The fans packing the Los Gatos High School bleachers screamed with delight as Brienzo raced down the field on the first play from scrimmage last Friday night against Aragon. But the Wildcats were flagged for an apparent block to the back, and the score was nullified.

So what did Brienzo do? He simply did it again. The third time he touched the ball, he went 67 yards for a TD, and the Cats were well on their way to a lopsided 41-14 non-league victory over the visiting Dons.

The penalty may have cost Brienzo his first touchdown, but he did get credit for a 57-yard run that set up Brian Bolandi's 10-yard touchdown run. And Brienzo managed to race for 164 yards on six carries on the night to lead a Los Gatos rushing attack that finished with 341 yards.

As for Brienzo? "He's not bad," said Los Gatos coach Butch Cattolico with a big grin following the game.

Overall, Cattolico's was pleased with his club's opening night performance, especially with the play of the guys up front.

"I was pleased with our offensive line," said Cattolico of the crew that led the Cats to 461 yards of total offense. "They really got off the ball tonight."

The experienced trio of Evan Wynne, Liam Smith and Adam Gutto would team up on the left side to give the Wildcats a powerful strongside attack, and the coach also singled out right guard Eric Chen for a solid effort. Senior Devin Lopez anchors the line at center.

The coach was also especially pleased with the performance of senior quarterback Erik Rollin, who completed 8 of 11 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.

"Erik deserves a lot of credit," said the coach. "He directs everything out there."

Tailback Alex Ghanavati had a good debut for the Cats, carrying the ball 20 times for 83 yards and three touchdowns.

"He has great speed and quickness," said Cattolico of the senior back.

Cattolico is hoping for more of the same from his squad when the Wildcats travel to Mountain View this week to challenge powerhouse St. Francis on Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m. The Lancers, who beat the Cats 17-7 last fall, opened the year with a convincing 27-6 win over top-rated Oak Grove last week.

The Eagles had trouble moving the football against the tough Lancers, but Cattolico is hoping his club will have better success, based on its showing against Aragon. The Los Gatos offense was solid in the win as the Cats scored on six of their first seven possessions.

"We're not bad," admitted Cattolico. "We made some mistakes, but I was pleased with the way the kids played and pleased with the way they came out in the second half."

The Cats quickly took the ball away from the Dons in the third quarter on an interception by A.J. Comeau, then scored in five plays to take a commanding 41-7 lead.

Aragon scored twice in the game, and Cattolico said that "the defense has got to get a lot sounder." Still, the Dons only scored as the result of two fluke plays, otherwise it might have been a shutout for the Wildcats.

The Dons actually took a 7-6 lead in the first period on a 29-yard touchdown run by junior speedster Dominic Williams. Aragon quarterback Noel Alexandre fumbled a snap and everyone on both sides on the line of scrimmage froze. When Alexandre scrambled for the football, players started to move. As the quarterback was falling, he stuffed the football into Williams' belly, and the back shot through the line and went the distance.

The Dons held the lead for just moments, though. Brienzo took off on a 67-yard touchdown run, and the Cats rolled from there.

Aragon's only other score came late in the third quarter. Daniel Lagomarsino scooped up a Gatos fumble and rambled 40 yards to the Los Gatos 4-yard line before Ghanavati brought him down from behind. The Dons scored two plays later.

But it was a case of too little, too late. The Wildcats had more than enough of a cushion, and cleared the bench as they rolled to the win.

Gatos set the tone early with Brienzo's 57-yard run. Ghanavati went eight yards to the 10, and Bolandi finished it off with a 10-yard TD run. A bad snap foiled the extra point attempt.

Aragon scored on the broken play, but Gatos answered with Brienzo's second big run. This time Matt Boyd drilled the extra point, and the Cats were up 13-7.

Boyd drilled five straight PATs after the initial bad snap cost him an attempt. He also boomed three of his seven kickoffs into the end zone.

The defense, led by Chris Cuthbert and Smith, stopped the Dons cold following the kickoff, the Gatos offense went right back to work after a short Aragon punt.

Ghanavati carried twice for 15 yards before Rollin tossed 30 yards to Vincent Bellotti down the left sideline for a score.

Bolandi forced a fumble that Carlos Alonso recovered at the Aragon 38 to get the Cats going again. Ghanavati capped the short drive when he followed Wynne, Smith and Gutto over the left side for a yard and a TD.

A Bellotti interception gave Gatos the ball back, and this time Ghanavati followed Chen and Gutto for the right side for 2 yards and a score.

Comeau's interception set up Ghanavati for a 10-yard touchdown run, and Gatos had a 41-7 lead with 8:40 left in the third quarter. A 19-yard pass from Rollin to Bellotti and an 18-yard run by Brienzo moved the Cats into position for the score.

Cuthbert, Alonso and Bolandi led the Cats defensively with six tackles each. Cuthbert had a quarterback sack among his stops, Bolandi forced a fumble, and Alonso had a tackle for a loss, a pass deflection and a fumble recovery.

Bellotti had four tackles and an interception, Bret Hampton had two sacks among his four tackles and Matt Showalter had a sack among his four stops. Keenan Murray also sacked the quarterback.

Comeau picked off a pass, batted down another and got in on two tackles, and Lopez, Chas Talpas, Nick Gaffney, Will Kapp and Smith were also among the tackling leaders. Also getting in on tackles were Wynne, Jeff Collins, Andrew Clark, Mario Barbas, Boyd, Gutto, Ghanavati, Chen and Marty Mullins.

The Los Gatos offense showed depth in the backfield in the win, with nine backs getting in on the action. Kapp carried four times for 42 yards, Bolandi three times for 20, Comeau twice for 18, Danny Frey once for eight yards and Rollin once for seven to support Brienzo and Ghanavatti.