The Cats did it again last Friday afternoon. They jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead early in the second quarter and led 35-0 at the half.

But this time things were a little different. Gatos coach Butch Cattolico decided to let his junior quarterback throw the ball anyway in the third quarter, and he responded with a solid effort to lead the Cats to a 56-13 win over Gunn in Palo Alto.

Rollin completed 7 of 10 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Wildcats to the lopsided win, their third straight in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

"He threw the ball very well," said Cattolico, "and he did a real good job of running some audibles."

Los Gatos didn't need the passing game to defeat Gunn. The Cats ran up 319 yards on the ground behind Danny Bates' 188-yard night. But they did need to work on their passing game in preparation for a key game this week against Palo Alto.

Paly visits Gatos on Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., for a crucial De Anza Division game. The Vikings come in with a 6-0 season record and 2-0 league mark, and the Cats have a 5-1 mark that includes the 3-0 league ledger.

"The winner of this game is probably going to have some share of the league championship, if not all of it," said Cattolico. "This is the big one on Friday night."

Cattolico feels that his Cats are up to the challenge. He's seen improvement in recent weeks, and was quite pleased with his club's performance last Friday.

"They came out and played a better first half than we've played," he said of his Cats. "The kids executed, and we seem to have been struggling a little in the first half."

"Right now, offensively we are playing pretty well," he added, "and our defense is coming into its own."

The running game has been awesome all season for the Wildcats, and Friday was no different.

"Our running game is to a point where people spend more and more time trying to stop it, and it should give out receivers more and more time to get open," he said.

Receivers were getting open for Rollin on Friday. He hit Matt Martini three times for 102 yards and Michael Brienzo three times for 46 more. Bates had one catch for 14 yards.

It was Bates and the Gatos running attack, though, that got the Cats going on Friday.

Bates carried four times for 46 yards on the game-opening drive, including a 1-yard touchdown run.

Gatos got the ball back in a hurry, and Bates went to work again. But it was a Rollin to Martini pass for 38 yards that got the Wildcats on the scoreboard.

"He put a couple of nice moves on their cornerback and safety, and took it into the endzone," said Cattolico of Martini.

The Cats got the ball back again, and after Bates ran for 14 and Brienzo for eight, Rollin found Martini over the middle for 30 yards to the 13-yard line. Bates ran for six, then five and finally went in from the two.

A 48-yard run by Bates set up his own 4-yard TD run moments later to make it 28-0.

But the Wildcats weren't finished yet. Bates hauled in a 14-yard toss from Rollin, Brienzo took a reverse 14 yards and Bates ran for 22 yards before Rollin tossed to Brienzo for 19 yards and a score. Nick Reimnitz kicked his fifth extra point, and it was 35-0 at intermission.

Rollin passes to Brienzo for 13 and 14 and to Martini for 34 set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Brienzo to open the second half. Reimnitz converted, and the Cats led 42-0.

Bates was finished for the night at that point. He carried 17 times for his 188 yards.

"He's running extremely well," said Cattolico of Bates. The coach also praised the work of tackles Chris Danser and Liam Smith, guards Ryan Lecznar and Evan Wynne, center Danny Starick, tight end Mark Ericson and fullback Ivan Batinich for their solid blocking.

As if things weren't bad enough for Gunn, they got worse in a hurry. The snapper sailed the ball over the punter's head, and Derek Thomas was there to drop him at the 10-yard line. Two plays later John Davidge scored on a 9-yard run and Jeremy Bays kicked the first of his two extra points.

Gunn scored late, but Vince Bellotti answered with a 90-yard kick-off return for the final Los Gatos touchdown. Bellotti also had a 45-yard run late in the game.

Brienzo finished the night with 42 yards on four carries and Davidge had 24 yards on four tries.

Senior free safety David Holtzman was the defensive leader for the Cats with nine tackles. Batinich got in on seven and Brian Perin, Eric Chen, Chad Blanchard, Charles Talpas and Bellotti were in on six each.

Omar Ellahie and Chris Cuthbert had four tackles apiece and Keenan Murray and Matt Kinser added three each. Thomas had a quarterback sack and Jeff Collins, Martini, Mario Borbas, William Hartsell, Nick Gaffney, Wynne, Matt Showalter, Devin Scott and Danser were all in on stops.

The coach also praised the work of long snapper Don Coletti. The Wildcats didn't have to punt in the game, but he snapped for eight extra points.