Gatos rolls 56-0 to clinch frosh-soph football title

By Dick Sparrer

Scoring points was not a problem for the Los Gatos frosh-soph football team when the young Wildcats battled Saratoga last Friday night.

In fact, Gatos coach Dale Gustafson would be hard pressed to detect any problems at all in the performance of his Cats last Friday. How could he? After all, they rolled to a 56-0 win over the Falcons to clinch the championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The win leaves the Wildcats 9-0 with just one game to play. Gatos will host Monta Vista on Nov. 10, 5:15 p.m., in the final game of the season.

Los Gatos scored 36 points in the second quarter on the road to the win over Saratoga last Friday night. But as impressive as the offense was, Gustafson credited the defense for its superior effort.

"The key was our defense only giving up two first downs the entire game," said Gustafson. "One was on a penalty and the second was late in the game. We constantly had great field position."

Linebacker Eric Brown was the defensive leader with 13 tackles, including five for losses.

"[He] had his best game of the season," said Gustafson of Brown.

"The entire defense played great," added the coach. "They have led us all year. It was an overwhelming effort on their part. Our defensive coordinator Matt Oetinger has done a great job with these guys."

The Gatos 'D came up with three turnovers in the win. Dennis Freeman and Brett Cavanaugh each recovered fumbles and defensive end Andrew O'Gorman intercepted a pass.

But while the defense was sensational, the offense wasn't too bad either.

Quarterback Alex Rollins completed six of nine passes for 79 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Derek Tam also tossed TD pass on an end around.

Cameron Fee had three touchdown receptions, two from Rollins and the 45-yarder from Tam. Cavanaugh snagged a 20-yard TD pass from Rollins and Andy Betzina pulled in a 7-yard scoring toss.

Zac Tabb led the ground attack with 16 carries for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Tam carried twice for 35 yards and a touchdown, Freeman ran four times for 19 yards and Ryan Daily added 13 yards on five carries.

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Gatos rolls 56-0 to clinch frosh-soph football title