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Ryan Katz leads Mats to football victory
Vikings roll past Menlo 35-21 in season opener
By DICK SPARRER
Ryan Katz is zeroing in on something of a milestone on the football field at Monta Vista this fall.
The speedy senior running back opened the year with a 163-yard night in Monta Vista's 37-13 nonleague win over Yerba Buena last Friday, and that leaves Katz just 123 yards shy of the career 2,000-yard mark for the Matadors.
Katz entered the season with 1,714 career yards in two seasons as a varsity running back, and he picked up last Friday where he left off a year ago. But more important to Katz than his career totals was the fact that his 163 yards and two touchdowns helped the Matadors open the year with a lopsided win over the Warriors.
Katz caught a 67-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jon Garfield in the first quarter and scored on a 33-yard run in the third to lead the Mats to the win over YB.
The Warriors actually scored first in the game to take an early 7-0 lead, but Monta Vista answered that score in a hurry when Jason Martinez ran back the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for a score. Katz blasted over for the two-point conversion, and the Mats took an 8-7 lead--a lead they would never relinquish.
Katz scored on the Garfield pass and Brian Ratkovich kicked the extra point to put the Matadors up 15-7 after a period.
The Warriors scored in the second quarter to cut the lead to 15-13, but that's when Monta Vista started to pull away.
Garfield snuck over from the one for a second-period TD, then tossed to sophomore Daniel Kobyolenski for the two-point conversion that gave the Mats a 23-13 lead at intermission.
Katz scored on a 33-yard run and Shahid Shaikh ran 27 yards for a score to up the MV lead to 37-13 before the end of the third. Ratkovich converted after each TD, and that was all the scoring for the night.
Senior Drew Rogers supported Katz's effort with over 100 yards rushing for the night.
Junior defensive lineman Jay Kim was the defensive leader for the Matadors.
Monta Vista will try to make it two straight this week when the Matadors play a rare afternoon game. The Mats will host Carlmont at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. The Scots fought Tennyson to a 13-13 in their opener last week.
Saturday's contest is one of three afternoon games on the Monta Vista slate this season. Late changes to the schedule left the Mats with the 2 p.m. game this Saturday and a 3 p.m. game at Fremont on Oct. 19 (a revised Monta Vista schedule appears in today's Courier).
Vikings win
A short 2-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Sean Imai to senior Greg New snapped a 14-14 tie and started Lynbrook on the road to a 35-21 victory over Menlo in the season opener for each club last Saturday.
Senior back Bobby Salehnejad gave the Vikings the early lead when he blasted over from the two for a first-quarter touchdown. Brandon Bencomo kicked the extra point that put the Vikes up 7-0.
Menlo opened the second period with a TD, but missed the extra point attempt and trailed 7-6.
Nate Soudani scored on a 9-yard run and Bencomo converted to push Lynbrook's lead to 14-6, but Menlo scored and tacked on a two-point conversion to tie the game 14-14.
That set the stage for Imai's TD toss to New that snapped the tie and gave the Vikings a 20-14 lead at intermission.
Imai scampered six yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and tossed to Paul Niedermier for a two-point conversion, and Sean Christopher scored on a 5-yard run in the fourth and Bencomo converted to make it 35-14.
Menlo added one more TD, but it was too little, too late, and the Vikings had a win to open the year.
Senior fullback James White led the ground attack for the Vikes with 75 yards rushing.
The Vikings will go for win No. 2 this week when they take on St. Lawrence at Townsend Field at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14. St. Lawrence lost 42-0 to Branham last week.
Mustangs fall
It was an inauspicious opening day for the Homestead Mustangs, who dropped a 31-18 decision to Independence last Friday night under the lights in east San Jose.
The Mustangs trailed 19-0 at intermission, but scored in the third quarter to cut the lead to 19-7.
Brandon Dougherty tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Garren Strong, and David Johnson kicked the extra point.
The 76ers scored later in the third period, but Homestead answered back with two scores to cut the Independence lead to just 25-18 in the fourth quarter.
Johnson booted a 32-yard field goal in the fourth, then running back Steve Nichols went to work. Nicholas, who led the Mustangs with 98 yards rushing in the game, scored on a 17-yard run and ran in for the two-point conversion to cut Independence's lead to seven points.
But the Sixers added one final touchdown to pull out the 31-18 win.
Homestead will still be chasing its first win of the young season when the Mustangs host Harker Academy at Fremont's Diesner Field at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14. Harker opened the year with a 52-0 win over the California School for the Deaf last Friday.
Homestead football
Fri., Sept. 14--Harker vs. Homestead at Fremont, 7:30 p.m.
Thurs., Sept. 20--Homestead at Wilcox, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 29--Cupertino vs. Homestead at Fremont, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 5--Homestead vs. Los Altos at Foothill, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 12--Homestead at Fremont, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 19--Lynbrook vs. Homestead at Cupertino, 7 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 26--Monta Vista vs. Homestead at Fremont, 6:30 p.m. *
Fri., Nov. 2--Homestead at Mountain View, 2:45 p.m. *
Fri., Nov. 9--Homestead at Milpitas, 7:30 p.m.
* Denotes league game
Lynbrook football
Fri., Sept. 14--Lynbrook vs. St. Lawrence at Townsend, 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 21--Lynbrook at Gunn, 3:15 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 28--Fremont at Lynbrook, 3:15 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 5--Lynbrook at Cupertino, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 12--Palo Alto at Lynbrook, 3:15 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 19--Lynbrook vs. Homestead at Cupertino, 7 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 26--Lynbrook at Mountain View, 3:15 p.m. *
Sat., Nov. 3--Lynbrook vs. Monta Vista at Cupertino, 7:30 p.m. *
Fri., Nov. 9--Lynbrook vs. Los Altos at Cupertino, 7p.m.*
* Denotes league game
Monta Vista Football
Sat., Sept. 15--Carlmont vs. Monta Vista, 2 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 vs. Monta Vista, 7:30 p.m. *
Sat., Oct 20-- Monta Vista at Fremont, 3 p.m. *
Fri., Oct. 26--Monta Vista vs. Homestead at Fremont, 6:30 p.m. *
Sat., Nov. 3--Lynbrook vs. 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
