But what it will be for certain is the renewal of a long-standing rivalry between the Los Gatos Wildcats and the Saratoga Falcons. And this year that rivalry has some real meat on its bones.

Both teams enter the game as Santa Clara Valley Athletic League leaders. The Cats are in first place in the De Anza Division with a 5-0 record, and the Falcons are in first place in the El Camino Division at 5-0. Los Gatos is 7-1 for the year and Saratoga is 7-0-1.

Los Gatos already owns a share of the De Anza Division championship and the Cats could win it outright with a victory over Wilcox on Nov. 14. Saratoga shares the El Camino top spot with Santa Clara, and the clubs will decide that championship on Nov. 14.

But before all of that, they have each other. Los Gatos and Saratoga will collide in a non-league game on Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., and it will be a battle pitting the quickness of the Falcons against the size of the Wildcats.

"Their quickness is going to be a problem," said Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico of the Falcons. "Their three backs are all very quick. They're going to spread you out and try to run the option at you. Our goal is to try to make them throw the ball."

"We feel like we're playing really well right now," he added. "We want to go out and execute our game plan."

"You've got to give Butch a lot of credit," countered Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich. "Year in and your out, he puts a quality team on the field."

"He does a great job," added Heinrich, "and Mark [Magagna] does a great job with the defense."

Both clubs played well defensively last week—well enough to post shutouts in league games. The Wildcats blanked Mountain View 42-0 and the Falcons whitewashed Los Altos 10-0.

"I think Saratoga is a much better football team [than Mountain View]," said Cattolico. "Hopefully our kids will be up for the game. The challenge is that they're undefeated."

Los Gatos has lost just once this season, falling to St. Francis in the second game of the year. The Cats have been rolling through the competition ever since.

Mountain View was the most recent Gatos victim, and the Wildcats made short work of the Spartans last Friday afternoon.

"We were very efficient," said Cattolico. "We were a little flat, but we went out and did all the right things. It was an efficient game more than an outstanding game."

Junior quarterback Eric Rollin and senior wide receiver Matt Martini each had good days for the Cats. Rollin hit on 8 of 16 passes for 202 yards and a couple of touchdowns, and Martini had three catches for 102 yards and one score.

"We did throw the ball well," said Cattolico. "Martini seems to be coming into his own. He's becoming much more difficult to cover."

Rollin also hooked up with tight end Mark Ericson three times for 41 yards and a touchdown.

Danny Bates led the ground attack once again, carrying 26 times for 186 yards and three touchdowns. Fullback Ivan Batinich supported with 71 yards on five tries as the Cats finished the day with close to 400 yards on the ground.

Bates led the Cats on a 78-yard touchdown drive on their first possession of the day. The senior back carried five times for 55 yards on the march, including a 5-yard touchdown run. Batinich had an 11-yard run, Michael Brienzo carried once for seven and Rollin hit Martini with a 10-yard pass.

Nick Reimnitz kicked the first of his six extra points, and the Wildcats had an early 7-0 lead.

After Mountain View missed on a 38-yard field goal attempt, the Cats took off on an 80-yard touchdown march. Bates carried most of the load again, capping this drive with a 1-yard TD run.

The Gatos defense stopped the Spartans but the Cats took over at their own 1-yard line following the punt. But just a few plays later, Rollin hit Martini with a 74-yard touchdown pass.

"He caught it over the middle, shook off the free safety and went the rest of the way for the touchdown," said Cattolico.

The Cats led 21-0 at intermission, then went right back to work early in the third quarter.

Bates handled most of the duty on an 84-yard drive that he capped with another 1-yard run. Batinich had a 17-yard run on the march and Brienzo had a 12-yard run.

A 55-yard pass from Rollin to Brienzo set up the next touchdown, a 19-yard pass from Rollin to Ericson.

Mountain View fumbled not long after the kick-off, and Chad Blanchard recovered for the Wildcats. With Bates out of the game, John Davidge took over to carry the football down the field for the Cats. Devin Lopez had a 14-yard run, Chris Little went for 10 yards and Kevin McCarty tossed 17 yards to Reimnitz on a big fourth and 11 play to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Alex Ghanavati.

Once more, the Spartans fumbled the ball away, and Matt Showalter pounced it for the Cats. But by then Gatos just ran out the clock for the win.

Brienzo supported Bates and Batinich in the ground game with five carries for 55 yards and Ghanavati picked up 26 yards on four tries. Davidge had seven runs for 19 yards and Lopez, Vince Bellotti, Little and Brian Bolandi each added yards.

"We got a lot of kids into the ballgame, and a lot of them got the chance to carry the football," said Cattolico.

Los Gatos held Mountain View to just 18 yards rushing and only 108 yards through the air.

Batinich led the defensive effort with nine tackles and Blanchard and David Holtzman got in on seven tackles apiece. Eric Chen had a sack among his five tackles and Bellotti was in on five stops. Chris Danser had four tackles, and Brian Perin and Martini had three each. Martini picked off a pass and Devin Scott sacked the quarterback.

Mark Johnson, Matt Kinser, Bolandi, J.C. Thiel, Nick Gaffney, Ryan Lecznar, Liam Smith, Nick Perrone and Chris Cuthbert were also in on tackles.

"I thought we played much better football in the second half than we did in the first," said Cattolico.

What he was pleased about, though, was that the Cats clinched their fifth consecutive league championship.

"My number one thing is for every kid to leave here with a championship," he said.

The Cats already have a piece of one this year—they'll go for the whole thing on Nov. 14.