Oh, he made a few tackles all right, but nothing very significant as far as the stat chart was concerned.

Still, the contribution that Betzina made to last Friday's 34-12 victory over Milpitas was every bit as important as Alex Rollin's 134 passing yards, Dennis Freeman's 82 rushing yards and Travis Howell's team-leading 12 tackles.

Because the stat that Betzina didn't put in the Los Gatos book was "receptions" next to the name Conyers on the opponents' side of the scorebook.

The senior cornerback was given the task of covering one of the area's premier receivers, and he stuck to him like glue.

"Betzina covered Conyers," said Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico, referring to the 6-foot-4 wide receiver from Milpitas who has eight touchdown receptions already this year, "and [Conyers] had no catches."

Milpitas could complete just 5 of 20 passes for 75 yards in the game.

"We held 'em down," said Cattolico, "and Andy was a big part of that. He covered one of the best receivers in the league."

Betzina's performance was just one of the many outstanding defensive efforts recorded by the Wildcats in the big win over the Trojans. Along with holding Milpitas to just 75 yards passing, the Cats held the Trojans to only 96 yards rushing.

"Our left side on defense was really incredible," said Cattolico, praising the work of Drew Hoffman, Ryan O'Gorman and Howell. "They couldn't get to the line of scrimmage running to that side."

Howell was the leading tackler for the Wildcats with his 12 stops, and he also recovered a Milpitas fumble. Eric Brown got in on 10 tackles for the Cats.

"Our two linebackers played really well," said the coach of Howell and Brown.

Strong safety Brett Cavanagh was in on nine tackles for Gatos, and O'Gorman and John Allen were in on eight apiece. Hoffman had seven tackles.

"This was a pretty good football game, and a good football game to have won," said Cattolico.

It was an important game, considering the fact that both clubs were 3-0 heading into play. Not only was the win the 30th straight for the Wildcats, it came against a team considered to be a contender for the championship in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

"It was a much closer football game than the final score actually indicates," said Cattolico. "It was a very physical game. But I think at all times we were the team in charge."

Early in the game, Hoffman blocked a punt to give the Cats possession deep in Milpitas territory at the 9-yard line. Gatos missed a field goal a few plays later, but that "kind of established field position," said Cattolico. "We played most of the rest of the first half in that end of the field."

A punt return by Derek Tam to midfield and a 27-yard pass from Rollin to Cameron Fee set up the game's first touchdown, a 1-yard run by Freeman. Nick Reimnitz kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

The defense set up the second score. Milpitas elected to go for it on fourth and one at the Los Gatos 40, but Allen shot through the line to drop the quarterback for a yard loss.

A 33-yard Rollin pass to Fee set up a 4-yard TD toss to Scott Drew. Reimnitz converted again, and the Cats led 14-0 at intermission.

Milpitas scored early in the third quarter, but Drew blocked the kick on the extra point attempt.

"That turned out to be a pretty big block," said the coach.

Howell recovered a fumble at the Milpitas 3-yard line early in the fourth period, and Freeman scored on a 3-yard run. Reimnitz's third kick gave the Cats a 21-6 lead.

Milpitas scored again to cut the lead to 21-12, but Los Gatos answered right back. Rollin tossed to Fee for 47 yards, then flipped a 21-yard TD pass to Tam, who made a diving catch in the end zone. Reimnitz booted his fourth extra point, and it was 28-12.

Milpitas tried to come back passing, but Shaun Sullivan picked off a pass in the flats and took it 60 yards for a touchdown.

The Trojans came out throwing again after the TD, but this time it was Tam coming through with the interception that virtually locked things up for the Wildcats.

Rollin finished the night hitting on 7 of 9 passes for 134 yards.

"He threw under some pressure and completed some passes," said Cattolico.

Fee pulled in three passes for 91 yards, and Tam caught a pair for 23 yards. Freeman caught one pass for eight yards, and Drew had the 4-yard catch for the touchdown.

Freeman led the ground attack with 82 yards on 28 carries.

Hoffman chipped in with seven tackles, and Brian Miguel finished with five. Tam, Sullivan, Betzina and Matt Rose were in on four tackles each, and Liam Smith, Drew, Ivan Batinich and David Kleinschmidt were also in on tackles.

Los Gatos will gun for its fifth win of the year this week when the Wildcats host Santa Clara on Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m.