for a TD in the final period to close out the scoring. Holt converted after each score.

A fumble recovery by Peter Panayotopoulos set up the final touchdown, and Holt's second interception of the day finished off Mt. Pleasant's hopes late in the game.

Macchi finished the day hitting on 12 of 17 passes for 175 yards and five touchdowns. He was intercepted once. Fernandez snagged four passes for 44 yards, and Willis grabbed three passes for 84 yards.

Willis led the ground attack with 83 yards on 11 carries, and Campos supported with 57 yards on eight tries.

Defensively, the Rams stopped the Cardinals cold. "We just smothered them," Parker said. "The kids did what they were supposed to do."

"They did a great job of playing man-to-man defense," the coach added. "We had quite a few coverage sacks. It was just great team defense."

The Rams are now 4-0 for the year and 1-0 in league play as they prepare to host Silver Creek on Oct. 11 (11 a.m. frosh-soph, 1:30 p.m. varsity).

"It's pretty exciting right now," Parker said. "But we have to stay focused."

Frosh-sophers win again

Will Rideau threw for two touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Willow Glen frosh-soph football team to a 23-12 win over Mt. Pleasant.

The Rams, now 3-1 for the year and 1-0 in the league, jumped out to an 8-0 lead when Rideau tossed a 30-yard TD pass to Dave Estrella, then hit Ray Farias for the two-point conversion. Mt. Pleasant cut the lead to 8-6 by halftime, but the Rams, just like their varsity counterparts, dominated the third period with a touchdown drive.

The Rams took nine of the 10 minutes of third to drive the length of the field for a score. Rideau passed to Mike Strangis out of the backfield. Strangis fumbled at the one, but Greg Mansfield recovered the fumble in the end zone for the touchdown. Rideau hit Ray Jackman for the two-pointer, and the Rams held a 16-6 lead.

Rideau capped the scoring with a 10-yard TD run, and Jackman kicked the extra point.

Mt. Pleasant scored a final touchdown, but could get no closer than 23-12.

Willow Glen suffered a key injury in the game when starting guard Ben D'Antonio went down with a broken leg.

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