Photograph by Robert Scheer
Los Gatos senior Joel Gremore (21) stretches for extra yardage in last Friday night's 13-12 win over Saratoga.
By Dick Sparrer
"Just win, baby."
That may have been the hallmark of Al Davis during the glory days of the Oakland Raiders, but it's also the battle cry of the Los Gatos Wildcats this week.
It's not that Gatos football coach Butch Cattolico is leaning toward the ways of the Raiders. It's just that the saying works well for the Wildcats as they go up against Monta Vista this week.
Because a win--just one win--will send the Cats to the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Los Gatos beat Saratoga in a 13-12 thriller last Friday night and that win, coupled with a 28-0 Monta Vista loss to Palo Alto, had thrown the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League into a mess.
Homestead had already locked up the division title and an automatic playoff berth with a 5-0 record. But when Monta Vista lost to Paly, the other three automatic spots from the league became clouded.
Monta Vista slipped to 3-2 with the loss and Los Gatos is 3-2 after beating Saratoga. The two clubs share second place.
Saratoga is now 2-3 in the division and Wilcox, a 34-13 winner over Milpitas last week, is also 2-3. Palo Alto is 3-3 after the win over Monta Vista.
All that means that the Los Gatos-Monta Vista winner will clinch second in the division and secure a playoff spot. The loser will drop into a three-way tie for third with Palo Alto and the Saratoga-Wilcox winner. Two of the three clubs will automatically qualify for the playoffs, but the third would have to qualify as an at-large team.
Confusing? Well, for all but the Los Gatos-Monta Vista winner it certainly will be.
So that's why Cattolico is telling his Cats to, "Just win, baby," and they won't have to worry about anything else.
The Cats will head to Cupertino to face Monta Vista on Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Los Gatos moved into the tie for second with the tight win over Saratoga last week before the biggest crowd of the season at Helm Field.
"It was a good football game," Cattolico said after the game. "Both teams probably could have played better, but both teams played well enough to win, and made enough mistakes to lose."
As it turns out, it was a pair of missed extra points that proved costly for the Falcons. And it was an extra point and a pair of Los Gatos field goals that provided the Cats their margin of victory.
Alan Rosa, who kicked for seven points in the win, opened the game with a 34-yard kickoff return to get the Wildcats into good field position.
Josh Rogers hit Reny Townsend for 11 yards and a first down, but the Cats fumbled the fall away.
They wasted little time getting it back, though. Townsend came up and forced a fumble, recovering it himself to set up the game's first score.
A 14-yard pass from Rogers to Walker Pearce-Percy set up a 24-yard field goal by Rosa.
Saratoga came right back.
David Goni tossed 38 yards to Brennan Carroll to get the Falcons inside the Los Gatos 10, and a play later Sean Hanley ran in from the seven. The extra-point kick sailed wide, and that point would loom large later in the game.
Los Gatos answered the Saratoga touchdown with a 94-yard scoring drive. Steve LaBarbera carried three times for 29 yards and Rogers hit Jeremy Malander with a 34-yard pass to set up a two-yard TD run by LaBarbera. Rosa kicked the extra point, and the Cats led 10-6.
Saratoga threatened again just before the half. But a Goni pass to Carroll was picked off this time by Joel Gremore and the Cats ran out the clock.
A fumble recovery by Austin Neale set up a 34-yard Rosa field goal early in the third quarter, and the Cats were up 13-6. But once more Saratoga came charing back.
The Falcons took possession at the LG 30 following a short punt, and Trent Frisina took an option pitch and rambled 27 yards. Hanley shot over from the three on the next play, and the Falcons trailed 13-12 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.
But once again Saratoga missed its extra- point try, and the Falcons remained down by a point. As it turns out, that would stand up as the Los Gatos margin of victory.
The Gatos defense stopped the Falcons cold most of the fourth quarter. Quarterback sacks by Carlos Lanuza and Neale held Saratoga down, but an LG fumble gave the Falcons one last chance.
The Falcons had the football near midfield when Malander came up hard to force a fumble. Saratoga recovered, but for an eight-yard loss.
A play later, Chris Cavanagh came up to stop a reverse 10 yards deep in the backfield, and the Gatos defense had held.
Cattolico was pleased with the work of Lanuza in the defensive line, and with Doug Miller, Townsend and Cavanagh.
"Lanuza played a tremendous game," the coach said of Lanuza, who finished the game with eight tackles. "He was making tackles on both sides of the ball."
Miller led all LG tacklers with 13 stops.
"He has really solidified our defense," Cattolico said.
Townsend moved to free safety for the game and came through with seven tackles, and Cavanagh came up with 10 tackles at corner.
Neale and Enzo Iacomini finished the game with six tackles apiece and Gremore had five. LaBarbera had a quarterback sack among his three tackles, and Austin Glover and Malander also had three tackles each.
Rogers finished the night hooking up on 7 of 12 passes for 114 yards, hitting Townsend twice for 36 yards and Gremore twice for 21. Malander had the one catch for 34 yards, Pearce-Percy caught a pass for 14, and Rosa caught one for nine.
LaBarbera led the ground show with 89 yards on 19 carries and Gremore added 63 yards on 15 tries.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 13, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved