The junior running back has gotten his share of carries for the Los Gatos football team this fall, but only as an understudy to senior back Dennis Freeman and senior kick returner Derek Tam.

Last Friday night, though, Bates got his chance to run—and he was off to the races.

Bates ran back the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown to help the Wildcats to a 55-7 win over South San Francisco in the first round of the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division 3 playoffs. It was just one of many big plays for the Los Gatos special teams on Friday night.

There was the 53-yard punt return by Tam, and later a 37-yard punt return by Brian Miguel. Then came the 87-yard touchdown run by Bates, and it was lights out for South San Francisco (SSF) and the end of the night for the Los Gatos starters.

"We had excellent play by our special teams," said Cattolico after the win. "It seems like we were down there by the goal line every time. We kept getting the ball inside the 20."

If it sounds like Cattolico's complaining, he's not—even if he would have liked to see the Cats work on their passing game a little more. He was just pleased to see the Wildcats open the playoffs with a win that pushed their current winning streak to 37 games and their season record to 11-0.

The Cats will be looking to add to that streak when they take on Leigh on Nov. 29, 7 p.m., at Wilcox in the CCS Division 3 semifinals. The Longhorns, 8-3 for the year, beat Seaside 24-21 on Nov. 23.

"They've got pretty good balance," said Cattolico of Leigh. "Their quarterback [Steve Keely] throws the ball really well, and they have a good running back in this kid (Chris) Orozco."

Adding to the competitive nature of the playoff game will be the close proximity of the two schools.

"Our kids should be pretty excited about playing this game," said Cattolico.

The Wildcats were pretty excited last Friday night.

"It was a good football game for our kids," said Cattolico, whose club now officially holds the CCS record for most consecutive victories—snapping the streak of 36 held by Palma (Willow Glen holds the San Jose record at 40-plus, but that pre-dates CCS competition). "A lot of kids got experience in the playoffs."

Among those kids was Bates, who electrified the crowd with his kickoff return to open the second half.

"They tried to kick it away from Miguel," said Cattolico. "And Bates just took it all the way for a touchdown."

The night was officially over for the Gatos starters at that point, since Bates' touchdown put Gatos on top 48-0. But the night was over for South San Francisco much earlier.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and led 41-0 by intermission.

Freeman led the ground attack with 13 carries for 87 yards and four touchdowns but didn't play a down in the second half. Senior quarterback Alex Rollin, who hit on 5 of 6 passes for 129 yards and two TDs, also sat out the second half.

Freeman carried four times for 40 yards, including a 5-yard TD run, to get the Cats on the scoreboard. Tam's 53-yard punt return set up Freeman's 1-yard touchdown.

Rollin threw 24 yards to Scott Drew and Tam broke a reverse 42 yards before Freeman scored on another 1-yard run. Nick Reimnitz converted after all three touchdowns, and the Cats were up 21-0.

A 48-yard Rollin to Cameron Fee pass was followed by a 1-yard Freeman touchdown run, and a 28-yard Freeman run was followed by a 40-yard TD toss from Rollin to Tam. Two more Reimnitz kicks and it was 35-0.

Rollin tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Fee, but a bad snap cost Reimnitz an extra point attempt. Then Gatos closed out the scoring on the kickoff return by Bates, a 26-yard TD run by Miguel that followed an 18-yard gain by Matt Martini, and two more Reimnitz kicks.

Fee caught two passes for 67 yards, and Drew, Tam and Travis Howell each had receptions. The Cats ran for 224 yards behind the blocking of tackles John Allen and Drew Hoffman, guards Logan Graff and Matt Rose, center Carter Wallace, tight end Drew and fullback Howell.

Miguel, who finished with 57 yards on six carries, led the Wildcats defensively with 10 tackles, and Andrew O'Gorman was in on seven. Both sacked the SSF quarterback.

Eric Brown, Howell, Hoffman, Ivan Batinich and David Holtzman were in on six tackles each, and Eric Pape and Allen finished with five apiece.

Chris Danser, Andrew Milman and Brett Cavanagh had four tackles each, and Liam Smith, Shaun Sullivan, Andy Betzina, Tam, Bates, Drew, Mark Ericson, Chad Blanchard, David Kleinschmidt, Greg Kelly, Bryce Murray, Rose, Perry Richardson, Nick Perrone and Devin Scott were also in on tackles.