Cats going for CCS title and the first 13-0 season
By Dick Sparrer
They've been talking about it since they blasted Leland 49-7 on the first night of the 2000 season.
They talked about it after running past Milpitas 21-14 in a league thriller, and after clinching a league championship with a 49-13 win over Monta View a few weeks later.
And on Saturday night, the Los Gatos Wildcats will get the chance to make a little football history.
The Wildcats will play Wilcox for the Central Coast Section Division III championship on Dec. 2, 7 p.m., at San Jose's PAL Stadium.
But winning another CCS championship wouldn't be historical for the Cats--they've done that before.
Winning, though, would be very historical indeed. Los Gatos could wrap up the first 13-0 season in school history with a victory over the Chargers this Saturday--a perfect season that would include championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and in CCS Division III.
"We've been talking about this all year long," said Gatos coach Butch Cattolico after his Wildcats blanked Alvarez 20-0 last Friday night in the CCS semifinals. Now they have to go out and do it.
And don't think just because the Cats whipped the Chargers 35-7 during the regular season that this task will be an easy one.
"I think that [when teams play twice in a season] the advantage goes to the team that lost the first time," cautioned Cattolico. "And sometimes team that didn't win a championship are just a little bit hungrier."
Add to that that Wilcox is a good football team coming off of a solid 14-10 playoff win over Harbor, and the Cats should have their hands full on Saturday night.
"But we've told the kids not to take anybody for granted or take anything lightly," added the coach. "We've just got to go out and do the things that we do best."
Based on the performance of the Wildcats last Friday night, that's throw the football and play a little defense.
Trent Edwards hooked up on seven of 10 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns and the Gatos defense was a wall inside the red zone as the Wildcats handled Alvarez 20-0 last week.
The game actually came time to four crucial minutes in the second period when the Cats scored all three of their touchdowns and stopped the Eagles cold.
"We put up four minutes of dominating football," said Cattolico.
And it all started with about five and a half minutes left in the half when Gatos "into a series of plays we call our 'three-play series' where we don't go into a huddle," said the coach.
The Cats ran two plays for little gain, but with no huddle the Eagles were unable to regroup defensively and T. Edwards hit Brian Edwards coming across the middle of the field and, after breaking a tackle, the speedster took off for 56 yards and a touchdown. Anthony Frangadakis converted, and the Cats were up 7-0.
Alvarez went three plays and a punt, and Gatos scored on its next play. The Cats ran a flea flicker, with T. Edwards ultimately tossing a 42-yard touchdown pass to Joey Warren. Frangadakis' kick made it 14-0.
But the Cats weren't finished yet. Alvarez went for it on a fourth-down play near midfield, but junior noseguard Ken Heimer shot through for a sack and Gatos took over on the Eagles' 41.
On the very next play, T. Edwards fired a 41-yard scoring strike to B. Edwards, and within just a few minutes the Cats had turned a scoreless game into a 20-0 lead.
Alvarez seemed to dominate control of the football in the second half, but the Gatos defense allowed nothing.
The Eagles drove to the LG 11, but Scott Soucy intercepted a pass in the end zone to halt the threat.
Alvarez moved deep into Gatos territory and faced a first-and-goal at the five. The Eagles appeared to run five plays because of an inadvertent whistle, which nullified a third-down fumble. But on fourth down B. Edwards came up to make a hit inches short of the goal line, and the Cats took over on downs.
Derek Smith, who led all ground gainers with 85 yards on 18 carries, raced for 31 yards to get Gatos out of the hole, then the Cats took a knee twice to clinch the win.
T. Edwards went to B. Edwards three times for 116 yards and the two TDs and to Warren twice for 68 yards and one score. Smith caught a pass for 25 yards and Geno Gingery snagged one for three yards. Smith led the ground show, but T. Edwards chipped in with a couple of carries for 28 yards and Warren ran four times for 20 yards.
Nick Skrabe, who had one carry for seven yards, led all Wildcats with 22 tackles defensively.
"He was all over the field," said Cattolico of the senior linebacker.
Mike Vyhnal and Jon Espe had 15 tackles apiece and each recovered a fumble. Heimer was in on 12 tackles and B. Edwards and Jason Rosa got in on nine apiece. Heimer had two sacks and Rosa added one.
Soucy had eight tackles to go with two interceptions, and Markus Willard and Matt Newell had eight tackles each.
Matt Johnson was in on six tackles, Travis Howell and Warren five apiece, Randy Reilly and John Allen three each, Nick McAlpine two and Shane Rogers one. Warren also knocked down three enemy passes.
"That was his best game in the secondary this year," said Cattolico of Warren.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
