Wildcats roar past Chargers
Edwards, Smith star for Gatos in 49-7 victory
By Dick Sparrer
Trent Edwards didn't have much to do in the second half last Friday night when the Los Gatos football team opened the season against Leland.
Neither did Derek Smith.
But it was only because the two talented Gatos lettermen and the rest of the Wildcats had done so much in the first half, there wasn't much left to do in the final two quarters.
Los Gatos opened up a 35-7 halftime lead against the Chargers and went on from there to record a lopsided 49-7 win over Leland in the season opener for each club.
The starters were on the bench after just about a series in the second half. Edwards threw one pass in the third quarter and Smith had just one carry before each retired for the night.
Still, Edwards was around long enough to complete 11 of 14 passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns, and Smith managed to pick up 126 yards on 14 carries.
"It was one of those kinds of nights where everything just seemed to click," said Gatos coach Butch Cattolico after the easy win. "We looked awfully good. Leland didn't seem to be able to stop us."
"I don't know at this point if we're really this good, or if Leland isn't quite as good as we thought they were," added the coach.
He should get a pretty good indication this week when Los Gatos is back home to host powerful Leigh. The Longhorns will be the home team for the game Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m. But while the Wildcats will wear their white away jerseys, they will occupy the home side of Helm Field.
"Leigh is a good, solid team, and they're real fast," said Cattolico.
The Longhorns enter the game with a 1-0 record after crushing Palo Alto 40-7 last Friday afternoon. Antwon Guidry raced for 200 yards and two touchdowns in the Leigh win.
"If he gets through the hole, he's dangerous," said Cattolico of the Leigh speedster. "They're going to give him the ball, and we're going to have to contain him."
But the Gatos coach realizes Leigh has more than just Guidry in its offensive arsenal.
"Guidry is not the only guy who can run on this team," said Cattolico. "Their fullback runs up inside real well, their quarterback runs real well on the option and they have two very fast wide receivers."
The match-up in the trenches looks pretty even, added the coach.
"Up front we're about the same size," he said. "And they get off the ball pretty well."
All in all, it appears to measure up as a pretty interesting nonleague football game.
"They've got some kids who can run, and so do we," said Cattolico. "It should be a real good test for our kids, because they have a real solid football team."
That's what Cattolico thought about Leland, too. Leland had played well in a preseason scrimmage against Del Mar, but the Chargers showed little of that offensive explosion in the Friday night clash at Los Gatos.
They showed a little, though. Doug Specht broke a 70-yard touchdown run early in the game to give the Chargers a 7-0 lead. But it didn't last for long.
On the first play after the kickoff, Smith answered the Leland TD with a 70-yard touchdown run of his own. Anthony Frangadakis added the first of six extra-point kicks and the game was tied 7-7.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Gatos senior Joey Warren (33) scored a first-half touchdown to help the Wildcats to an easy win over Leland.
Leland went three plays and a punt (the first of 10 punts in the game for the Chargers), and Joey Warren ran back the boot 45 yards to the Leland 20.
Warren appeared to run in for a touchdown on the next play, and Gatos was flagged for holding. On a fourth and seven at the 18, Edwards tossed to Warren in the endzone and the Wildcats had a lead they would never lose.
Brian Edwards ran 26 yards for a touchdown early in the second period and he hauled in a 47-yard scoring toss from T. Edwards to help the Cats stretch their lead to 28-7.
Gatos made it 35-7 before the half when T. Edwards hit Geno Gingery with a 4-yard TD toss.
Chris Willard blasted over from the five early in the third period for another touchdown and Frangadakis kicked his final extra point. And the night was over for most of the Gatos starters.
The Wildcats closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter when Jason Rosa took it in from the three. B. Edwards kicked the extra point to make the final 49-7.
"That was kind of nice," said Cattolico of the big win. "Everyone got to play."
The Wildcats ran for 319 yards in the game and finished with 483 yards of total offense.
Smith led the ground assault with his 126 yards. Willard supported with 42 yards on nine carries, Warren had 27 yards on five tries, B. Edwards had the one run for 26 yards, Scot Cohn carried twice for 22 yards, Rosa had 10 yards on three tries and Nick Skrabe gained nine yards on his only carry. The coach was impressive with the performance of his junior quarterback, Trent Edwards.
"He looked real good," said Cattolico. "But we didn't protect him as well as I would have liked to. The one thing that we really have to work is protection."
T. Edwards completed 11 passes for 153 yards, hitting B. Edwards five times for 91 yards, Warren twice for 23, Gingery twice for nine, Smith once for 13 and Willard once for 13.
Tony Berry hooked up with Jason Prejean on his only pass for 11 yards.
Linebackers Mike Vyhnal and Skrabe were the tackling leaders for the Wildcats. Vyhnal led the club with nine stops and Skrabe got in on eight tackles.
John Glage, Travis Howell and Jon Espe were in on five tackles each, Matt Newell had four and Rosa, Warren and Ken Heimer added three each.
Newell and Markus Willard each sacked the Leland quarterback and Espe and Shane Rogers each recovered enemy fumbles.
Cohn, C. Willard, Rogers, Prejean, B. Edwards, Scott Soucy, Smith, Barrett Carpenter, Gingery and Ryan Johnson were others in on tackles.
The defense held Leland to just 97 yards rushing (70 of that coming on the first-quarter TD run) and 12 yards passing on two completions.
"They're awfully big up front, and they've got a good quarterback," said Cattolico of Leland. But the Chargers had a number of players going both ways.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
