The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Mats come close but fall to Willow Glen

By Mike Barnhart

Considering what happened to Monta Vista's football team the week before, coach Jeff Mueller was not unhappy with his team's performance in a pulsating 22-20 defeat against visiting Willow Glen last Friday night at Cupertino High.

"We made some mistakes, including a couple that really hurt us, but we are a young team that will continue to get better," said Mueller, noting much improvement from a 34-7 loss at Gunderson. "We also did some things well."

One of those things was an impressive hurry-up offense, directed by junior quarterback Justin Rahn in the game's last two minutes. Starting at their own 29 with 1:40 remaining, the Matadors drove 71 yards in less than a minute for a touchdown that pulled them to within two points of a tie.

Rahn's fourth completion of the six-play drive was an 11-yard scoring toss to senior Trevor Sambyal with 41.8 seconds to go. After Monta Vista used its final timeout to discuss how it would try to score a two-point conversion, Rahn's crossing pass to Peter Kosulin was on target near the back, left corner of the end zone, but Willow Glen junior Mike Gibilisco was able to dive and tip the ball away.

Monta Vista's Drew Constant attempted an onside kick, as the Matadors hoped for one final possession, but senior Charlie Findeisen grabbed it and covered it for the Rams, who ran out the clock for a season-opening win.

Gibilisco, whose interception at his team's 3-yard line halted a Monta Vista scoring chance late in the first quarter, ran for a pair of touchdowns in the second half to rally the Rams to victory.

Shortly after Gibilisco's takeaway kept the Matadors out of the end zone, the Rams fumbled and senior Samuel Moon recovered at the WG 23 for Monta Vista.

A five-yard penalty against the Rams moved the ball to the 18, then Rahn found Billy Guardino in the clear up the left sideline. The 6-foot-4, left-handed passer hit the sure-handed senior in stride for six points. Constant's kick trimmed the Rams' lead to 10-7 with nearly 10 minutes left in the half.

Junior Jay Voigt's five-yard touchdown run put the Matadors ahead with just 1:18 left in the half. The run finished a 10-play, 71-yard drive. Key plays in the drive were a 19-yard run by powerful junior back Nick Tong, two keepers by Rahn for 28 yards and Rahn's 13-yard pass to senior Matthew Dee.

Rahn completed 12 of 20 passes for 199 yards with two TDs and just the one interception. He also ran 11 times for 43 yards, but Willow Glen defenders sacked him four times for losses of 30 yards.

"Rahn is going to be all right," Mueller praised. "We gave him better protection this week and he made some good decisions."

Tong was the top ground gainer for Monta Vista with 68 yards on 10 carries. Guardino led the pass receivers with six catches for 130 yards.

Kosulin, a returning all-league linebacker, sparked Monta Vista's defense all night. He made 10 tackles and pressured M. Findeisen out of the pocket several times. Defensive end Chase Hayhurst, Tong, Sambyal and Guardino also helped out on many defensive stops. Other tacklers for Monta Vista were Ji Kim, Blake Fitzwater, Dustin Brown, Joseph Ma, Josh Cornwell, David Orvick, Koji Kimura, Andrew Kahng and Samuel Tabatabai.