Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Rams drop a tough defensive struggle

By Dick Sparrer

Monta Vista and Willow Glen combined to score 75 points in the first week of the high school football season. So when the two clubs got together under the lights at Willow Glen's turf field last Friday, it promised to be a pretty offensive evening.

The defenses, it seems, had other ideas.

Monta Vista was coming off of a 35-13 win over Yerba Buena, but could score just 10 points against the Rams on Friday night. Willow Glen, though, after opening the year with a 40-0 triumph over Fremont, could score only six.

The result is obvious--a 10-6 victory for the Matadors. And in the aftermath, the coaches had nothing but praise for their opponents.

"Willow Glen has a real, real good football program, and I'm real, real proud of the kids," said Monta Vista boss Jeff Mueller after the win. "We played very physical football tonight."

"They do a lot of things, and they have a lot of weapons on offense--and they have the big quarterback who can really throw the ball," said Willow Glen coach Andy Penwarden of QB Alex Atkins and the Mats.

Atkins completed 9 of 14 passes for 79 yards to move the Matadors down the field, but it was the running game that was the key for Monta Vista, and it was junior fullback Matthew Moustakas who led the running game.

Moustakas carried 17 times for 99 yards and scored the game's only touchdown.

"They're fullback hurt us," said Penwarden of Moustakas. "And they're pretty physical up front."

The offensive line of tackles Chris Kong and Ahmed Naguib, guards Mike Moustakas and Salman Ahmed and center Bryan Frediani led the surge that sparked the Monta Vista offense to 173 yards of total offense.

"We have three or four guys who can run the ball, so we're trying to do a little more of that this year," said Mueller. "It gives us an added dimension."

Kota Kojima and Marcus Woo are other offensive threats for the Mats. Kojima picked up 30 yards on nine carries, but Woo was held to just nine yards on six tries.

"We put an emphasis on stopping him," said Penwarden.

"They double-teamed him all night," added Mueller.

Still, Woo was able to pull down four passes for 31 yards to lead all Monta Vista receivers. And it was one of those receptions that helped the Matadors score their only touchdown of the night.

Peter Kosulin sacked Willow Glen quarterback Juan Baron--one of five first-half sacks for the Monta Vista defense--to force the Rams to turn the ball over on downs at the Matador 25. The Mats then marched 75 yards on 10 plays to score. A 16-yard pass from Atkins to Woo and a 28-yard run by Moustakas set up a 1-yard TD run by Moustakas over left guard, following another Moustakas into the end zone. Allen Sze's kick made it 7-0 with 3:26 left in the half.

Monta Vista stopped Willow Glen cold for the rest of the half, thanks to sacks by Trevor Sambyal, Ruby Murugesan and Naguib.

"We made some [defensive] plays, and the coaches made some good calls," said Mueller. "And our defensive ends played huge games," he added, praising the work of Sambyal and Murugesan.

Monta Vista moved in for a score on its first possession of the second half after Murugesan recovered a fumble at the Willow Glen 44. A nine-yard run by Kojima and a pass interference penalty moved Sze into position to kick a 35-yard field goal with 6:19 left in the third period.

That's how it remained until early in the fourth quarter when a big sack by Willow Glen defensive end Greg Garrity forced the Matadors to punt from their own 30. Sam Canchola hauled in the kick at his own 39 and raced back into Monta Vista territory. Ahmed's big hit popped the ball out of the returner's hands, but it flew out of bounds and Canchola's 31-yard return had the Rams in business at the 30.

Runs by Mike Gibilisco and Marcos Garces and a PI call took the Rams to the 10-yard line. Baron got a pass off under pressure, hitting Charlie Findeisen in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to cut the lead to 10-6 with 6:42 left to play.

"He's a great athlete and a tough kid," said Mueller of Baron. "We knew he had to contain him."

They didn't really. The senior quarterback connected on 9 of 17 passes for 80 yards, and he carried six times for 53 yards, but he was sacked five times for losses of 44 yards.

Willow Glen gave it a final shot late in the game, and an 11-yard pass from Baron to Anthony Doan gave the Rams a first down at the Monta Vista 44. But Kojima and Matthew Moustakas came through with big defensive plays to stop the threat.

The Rams played tough to the final seconds, but Matadors were able to run out the clock for the win.

"They have a lot of fight in them," said Penwarden of his players. "This senior group never gives up."

With the sacks, Willow Glen didn't manage much ground yardage in the loss. Garces led the Rams with 28 yards on nine carries.

Baron spread it around, tossing a couple of passes apiece to Garces and Doan and one each to Kurtis Smith, Gibilisco, Eliseo Anaya and Findeisen. Baron even completed a pass to himself, grabbing a tipped pass and racing for a four-yard gain.

Billy Guardino had three grabs for 32 yards and Kojima and Matthew Dee each had a catch for Monta Vista.

Justin Fuller was the defensive leader for Willow Glen with eight tackles, including a quarterback sack and another stop in the Monta Vista backfield, and Uriel Basilio got in on seven stops. Garrity and Jose Gutierrez each had a sack among their five tackles and Findeisen had five stops. Grant Morrow, Canchola, Anaya, Jose Soliz and Mike Roseland were each in on four tackles, Doan had three and Baron, Garces and Matt Reiton were also in on defensive stops.

Willow Glen will be back on its home turf this week to host Del Mar on Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m. The Rams topped the Dons 15-11 a year ago.