The Willow Glen Resident

One big game leads to another for Rams

By Dick Sparrer

One big game leads to another for the Willow Glen football team.

The Rams pulled out an exciting 9-0 win over Piedmont Hills in a key game in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League last weekend.

The win left the Rams 4-0 in the division and 7-1 for the year, and sets up another big game this week. Willow Glen will play its homecoming game on Nov. 8, 1:30 p.m., against another unbeaten team--Prospect.

The Panthers come in to the game with a 4-0 league record and a 7-0-1 mark overall.

"They are playing very well and playing with a lot of confidence," said Willow Glen coach Bob Parker of Prospect. "We certainly are going to be challenged and will have our hands full. But I think we can beat them."

The Rams are coming off of a big 9-0 win over Piedmont. The Pirates had only one loss in league play heading into the game, a 41-14 loss to Prospect, and needed a win against the Rams to get back into the title picture.

But Willow Glen had other ideas.

The Rams struggled offensively most of the first half, but they took over the football with 15 seconds left in the second period and took advantage of the opportunity.

Willow Glen sent Nich Holt in motion, and David Macchi hit him with a pass behind the line of scrimmage. He turned it up the field and went 62 yards for the touchdown. Holt kicked the extra point, and the Rams led 7-0 at the half.

That's how it remained until late in the game when Dewitt Willis broke through on a blitz to drop the Piedmont Hills quarterback in the end zone for a safety.

It was actually a day for quarterback sacks. David Dudley came through with a pair of sacks for the Rams, and Cory Warren had one. And Willow Glen's Macchi was sacked eight times.

"They were blitzing a lot, and we weren't handling the blitz," said Parker. "We essentially were shut out in the first half."

But as tough as things were for the Willow Glen offense, the Willow Glen defense was equally as tough.

"We played really well on defense," said Parker, whose club held the Pirates to just 34 yards of total offense.

Willis and Shaun Thompson were "outstanding" in the secondary, said the coach, and he also singled out linebackers Ricardo Mendez, Dudley, Warren and Cory Hare for solid efforts. Russ Canales, Richy Clarke and Mike Von Reuden were praised for their performances up front defensively and Doug Murr and Nick Nelson played well at defensive end.

Macchi finished the day hitting on 10 of 15 passes for 156 yards and the touchdown. John Fernandez had four catches for 33 yards, Hare grabbed three passes for 46 yards, Willis had two receptions for 15 yards and Holt had the one catch for 62 yards.

Willis led the ground attack with 47 yards on 11 carries, and Miguel Campos added 37 yards on five tries.

[ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ]