The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by George Sakkestad Shining Moment: Willow Glen's John Fernandez, breaking to daylight in a game earlier this year, hauled in a pair of touchdown passes in the Rams' 19-14 win over Valley Christian. 'Great win' for Rams over Valley Christian By Dick Sparrer After opening the league season with a loss to Santa Teresa, Willow Glen didn't just want a win against Valley Christian-- the Rams needed a win. That is, they needed a win if they had any hopes of staying in the race for the title in the Santa Teresa Division of the West Valley Athletic League. So what did those Rams do? They went out and beat the Warriors. "It was a great win," said Willow Glen head coach Bob Parker. "It was 19-14, and it wasn't that close. We shot ourselves in the foot twice in the fourth quarter." The Rams led 19-7 heading into the fourth, but the Warriors battled back for a touchdown, and pulled off a successful onside kick. Down just 19-14, the Warriors moved into Willow Glen territory late in the game. But Cory Hare intercepted a pass to end the Valley Christian threat. "He stepped in front of a screen pass," said Parker of Hare. "He smelled it out." The interception helped Willow Glen clinch its first league win. The Rams are now 1-1 in the division and 3-2 for the year. Willow Glen will try to make it two straight this week. The Rams will visit Silver Creek on Oct. 17, 1 p.m. "They're really big," Parker said of the Raiders, who slipped to 0-2 in the division and to 1-4 for the year after a 26-8 loss to Santa Teresa last Friday. "And they're starting to hit better." But, then, so are the Rams. "We're improving, and playing better," the coach said after the win. Parker was especially pleased with the way his club ran the football against the Warriors. "We haven't had any success on the ground this season," the coach said. But with Leon Thomas carrying most of the load, the Rams had plenty of success on Friday. Willow Glen ran the ball effectively for the first time this season with Thomas carrying 14 times for 109 yards. And it was a Thomas run that got the offense going against Valley. The Rams had taken over at their own eight after a punt, and quarterback David Macchi was sacked to put them deeper in a hole. But Thomas took off on a 12-yard run, and the Rams had a first down near the 20. "He popped for 12 yards on a dive to get us a first down," said Parker. "That got us out from under the goal posts." Then the Rams moved down the field in a hurry when John Fernandez took off on a fly pattern, and Macchi hit him for an 80-yard touchdown. "Dave led him perfectly," said Parker of the touchdown play. Nich Holt kicked the extra point, and it was 7-0. Thomas upped the lead to 13-0 with a 52-yard touchdown run in the second period. The Warriors scored quickly in the third, but Willow Glen answered right back. Macchi hit Hare for 40 yards down the sidelines to move the Rams into Valley territory. "It was a tough catch," Parker said of Hare's grab. "It was a big catch for us." Macchi went back to Fernandez for 20 yards and a touchdown, and the Rams were up 19-7. Valley attempted to mount a comeback, but Eddy Sanchez picked off a pass on one drive, and Jeremy Downs forced a fumble that Greg Barone recovered. The Rams started to move again in the fourth. Mike Strangis carried three times for 12 yards and a first down, then caught a 12-yard toss from Macchi. A penalty took the Rams deeper into Valley territory, but a fumble ended the march. The Warriors came back with the touchdown and converted the onside kick, but Hare's interception helped seal the win. The Warriors had moved down the field on their first possession of the night, but Shane Lamar intercepted a pass in the end zone to kill the threat. "It was fourth down, and we would have had better field position had he not caught the ball," Parker said. "But I don't care. We picked the ball off, and that's a statement." A 46-yard pass from Macchi to Fernandez moved the Rams down the field, but the drive stalled and the Warriors took over. This time it was Downs who ended the Valley march with a big quarterback sack. "He just outquicked them," Parker said of Downs, who had the sack and forced two fumbles in the win. The Rams got the football back on the punt to the eight, then were on their way to their first TD. Macchi had another impressive night for the Rams, hooking up on 14 of 21 passes for 308 yards and the two touchdowns. Fernandez pulled in four passes for 192 yards and the two scores, and Hare caught eight passes for 86 yards. Sanchez caught one for 18 yards and Strangis had the one catch for 12. The Rams went into the game with two starting offensive linemen, Ben D'Antonio and Peter Panayotopolous, out with injuries. But Paul Sanchez, a senior team captain, sparked the line to a solid performance. "Obviously, they blocked real well," Parker said. Downs led the defensive effort. "He had three or four game-breaking plays," said the coach, who also praised the work of Hare, Holt and Thomas. He added that assistant coach Mitch Bigger "did a good job of calling the defense." "We have not had a game where our offense and defense played well on the same day," the coach added. "This was one game where both the offense and defense played well." This was especially true in the second half, when Valley Christian threatened to mount a comeback assault. "We faced three big challenges in the second half," Parker said, "and we responded very well. We felt pretty good about this win." [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.