Wildcats roll to an easy win over Spartans

Pholograph by Jucquelinc Ramseyer

Los Gatos tight end Brian Comstock races for n touchdown in last Friday's 55·0 win over Mountain View.Comstock took an out pass from quarterback Nick Hirschman and broke it 55 yards tor a score.

caught a pass for eight morebefore Cory McDowell took offon a 20~yard touchdown run.

Once more the Spartans fal­tered on offense,and punted backto Los Gatos. Hirschman andHackman-Salazar connected for20 yards and Hamilton Fairburnran for 11 before McDowell blast­ed over from the 2-yard line forthe score that made it41-0.

The cycle continued after thekickoff with the Spartans goingthree plays and a punt, and theGatos offense going on the move.A 20-yard run by McDowell,a 12­yard pass from Sam Bowers toAlec Gfetzer and a 7-yard run byPat Sgarlata took the Cats '0 the2­yard line again, but this timearound the clock mercifully ranout before they could get into theend zone.

run by Chrislian Cusella,LaBouffwenl seven yards for the score.

Once again, Galos got the ballback quickly. On Mountain View'ssecond play from scrimmage.Bergintercepted a pass at the Los Gatos45. On the next play, Hirschmanhooked up with tight end BrianComstock "on an oul route and hebroke a couple of tackles" on a 55­yard scoring play.

After three plays and a punt, theGatos offense was at it again.LaBouffcapped a short drive witha 6-yard touchdown fun. and after[mpey converted it was 27~Owithmore than four minutes left in thefirst quarter.

Mountain View completed itsonly pass for its only frrst down ofthe half following tbe kickoff, thengave the ball back to the Cats on ashan punt. Hirschman tossed toHackman-Salazar for 18yards andLaBouffran twice for22 yards and ., Page 45

OCTOBER 7.2008 LOS GATOS WEEKLY-TIMES 43

San Benito (24-12), NewarkMemorial (28-3) and Alameda(50-7) before losing to Wilcox.

Los Gatos got offtoa fast start inthe win over Mountain View lastFriday afternoon.

Nick Hirschman. who complet­ed 100ft3 passes for 175 yards andtwo touchdowns. got the Catsgoing with passes to Jake Hack~

man-Salazar for 16 yards and toChris LaBoufffor nine, LaBouff.the Gatos ground leader with 12carries [or 77 yards and twoTDs,carried five times [or 24 yardsbefore Hirschman hit AndrewBerg with a 34~yard touchdownpass. Pat Irnpey kicked the first ofseven extra points and the WLidcatswere up 7-0.

It didn '( take long for them toscore again.The Spartans fumbledthe kickoff and Craig Zeiterpounced on the football at theMountainView24.Aftera 17·yard

By DICKSPARRER

Big test aheadagainstMilpitas

T here won't be many timeswhen you'll find Los Gatos[ootball coach Butch Cat­

lolico hoping that his offense willnot score a touchdown.

Such was the case last Fridayafternoon at Mountain View,though.The Wildcats were pound­ing the Spartans so badly in thefirst half that they were up 41-0with a couple of minutes left toplay before intermission.

So bad was the beating that Cat­lolica was hoping lime would runoul before theWildcats could scoreagain.lt did-with Los Gatos atthe Mountain View 2-yard line.

"We had our second team kids inbefore the end of the first half,"said Cattolico, who generally letsthe starters play the entire firsthalf, regardless of the score.

"The good lhing about thisgame, though, was that everybodygot to play", a lot," he added,

Cauolico figured his Wildcatswould handle the Spanans, he justdidn't'know how one~sided it wasgoing to be, Los Gatos rolled 55-0after going up 27-0 less than eightminutes into the first quarter.

Things won'l be that easy thisweek. Los Gatos returns home toplay host to Milpitas on Oct. 10,7:30 p.m., at Helm Field.TheTro­jans lost their opener in lhe DeAnza Division of the Santa ClaraValley Athletic League to Wilcox2'7-'2.4 last Friday night.

"They're fast," Cauolico said ofthe Trojans. "They've got a lot ofexplosiveness,and they have a biglinebacker, [Steven) Fanua,who'sa heckuva football player."

The Wildcats and Trojans willmatch 3-1 season records in thegame. In addition to the win overMountain View, Los Gatos also haswins overAragon (34-6) and Inde­pendence (42-3) and a loss to St.Francis (20-7). Milpitas had beaten

Football, Continued from page 43

The only negatives to an other­wise perfect first half were injuriessufferedbyLaBouffandMcDowellThestatusofthetwo for theMilpitasgamewasstilluncertainasofSlDlday.

Things didn't go much betterfor Mountain View in the secondhalf than they did in the first.TheSpartans did manage two firstdowns to open the third quarter,but just when they seemed to berolling Cameron Hashemi sackedthe quarterback~forcinga fumblethat Gletzer scooped up and took56 yards to a touchdown.

LosGatoswouldscoreone more,tim~ ~ thegame~A i3-yard punt. return by Bowersgot theWildcatsstarted,and a 3Q-yardrun by DylanJohnsset up Cole CuseUa for an 11­yardTD run. Impey's seventh kickmade the final score 55-0.

The Wildcats had 10 differentplayerscarry the football in the win.

"LaBouff led the way with his 77

yards and McDowell had five car­nes for 44 yards and the two IDs..Johns (two carries for 31 yards),Cole Cusella (2 fQr 26), BevanWaite (4 for 21),Fairburn (3 for 18),Christian Cusella (1 for 17),Sgarla­ta (3 for 10), Hirschman (1 for 6)and Impey (1 for 1)helped the Catsfinish with 286 yards rushing.

Hirschmancompleted 10 pass­es for 175 yards and Bowers was 4of 4 for 23 more. Hackman­Salazar caught four balls for 57yards and Berg, Gletzer andLaBouffsnagged two each. Com­stock, Christian CuselIa, Waiteand Sgarlata also had receptions.

In all, Los Gatos finished theday with 484 yards of total offense,thanks to a solid showing by theguys up front.

"Ouroffensive line played real­ly well," saidCattolico ofstartingtackles Spencer Havens andWest­in Bolliger, guards Jordan Dom­browsky and Brayton Vanni andcenter Erik Eastland.

The coach also praised the workof back-Ups Andy Aguiar, TylerSanford and Adam Lopez at tack-

Ie, Gabe Wilds, JamesThomas an<SuhkrajSohal at guard andC)ui~

KiteleyandWillHawkeratcebter."We moved the ball prettyweil

with thatgroup," said the coach.Cattolico is hoping to get"senior

tackle Patrick Kelly back in actionthis week. Kelly has been side­lined with a bruised knee.

Senior Kyle Baumann was thedefensive leader for the Wildcatswith eight tackles. Sohal and Glet­zer were in on five apiece,MichaelHalpin had:four and Zeiter,Johns,Dillon Kern, Dombrowsky andThomasgo~in on three each.Zeit­er and Gletzer each had the fum­ble recoveries. Berghad the inter­ception and LaBouffand Hashe­mi each sacked the MountainView quar~erback.

JQining~e castofGatostaclderswereVictorzapa~BurtonFergu­son, Bowers. Mike Sporck, Hack­man-Salazar,Cole Cusella,DylanLovit. Sean Collins, Joey Vizzusi,Jason Galvan,ShaneSamuel,Char­lie Zweng,HarrisonTmsley.SeanFitzsimmons and Comstock.

,------- ----

SPORTS

Polo trip was all Gatos coachhoped it would be, and more

By GREG LYDON

Entering his first season as boyswater polo coach at Los GatosHigh School,DonAppleton want­ed this summer's trip to meansomething to his players. He want­ed it to be an experience thatwould open his players' eyes and

.., give them a trip to cherish andshare with their teammates.

Missi9n'accomplished.For the third straight summer,

Appleton took his West Valley.boys water polo club team over­,seas to experience the game with alittleEuro flavor.

The travel team embarked on amulti-city t_our of Hungary. Firststop:A town called Cegled to com­pete in a major area touma~entcalled the Thrbo Cup.

TheWest Valley team also visit­ed other cities in Hungary duringits two-week adventure, includingthe nation's capital of Budapest.Stopping in the largest city in Hun­gary-as well as one of the mostbeautiful cities in Europe-wasanother perk for the West Valleybunch during their Europeanjour­ney.

"It was a lot of fun to take thegroup over to Hungary again,"

Appleton said. "We were in thesame city two years ago. The kidsgot to reconnectwith people theymet the last time they camehere.Itwas a good experience for every­one to be a part of."

Six members of the Los Gatosboys water polo team took part inthe trip: Carter Krach, DillonViskochil, Joey DeSalvo, WesHeeter, Greg Crites and Jack Pen­ner.

In Europe, the style of play isvery physical.While quick passingandspacing is key to offensive setsin the American game, the Eurostyle brings a more rugged aspectto the sport.

"We played a lot of teams thatwere more experienced and olderthan us," Appleton said."We heldourown over there.The kids reallyhad to adapt to the more physicaLplay. The Thrbo Cup had a lot ofstrong teams in the field."

Although theWest Valley bunchdidn't win as many games in thetournament as they would haveliked, the experience gained isalready paying off for the LosGatos team this fall.

"The big gap in experience overthere hurt us," Appleton said."Kids start playing the sport over

there when they're 8 and 9 yearsold. Some guys have played nineyears, while most ofour guys startplaying when they get to the highschool level."

Heeter, the Wildcats junior cap­tain, and Penner, the senior cap­tain, were the guys that Appletonwanted to lead his team in the poolthis fall.

Dealing with rigorous workoutsin the weight room, long practicesin the pool and their schoolwork inthe classroom, the Los Gatossquadis a tired group halfway throughleague play, but Appleton likeswhat he's seen from them sofar.

"Playing the European waterpolo teams, you pick up a higherlevel ofphysicality,"Appletonsaid."We had to get our guys to tonedown the physical play we pickedup over there once wegot backandstarted high school play.You swimmore over here."

Los Gatos is currently 9-3 over­all heading into the second halfofleague play. Losing by a goal toMountain View and Palo Alto,Appleton hopes to see his teamcontinue to improve as the seasonheads to the home stretch in thenext couple ofweeks.

,.. page 47_~~:'=l.r{~':';l."Ii:.;;;.i,,,,,,.~.,~:.,;,;.·.l~¥N:::li....:..:. .•:J,,------- ....__iiiiioo....... ....... "'--............;.;..;;.;._""'--'- _

.' Water 'polo~ Continued[rompage 45

"This group has 'to learn thateyeryoqe can't be role players,"

,":1\;ppleton said. "Some guys need:to be goal scorers. Anything canhappen between the top fourteams iIi thcHeague. I tJllnkMoun­tain Vi~wmightbe the best teamat the e'nd~"

TheSpartansimproved t04-0inthe diviSionand 10..2, overaIl 'withthe tight 12-11_~inO\~erLos Gatos

'lastweek.Heeter tossediti five goals and

Penner added four to lea~t,J.t~G~tosscoring in the game. JacobWarko."'jUl4S~a~ck~o

..It 'seoredifot.theWil'dcats~ .The Catsfe'll behind 4-2 in: the

first quarter but matcl1ed Moun­tain View's four goaJs in the secondquarter to trail just8-6 at intermis­sion.The Spartans came on'strongin'the third·, o~tscoring the Wild­cats4,..1-to lead 12~7.Butthe cats

.:.. made a.c1ose game of it in the

,fourth, blallldng Mountain Vie l

wb:ile scoring four goals, themselv~Stoillyto comeup,one short

.Los Gatos will be on the roa,this week to'Visit LosAltos onOc1

, 9,~:30,p.m.,tobeginapoloquadheader.The t>oysfrosh-soph teamplay at 4:45 p.m., the girls juniovarsity~quadsat 5:4?p.m. and thlgirls vars.ity teams·at6:45 p.m.

The Gatos girls are coming ofofwins overHomestead(9-2) aneMountain View (14-2) last weekMary Sweeney tosSed.in10 go~L

in the two wins and CarsolNestleradded five.'.Sweerieybu.ried six goals ane

.Nestler three in the 14-2 win ove). ¥~.untItinView to open the, week•k~l.sey· .SbYba,· ApJis"WygantAnna.~-Kosni~lska...~~. ,~ly~itMcNultyalso scored intheWih.· .

Los Gatos improved to 5-1 inleague,play and 8-1 for. the yearwith the 9~2 victory over Home­stead. Sweeney led the offenstwitb fo.ur goals and Nestler hactwo.. Shyba, Kelly Davis ancCo.urtneyCellaJ:' also tossed illgoals for the Cats.