The defense dominated the Oct. 12 youth football game, allowing the Brentwood North Falcons to run up just 23 yards of total offense in an 18-6 Gatos victory.

Because of it, McDowell and the Tigers offense were getting the football in field position to go on to record the victory.

Garrett Irizarry helped the Tigers get off to a good start when he picked of a Brentwood pass on the first play from scrimmage. McDowell capitalized moments later with a 23-yard touchdown run.

McDowell, who carried eight times for 130 yards and completed a 10-yard pass to Hayden Senter, would score two more touchdowns in the game on runs of 15 and 75 yards.

Brentwood's only TD came on a kick-off return, so the Tigers defense essentially shut out the Falcons. Top tacklers in the win were Senter and Zack Marcus with eight apiece. Irizarry had five tackles to go with his pass interception and Tyler Gable got in on four stops. Senter, Brian Houp, Aaron Dinapoli and Sam Hopkins were all in on quarterback sacks.

Ricky Hastie, Cam Hashemi, Casey Mintz, Trevor Ross, Ryan Martin, Evan Witty, Yehia Eissa, Andrew Pillari and Richard Taylor were other defensive players for the Tigers.

The Tigers lost 24-0 to the Bay Cities Bulldogs and 26-0 to the Redwood City 49ers in each of the next two weeks to slip to 3-5 for the year.

McDowell hit on 4 of 11 passes for 42 yards, including 20-yard tosses to both Mintz and Witty, in the loss to the Bulldogs.

Hastie led the ground attack with 39 yards on four carries and Irizarry was in on 13 tackles to lead the defense.

McDowell had just one completion—20-yarder to Senter—and Irizarry had 26 yards on six carries in the loss to the 49ers.

In other action, the Panthers improved to 6-1 for the year with a 27-6 win over the West Bay Rams. The Panthers secured a playoff berth with the victory.

Kyle Miller hooked up on 8 of 13 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, including a 47-yard bomb to Brandon Webster.

Will Sparks led the ground attack with 141 yards and two touchdowns, one of them a 25-yard run.

Sparks, Chase Hayhurst and Anthony Frediani were in on five tackles each to lead the defense that held the Rams to under 100 yards. Chris Carstens, Robbie Wright, Carter Krach, Ricky Ramirez, and Joey Visuzzi were other defensive leaders and Jermel Ladd recovered a fumble.

A week earlier, the Panthers rolled to a 32-6 win over Brentwood South. Miller completed 9 of 11 passes for 130 yards and Sparks, Roscoe Kundtz, Webster and Andrew Berg each scored touchdowns in the win. Berg's TD came on a 55-yard punt return.

Leading the defensive effort were Kundtz, Miller, Sparks, Vincent Carstens, Visuzzi, Jake Boetcher, Frediani, Robbie Wright and Miles Johannsen.