Johnson leads Rams to win over Bulldogs

By Dick Sparrer

Bob Parker and his football staff at Willow Glen have been patient this fall. And it appears that their patience is starting to pay off.

The Rams won their second straight game and their third in four league starts last week when they knocked off San Jose Academy 20-8 last Saturday at the Bulldogs' field.

"We knew it was going to take some time to get it going again," Parker said. "I told the kids after the game that this was our biggest win at Willow Glen in three years."

To be completely up front, though, Parker was quick to admit that there haven't been many wins in three years. The Rams were winless last season and had won just three games in 1999. But he sees Willow Glen turning a corner.

"Our offense continues to improve," said the veteran coach. "The kids were really excited [after the win]."

Parker knew early on that the Rams were going to beat the Bulldogs.

Steve Lopez broke the first play from scrimmage 50 yards, and Parker turned to assistant coach Mitch Bigger and said, "We're going to beat these guys."

And they went on to do just that.

The run by Lopez set up a 5-yard touchdown run by fullback Adrian Morales, who then pulled in a pass from Justin Johnson for the 2-point conversion.

It remained 8-0 until the third period when Johnson tossed a 30-yard scoring pass to Lopez.

San Jose rallied back for a touchdown, but the Rams added an insurance score when Johnson threw 14 yards to Mark Sarinana for a touchdown.

Johnson finished the day hitting on 9 of 15 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

"That was his best game of the season," said Parker of the junior quarterback. "Justin had a lot of time to throw, and he was really very accurate."

The coach indicated that five of Johnson's incomplete passes were the result of dropped balls.

"Otherwise he would have been almost perfect," said the coach.

Doug Dionne snagged three passes for 40 yards, and Robert Campos caught two for 22. Morales, Lopez, Mark Sarinana and Frank Sarinana each had a catch.

Lopez led the ground game with 67 yards on six carries, and Frank Sarinana had 30 yards on five tries.

"But the difference in the game was that we had 11 quarterback sacks," Parker said. "We just turned our front four loose, and the sacks completely changed the whole ballgame."

Joe Sparacino led the sack attack with four and Doug Mummey and Chris Jones got in on three apiece. Morales was in on two.

The coach also praised the defensive work of Dionne and newcomer Mike Blanda at the corners.

The Rams, now 3-4 for the year and 3-1 in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, will travel to Branham on Oct. 27 for an 11 a.m. frosh-soph start and 1:30 p.m. varsity game.

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