The Willow Glen Resident Rams battle back to beat Bucs And their coach was confident that they would By Dick Sparrer Bob Parker wasn't concerned. Sure, his Willow Glen football team trailed Piedmont Hills 21-16 in the fourth quarter. Sure, a loss would have ended any hopes the Rams may have had of winning at least a share of the league championship. But the veteran Willow Glen coach still wasn't concerned--because he has all the confidence in the world in his club's offense and its offensive coordinator, Steve Hare. "I knew we were going to win," said Parker after his club's 24-21 comeback victory over the Pirates. "I knew that our offense would find a way to score." And the Rams did just that. Junior quarterback David Macchi led the Rams to a fourth-period touchdown to lift them to the crucial victory. The win helped the Rams improve to 4-1 in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Willow Glen is 7-2 for the year. Santa Teresa battled from behind to beat Valley Christian 23-18 the same day to clinch no worse than a tie for the division championship. The Saints are 5-1 in the division and are finished with their league schedule. Santa Teresa will face Oak Grove in a nonleague game this week, and will just sit back to watch what happens in the other league games. Two of the three Santa Teresa games this week have championship implications. Willow Glen will visit Prospect on Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m. The Panthers have a dismal 0-4-1 league record after battling Silver Creek to a 7-7 tie last week. Prospect, 1-7-1 for the year, poses little threat to the Rams. But Willow Glen must avoid complacency and the possible upset, "especially with what's at stake," said Parker. A loss would drop the Rams out of the first-place tie. "We still have to beat Prospect," added the coach. If the Rams beat Prospect, they'll finish in a first-place tie with Santa Teresa. Piedmont Hills, though, could get into that tie, too, with a win over Valley Christian on Friday at 7:30 p.m., at Piedmont. So nothing's secure heading into the final week of the regular season... except for one thing. "If we win, we're champions one way or another," said Parker. The win over Piedmont Hills on Saturday secured that spot for the Rams. And it was Macchi leading those Rams to the game-winning score. Macchi tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Cory Hare for a fourth-quarter score, then went back to Nich Holt for the 2-point conversion. Macchi finished the night hitting on 13-of-26 passes for 156 yards and two TDs. He also threw for three 2-point conversions. "When it counted, Macchi was like a surgeon whittling them down," said Parker of his quarterback. Macchi went to Hare six times for 86 yards and both touchdowns. He also hit Holt four times for 39 yards. Senior sensation John Fernandez snagged just one pass for 12 yards. Piedmont Hills scored first on Saturday to take a 7-0 lead, but the Rams came storming back. Macchi led the Rams down the wet, muddy field, and Leon Thomas capped the drive with a 1-yard blast for the touchdown. Thomas finished the day with 73 yards on 21 carries. Instead of kicking for the tie, Parker decided to have his club go for two. Macchi tossed to Eddy Sanchez for the two-pointer, and the Rams jumped in front 8-7. The Pirates scored again and picked up a 2-pointer of their own to lead 15-8, but Willow Glen answered back before intermission. Thomas ran the ball down the 1-yard-line, then Macchi went on top to hit Hare for the final yard and the touchdown. Macchi tossed to Holt for the 2-pointer to give the Rams a slim 16-15 lead at the half. "[Holt] made a great leaping catch for the 2-pointer," said Parker. Piedmont Hills scored again early in the fourth to go up 21-16, but once again the Rams answered back, this time on the 11-yard Macchi pass to Hare. Holt hauled in another 2-pointer, and the Rams had their margin of victory. "[Holt] made a really nice diving catch for the conversion," added the coach. Willow Glen ran up 230 yards of total offense in the win, largely because of a solid performance by the offensive line, led by senior captain Paul Sanchez. "We have a balanced line," said Parker. "Everybody plays well up there." But as good as the offense was in the win over Piedmont Hills, the defense was equal to the task. "We had some big smacks up there," said Parker. The coach praised the work of Peter Panayotopoulous, Brian Hyland, Hare, Sanchez and Thomas on the defensive side. Hare picked off a Piedmont pass in the win. "Panayotopoulous just pounded their quarterback twice," said Parker. The coach added that Sanchez had "a big hit that energized the defense," and he singled out Hyland and Thomas for big hits in the win. "We were real confident we were going to win this game," said the coach. "The kids played real well." "After we lost to Santa Teresa on opening day, people seemed to forget about us," he added. But no one's forgetting the Rams now. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, November 11, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.