But they weren't mistakes anyone was talking about later in the day—at least, not after the Wildcats rolled to a 49-20 victory that clinched the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division championship.

Freeman fumbled the slippery pigskin away on just his second carry of the day, and Betzina slipped in the defensive secondary to allow a touchdown pass to fly over his head.

And they each more than made up for their early miscues.

Freeman came through with a career day. The senior tailback was a real workhorse, carrying 28 times for 230 yards and five touchdowns.

And Betzina responded to his early slip by picking off two Palo Alto passes, running one of them back 95 yards for a touchdown.

"Not many teams are throwing in Andy's direction this year, but they decided to try," said Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico of Betzina, who had the two interceptions and batted down four other passes.

It turned out to be a big mistake.

"We put good pressure on the quarterback, and Andy picked it off," said Cattolico. "That really took a lot of the wind out of their sails."

And if Betzina's performance wasn't enough to deflate the Vikings, Freeman's five-touchdown day certainly was.

"One of the things he's done as well as anyone we've had is carry the ball in that goal line situation," said Cattolico of Freeman. "He's strong and had big strong legs. He drags people along, and he can move the pile."

The ball slipped out of Freeman's hands for a first-quarter fumble—all he did after that was run for 200 more yards and the five TDs.

"He has good speed and very good explosion in the first five yards," said the coach. "I told him before the game on Friday that this was going to be his kind of day."

It sure was.

Freeman carried eight times for 61 yards on Los Gatos' first scoring drive of the day, an 11-play, 86-yard march. Freeman capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, and Nick Reimnitz kicked the first of his seven extra points.

It was Alex Rollin who came through with the key plays to set up the next Los Gatos touchdown. The senior quarterback faced a crucial third and 11, but hit Cameron Fee for 13 yards and a first down. Then Rollin faced a fourth and 13 at the Palo Alto 30, and he found Derek Tam for 25 yards and a first. Freeman ran twice for the final five yards, scoring on a 3-yard run to make it 14-0.

The Vikings answered back with a touchdown pass, but Brett Cavanagh blocked the attempted extra point kick.

Los Gatos went in at the half leading just 14-6, and Paly came out moving in the third quarter. But that's when Betzina stepped in front of a Viking pass at his own 5-yard line and, picking up key blocks from Brian Miguel and Eric Brown, raced the length of the field for a score.

Moments later, Paly tried to throw back to Betzina's side again, and once more he was there to pick it off. The senior raced to the 3-yard line before he was brought down. A play later Freeman went the three yards for the score.

The defense stopped Paly cold on its next possession, and Freeman went to work. He had all the carries on the six-play, 51-yard drive, scoring on a 2-yard run to make it 35-6.

The Vikings scored, but Los Gatos answered right back. Freeman had five carries for 55 yards, including a 36-yard run, and capped the drive with a 2-yard TD run.

Palo Alto managed one more touchdown, but the Cats, now with Danny Bates at tailback, scored again. Bates had a 27-yard run to set up his own 3-yard touchdown run, and the Cats had all but locked up the 49-20 victory.

Bates finished the day with four carries for 36 yards and Travis Howell had four carries for 28 yards to support Freeman's effort.

The Wildcats rushed for 307 yards behind the offensive front of John Allen, Drew Hoffman, Carter Wallace, Logan Graff, Matt Rose and Scott Drew.

"We were really able to move the football," said Cattolico, praising the work of his offensive line. "They just did a great job."

He was especially pleased with the performance of Drew, who returned full time to his tight end job after suffering an injury earlier in the year.

"He's a great blocker, and that helped us a lot," said the coach.

Rollin attempted just five passes on the day, completing three for 46 yards. Fee caught two passes for 21 yards, and Tam snagged one for 25.

Andrew O'Gorman was the defensive leader for the Wildcats with 11 tackles, including a quarterback sack. Allen and Drew finished with seven tackles apiece, Howell had six and Miguel, Betzina, Hoffman and Shaun Sullivan had five each. Miguel also tipped away a pass on a 2-point conversion attempt by Palo Alto.

David Holtzman, Tam, Cavanagh, David Kleinschmidt, Ivan Batinich, Brown, Rose, Bryce Murray and Chris Danser were other top tacklers for the Wildcats.

"They were a little faster than we had thought they were going to be," said Cattolico of the Vikings, who ran for 150 yards and threw for 112. "They moved the ball against us as well as anybody has."

But it was still a lopsided win for the Wildcats, who improved to 5-0 in league play to clinch the division title.

"This was a very positive game for us," added the coach. "It's hard to single anyone out, because with this group it's such a team effort."

"We seem to be able to do what we have to do," said Cattolico. "We're playing awfully good football right now."

Los Gatos, now 9-0 for the year with 35 straight wins, will return to Helm Field this week in an unusual position—the Cats will play a league game after already clinching the league championship.

The Wildcats will host Saratoga on Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m. The Falcons are 2-3 in league play and 4-5 for the year following a 6-0 win over Wilcox at Helm last Friday.

"They don't have a lot of kids, but the kids they have are pretty good football players," said Cattolico. "And last year when we played them, it was a tough football game."