And no one could be prouder of the accomplishment than John Allen and Drew Hoffman.

Or maybe it's Logan Graff and Matt Rose.

Or Carter Wallace and Scott Drew.

Or maybe it's Travis Howell.

It could be any of them. After all, those are the guys who have spent a season leading Freeman into the end zone.

They did it again last Friday night when the Wildcats rolled to a 48-0 win over Leigh in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division 3 playoffs. And they'll try to do it one more time when the Cats take on St. Francis in the CCS championship game on Dec. 6, 7 p.m., at Wilcox. The Lancers are 7-5 this fall; the Wildcats are 12-0 and now boast a 38-yard winning streak.

The Gatos blockers led Freeman to four touchdowns in the Nov. 29 win over Leigh. With his first score of the night, he tied the school's single-season record of 34 touchdowns, shared by Todd Mayo and Chris Willard. His second touchdown gave him the record—then he scored two more.

"He just does a great job of getting the ball into the end zone," said Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico of Freeman. And it doesn't hurt that he's got a solid crew of blockers in front of him.

"The guys up front have really done a good job, and we've been lucky to keep them healthy," said the coach.

"And our fullback and tight end do a pretty good job, too," he added.

They certainly did last Friday night. The Wildcats dominated in the line of scrimmage to lead Gatos running backs to 306 yards. Freeman led the way with 21 carries for 188 yards and the four touchdowns.

"We felt that they were slow off the ball," said Cattolico. "As big as they are, we felt we could trap them."

Freeman got the yards early, and the Wildcats didn't miss a beat when junior tailback Danny Bates took over in the second half. Bates ended up with 70 yards on nine carries.

Leading the way were Allen and Hoffman at tackle, Graff and Rose at guard, Wallace at center, Drew at tight end and Howell at fullback.

"We were just so much quicker getting off the ball," added the coach. "It won't be as easy this week."

Cattolico knows what to expect from this week's opponent. The Wildcats faced the Lancers in the second week of the season, pulling out a 21-7 victory.

"It's the same old football team," said Cattolico. "They've got the big fullback, and they give the ball to him a lot. We've got to stop him first. But their quarterback runs the ball very well. We've got to keep him in the pocket—he's more dangerous running the ball than throwing it."

"Defensively, they're very physical," he added. "We'll try to establish the line of scrimmage, and we'll have to throw the ball a little better than we did last Friday night."

Alex Rollin hit on 7 of 14 passes for 99 yards against Leigh, but the Wildcats really didn't throw much in the second half.

While Cattolico would have liked to have seen the Cats do more through the air, what really concerned him last week was his club's rather lackluster performance in the second quarter after opening up a
34-0 lead with 8:35 left in the half. The Wildcats didn't move on three more possessions before intermission.

"I told them at the half, 'What you guys are doing is giving two teams in the stands hope,' " said Cattolico. "We may have hurt ourselves for this week."

Still, there really wasn't much to worry about on Friday night. The Wildcats amassed 405 yards of total offense, and they held the Longhorns to just 143 yards—stopping Leigh's talented back, Chris Orozco, for just 29 yards on nine carries.

"Defensively and offensively, it's tough to find a weakness," Cattolico said of his club. "I was very impressed with our kids tonight."

It started early. Brian Miguel returned the opening kickoff 15 yards to the Los Gatos 37-yard line, and Freeman carried most of the load on a methodical 10-play, 63-yard drive. Freeman followed Allen and Graff over the left of the line for a 4-yard touchdown run, and Nick Reimnitz kicked the first of six extra points to make it 7-0 with 7:01 left in the first.

Andrew O'Gorman, Brett Cavanagh and Hoffman stopped the Longhorns to force Leigh into a punting situation, and Miguel returned the punt 22 yards to the Leigh 47. A 17-yard toss from Rollin to Cameron Fee and an 18-yard run by Freeman set up a 7-yard TD run by Freeman—this time behind Hoffman and Rose on the right side.

The defense got into the act moments later. Eric Brown popped a Leigh back to force a fumble, and Shaun Sullivan scooped it up to go 26 yards for a touchdown. A penalty moved Reimnitz back 15 yards on the extra point try, but he was true to make it 21-0.

The defense held again, and a 34-yard Freeman run and a 23-yard run by Rollin set up Derek Tam for a 5-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter.

Then it was more of the same. The defense stopped Leigh cold; then a 20-yard run by Freeman, a 14-yard run by Bates and a 16-yard pass from Rollin to Fee set up a 4-yard Freeman TD run—over the right side again.

Leigh kept Los Gatos out of the end zone for the rest of the half, but the Longhorns could manage just one first half and went in at intermission trailing 34-0.

It started up again in the second half. An 11-yard Rollin toss to Fee and Freeman runs of 12 and 20 yards took the Cats inside the Leigh 10. Freeman scored on an 8-yard run and Reimnitz converted.

The reserves took over from there. On the next Gatos possession, Bates carried eight straight times for 56 yards, capping the march with a 1-yard TD run behind back-up tackle Danny Starick.

Rollin finished the night completing seven passes, going to Fee four times for 58 yards, Tam twice for six and Howell once for 35.

O'Gorman led the defensive effort for the Cats with nine tackles, including a crushing quarterback sack for an 18-yard loss in the third quarter.

Hoffman got in on six tackles, including two for losses, and Andy Betzina was in on five tackles and batted down a pass. Cavanagh, Sullivan and Allen were in on four tackles each. Cavanagh knocked down a pass, and Sullivan forced one fumble and recovered another.

Brown and Ivan Batinich finished with three tackles apiece, and Miguel, Tam, Drew, Howell, Chris Danser, Chad Blanchard, Andrew Milman, David Holtzman and Bryce Murray were in on tackles. Holtzman also recovered a fumble.