"I'm proud of the way we kept ourselves in the game the whole time," Willow Glen coach Andy Penwarden said, "especially, giving ourselves a chance to win with that late drive. We made the plays and gave a lot of effort. We didn't let down but fought back."

The drive Penwarden was referring to came about after Fremont struck for a touchdown with about 10 minutes left in the game to take a 14-13 lead. After taking the ensuing kickoff, the Rams set up shop at their own 18-yard line. Willow Glen immediately began to march down the field, methodically ticking off the yards in bits and pieces and eating up the clock in the process.

Quarterback Juan Baron plunged into the end zone for the final two yards to cap the 82-yard drive with only 1:18 left on the game clock. After a two-point conversion attempt came up short, the Rams were looking at a 19-14 lead--but the excitement wasn't over.

Willow Glen's McCabe Tonna booted the kickoff deep and Fremont was forced to start from its own 20-yard stripe with only one timeout left. However, they struck quickly threw the air.

On the first play, fate almost smiled on the Rams as the Fremont receiver snagged the ball on a 32-yard deep post pattern, but then had the ball squirt free. There were three Rams in the area of the fumble as bodies scrambled for the loose ball, but when the pile was cleared the Firebirds maintained possession.

On the very next play, Fremont sent the ball deep again and Willow Glen defender Cole Slinker went high in an attempt to knock it away. He was able to get a hand on it but the Fremont receiver was somehow able to hang on for a 48-yard touchdown, which put Fremont back on top at 20-19.

The gutsy, never say die Rams were not ready to throw in the towel, however. They got the ball back with only 35 seconds on the clock and went to work. With only five seconds remaining they were on the Fremont 40-yard line with time for one last shot.

"We only had time for one last play and I felt like a field goal attempt was just a little bit out of Tonna's range," Penwarden explained. "So, we decided to throw one deep into the end zone."

Baron lofted a high arching pass toward intended receiver Gerado Cisneros at the back of the end zone. Cisneros went up and was able to get his hands on the ball momentarily before the Firebird defender knocked it away. As the ball fell to the ground, the clock expired, along with the hopes of the Rams and the Willow Glen faithful of a thrilling win.

The Rams hit paydirt first on their opening drive of the game. Baron made a great read on the option to pitch the ball to junior running back Marcos Garces who scampered around the outside for a 54-yard touchdown run. The PAT kick was blocked and the Rams held an early 6-0 lead and it remained that way throughout the first quarter.

Garces was a double threat on offense, piling up 64 yards on the ground and pulling down three pass receptions for 73 more yards. Baron was on the mark more times than not throughout the night for a solid Willow Glen aerial attack. He connected on 13 of 17 attempts for a total of 151 yards. Wide receiver Nick Abbatelli snagged three for 40 yards and Anthony Doan gathered in two for 17 yards.

The Rams were also solid on the defensive side of the ball with senior strong safety Jason Gibilisco coming up with the defensive play of the game. Gibilisco was in the right place at the right time in the second quarter to grab an interception and then weave his way 22 yards for the score that point the Rams back on top. Tonna converted the PAT and the Rams were sitting on a 13-7 lead at the half.

Defensive end Cisneros also had a big game racking up a pair of sacks and causing a fumble. Linebacker Erik Zetterquist was strong on defense and "was around the ball all night long."

"Mistakes hurt us and we know we have to play mistake free good sound football in order to have a chance to win," Penwarden said. "We gave up a fumble right before halftime when we were in field goal range and missed an opportunity to put up another score there. We lost another fumble late in the third quarter that led to one of their scores."

"However, we had several chances to pull it out, didn't give up, and there are a lot of positives we can pull out of this one," the coach added. "I thought we were the better team. We outplayed them and were in better shape than they were. Usually the better team wins no matter what happens with turnovers. This time that did not happen."

The Rams will have an opportunity to correct those miscues and put a mistake free effort in place when they travel to Monta Vista for a 7 p.m. match up with the Matadors on Sept. 16.

Carona, Abdalla run well

Willow Glen junior Marcos Corona is off to a fast start in the 2005 high school cross country season. But last weekend, he wasn't quite fast enough.

Corona finished second in the junior race and second overall on the day in the Earlybird Invitational held Saturday at North Monterey County High School.

Corona ran 15:35 to finish just three seconds behind Matthew Petrillo of Los Gatos, who set a new junior record in the race in 15:32. Eric Battles of Clovis West won the sophomore race and was third overall in 15:39 with Willow Glen's Mohamed Abdalla second in the soph race and fourth overall in 15:40.

Samson Galato was 10th in the junior race in 16:41 to support Corona and help the Rams to a team fifth in the division.

Willow Glen's Robert Ramos was 16th in the senior race in 17:03 and teammate Abdul Kamara was 21st in the freshman race in 18:51.

Alumni field hockey

Willow Glen girls field hockey coach Samantha Bates was once a star player for the Rams. Now she's looking for her former teammates and other former Willow Glen players to return to the Cottle Avenue campus for an alumni field hockey game.

The former Rams will challenge the current Rams in an 11 a.m. game on Oct. 1. Alumni players interested in participating are urged to contact Bates at 408.504.7388 or samantha.bates@comcast.net.

Dick Sparrer contributed to this story.