'Quality players' give Mats title hopes
By DICK SPARRER
It's been a while since a Monta Vista football team has won a league championship.
And veteran head coach Brad Metheany figures it's been long enough.
The Matadors will make their debut in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this fall, and Metheany predicts a first-place finish for his squad.
The Matadors are coming off of a 6-5 season that included a trip to the Central Coast Section playoffs. And they have a "good number of quality players" back from that De Anza Division team, says the coach.
Running back Ryan Katz (5-foot-8, 175 pounds), tight end Griffin Taylor (6-foot-4, 205), lineman Kurt Anderson (6-foot-3, 272) and linebackers Drew Rogers (5-foot-8, 170) and Pat Hamer (6-foot-2, 210) are all-league returners from that solid club of a year ago.
Katz, who has already run for 1,714 yards in two seasons on the varsity, has been clocked at 4.4 in the 40 and Metheany says this year the senior back "needs to dominate."
Taylor and Rogers, both seniors, return after winning all-league first team honors a year ago, and the Matadors are high on both of them.
Metheany calls Taylor "the best tight end in the valley," and he says that linebacker Rogers "hits anything that moves."
Anderson, a junior, returns to anchor the offensive line after winning all-league second team honors last fall.
"Our offensive line is young, but has potential," said Metheany. "They're big and quick."
Junior Bryan Lee (5-foot-10, 261) is a top prospect joining Anderson up front.
Hamer is back at outside linebacker after winning an all-league second team spot last fall. Junior Sherman Wang (6-foot, 231) and sophomore Alex Marino (6-foot-1, 190) are newcomers expected to shine at linebacker posts.
Junior quarterback Jon Garfield (6-foot-2, 190) will lead the offense and sophomore wide receiver Dan Kobylenski (6-foot-2, 185) will join Taylor as a favorite target for the Monta Vista passer.
The Matadors, who last won a league title in 1992, will open up the 2001 season on the road when they visit Yerba Buena on Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m., for a nonleague game. Their first home game is Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m., at Cupertino against Carlmont.
Monta Vista Football
Fri., Sept. 7--Monta Vista at Yerba Buena, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 15--Carlmont at Monta Vista, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 21--Los Gatos vs. Monta Vista, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 28--Los Altos vs. Monta Vista, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 5--Monta Vista vs. Saratoga at Los Gatos, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 12--Cupertino at Monta Vista, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 19--Monta Vista at Fremont, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 26--Monta Vista vs. Homestead at Fremont, 7:30 p.m.*
Sat., Nov. 3--Lynbrook at Monta Vista, 7:30 p.m. * #
Fri., Nov. 9--Monta Vista at Mountain View, 2:45 p.m. *
All Monta Vista home games at Cupertino
* Denotes league game
# Homecoming
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
