The boys on the Willow Glen cross country team have plans, too, but they have nothing to do with turkey or football. The plans do, though, include a weekend getaway.

The Rams have qualified for the State Division III cross country finals set for Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno. And they won their berth in the state meet by finishing second in the team standings at the Central Coast Section Division III finals on Saturday on the 3.0­mile course at Toro Park in Salinas.

"The season has been extremely exciting for the boys, and they were focusing all of their efforts toward their season-long goal of making the state meet," said coach Victor Santamaria. "The team is extremely excited about how well they are running, and about their strong potential to realize this important state meet goal." Advancing to state is a first for Willow Glen boys cross country.

Freshman Mohamed Abdalla and sophomore Marcos Corona starred for the Rams in the CCS meet. Abdalla finished fourth in 16:10 with Corona hot on his heels in sixth in 16:25.

The two led the Rams to a team second behind St. Ignatius. The Wildcats won the meet with 33 points with Willow Glen a close second at 45. Seaside was a distant third with 129 points.

Abdalla was the top freshman finisher in CCS (next was Santa Cruz's Matt Snyder, eighth in Division III in 16:40) and he also first among all frosh-soph runners in the meet (the top sophomore was Alfredo Lopez of San Benito, who ran 16:18 for 10th in Division I).

Corona was also impressive. He ended up as the first sophomore finisher in the division and the third soph finisher overall in CCS.

Another sophomore, Ruben Camacho, had a solid showing, running 12th in 16:56 for the Rams. Junior Justin McArthur was 14th in 16:57 with sophomore Samson Galato 18th in 17:16. Jose Cervantes, a senior, supported by running 30th in 17:35 to help hold off the opposition.

The Willow Glen girls also ran well at CCS, finishing fourth in Division III behind St. Ignatius, Burlingame and Los Altos.

Sophomore Nancy Velazquez was the top finisher for the Rams, running 16th in 20:38. Freshman Kari Server was 24th in 21:20 with senior Montse Alvarado 28th in 21:30, junior Maria Sosa 31st in 21:48, freshman Hayley Tharp 38th in 22:18 and senior Christina Diaz 41st in 22:26.

In CCS Division II, the Presentation girls finished sixth in the team standings thanks to a 17th-place finish by senior Lauren Albin, who ran 19:46. Junior Kathleen Dazzi was 25th in 20:12.

Rams fall in finals

It's been a while since Willow Glen has been a force in boys water polo in the valley--well, not all that long ... really just a couple of weeks.

Because the Rams returned to a little polo prominence this fall when they played their way into the championship game in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

First-year coaches Trevor Weins and Brian Balistreri led the Rams to a 6-4 season that included a place in the Nov. 3 league championship game against Lincoln. The Lions won the game and the championship, but the Rams won the respect of valley water polo followers with their solid showing in the 2004 campaign.

Sam Okun, Reese Rotsaert and goalie Jason Tom were key defensive players for the Rams this fall. Scott London was the squad's top scorer and Reese Kolar provided team speed. The Rams also featured solid play from freshmen Geoffrey DuBridge, Charlie Kane and Dustin Shean.

The Rams will suffer the loss of Brandon Walsh to graduation, but look forward to the return of juniors London, Tom and Adam Stickles; sophomores Okun, Rotsaert, Kolar, Spencer Rodriguez and Freddie Martinez; and freshmen Kane, DuBridge, Shean, Josh Dombro, Dylan Brown, Dustin Shean and Jeremiah McDonald.

Rams top Falcons

It was a happy ending to a long season for the Willow Glen football team on Saturday when the Rams outlasted Andrew Hill 19-14 in the battle for last place in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL.

The win left the Rams 1-5 in the division and 2-8 for the season. Hill ended up last in the division at 0-6 and will likely drop down to the West Valley Division for 2005.

Back-up quarterback Marques Hill came on to throw two touchdown passes and run for another to lead the Rams to the come-from-behind win over the Falcons.

Andrew Hill had taken the lead with a second-quarter touchdown pass, but the Rams answered right back with a 62-yard TD toss from Hill to Nick Abbatelli. Mathew Arevalo tied it with his extra point kick.

The Falcons scored before intermission to take a 14-7 lead at the half, but the Rams came fighting back in the third quarter. Hill hit Robert Oxsen with a 6-yard pass that cut the lead to 14-13.

Hill blasted over on a 1-yard run in the final period to give Willow Glen its margin of victory.