Don Appleton Water Polo

Wildcats roll to an easy win over Spartans Big test ahead againstMilpitas By DICKSPARRER

T

here won't be many times when you'll find Los Gatos [ootball coach Butch Catlolico hoping that his offense will not score a touchdown.

Such was the case last Friday afternoon at Mountain View, though.The Wildcats were pounding the Spartans so badly in the first half that they were up 41-0 with a couple of minutes left to play before intermission. So bad was the beating that Catlolica was hoping lime would run oul before the Wildcats could score

again.lt did-with Los Gatos at the Mountain View 2-yard line.

"We had our second team kids in before the end of the first half," said Cattolico, who generally lets the starters play the entire first half, regardless of the score. "The good lhing about this game, though, was that everybody got to play", a lot," he added, Cauolico figured his Wildcats would handle the Spanans, he just didn't'know how one~sided it was going to be, Los Gatos rolled 55-0 after going up 27-0 less than eight minutes into the first quarter. Things won'l be that easy this week. Los Gatos returns home to play host to Milpitas on Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m., at Helm Field.TheTrojans lost their opener in lhe De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League to Wilcox 2'7-'2.4 last Friday night. "They're fast," Cauolico said of the Trojans. "They've got a lot of explosiveness,and they have a big linebacker, [Steven) Fanua, who's a heckuva football player." The Wildcats and Trojans will match 3-1 season records in the game. In addition to the win over Mountain View, Los Gatos also has wins over Aragon (34-6) and Independence (42-3) and a loss to St. Francis (20-7). Milpitas had beaten

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. San Benito (24-12), Newark Memorial (28-3) and Alameda (50-7) before losing to Wilcox. Los Gatos got offtoa fast start in the win over Mountain View last Friday afternoon. Nick Hirschman. who completed 100ft3 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. got the Cats going with passes to Jake Hack~ man-Salazar for 16 yards and to Chris LaBoufffor nine, LaBouff. the Gatos ground leader with 12 carries [or 77 yards and twoTDs, carried five times [or 24 yards before Hirschman hit Andrew Berg with a 34~yard touchdown pass. Pat Irnpey kicked the first of seven extra points and the WLidcats were up 7-0. It didn '( take long for them to score again.The Spartans fumbled the kickoff and Craig Zeiter pounced on the football at the Mountain View24.Aftera 17·yard

run by Chrislian Cusella,LaBouff wenl seven yards for the score. Once again, Galos got the ball back quickly. On Mountain View's second play from scrimmage. Berg intercepted a pass at the Los Gatos 45. On the next play, Hirschman hooked up with tight end Brian Comstock "on an oul route and he broke a couple of tackles" on a 55yard scoring play. After three plays and a punt, the Gatos offense was at it again. LaBouff capped a short drive with a 6-yard touchdown fun. and after [mpey converted it was 27~O with more than four minutes left in the first quarter. Mountain View completed its only pass for its only frrst down of the half following tbe kickoff, then gave the ball back to the Cats on a shan punt. Hirschman tossed to Hackman-Salazar for 18yards and LaBouffran twice for22 yards and

caught a pass for eight more before Cory McDowell took off on a 20~yard touchdown run. Once more the Spartans faltered on offense,and punted back to Los Gatos. Hirschman and Hackman-Salazar connected for 20 yards and Hamilton Fairburn ran for 11 before McDowell blasted over from the 2-yard line for the score that made it41-0. The cycle continued after the kickoff with the Spartans going three plays and a punt, and the Gatos offense going on the move. A 20-yard run by McDowell,a 12yard pass from Sam Bowers to Alec Gfetzer and a 7-yard run by Pat Sgarlata took the Cats '0 the2yard line again, but this time around the clock mercifully ran out before they could get into the end zone. . , Page 45

OCTOBER 7.2008 LOS GATOS WEEKLY-TIMES 43

Football , Continued from page 43 The only negatives to an otherwise perfect first half were injuries sufferedbyLaBouffandMcDowell The status ofthe two for theMilpitas game was still uncertain asofSlDlday. Things didn't go much better for Mountain View in the second half than they did in the first. The Spartans did manage two first downs to open the third quarter, but just when they seemed to be rolling Cameron Hashemi sacked the quarterback~forcinga fumble that Gletzer scooped up and took 56 yards to a touchdown. Los Gatos would score one more , tim~ ~ thegame~ A i3-yard punt . return by Bowersgot the Wildcats started,and a 3Q-yard run by Dylan Johns set up Cole CuseUa for an 11yard TD run. Impey's seventh kick made the final score 55-0. The Wildcats had 10 different players carry the football in the win. " LaBouff led the way with his 77

yards and McDowell had five car-

nes for 44 yards and the two IDs.. Johns (two carries for 31 yards), Cole Cusella (2 fQr 26), Bevan Waite (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 Cats finish with 286 yards rushing. Hirschmancompleted 10 passes for 175 yards and Bowers was 4 of 4 for 23 more. HackmanSalazar caught four balls for 57 yards and Berg, Gletzer and LaBouff snagged two each. Comstock, Christian CuselIa, Waite and Sgarlata also had receptions. In all, Los Gatos finished the day with 484 yards of total offense, thanks to a solid showing by the guys up front. "Our offensive line played really well," saidCattolico of starting tackles Spencer Havens and Westin Bolliger, guards Jordan Dombrowsky and Brayton Vanni and center Erik Eastland. The coach also praised the work of back-Ups Andy Aguiar, Tyler Sanford and Adam Lopez at tack-

Ie, Gabe Wilds, James Thomas an< SuhkrajSohal at guard andC)ui~ Kiteleyand WillHawkerat cebter. "We moved the ball prettyweil with that group," said the coach. Cattolico is hoping to get"senior tackle Patrick Kelly back in action this week. Kelly has been sidelined with a bruised knee. Senior Kyle Baumann was the defensive leader for the Wildcats with eight tackles. Sohal and Gletzer were in on five apiece,Michael Halpin had:four and Zeiter,Johns, Dillon Kern, Dombrowsky and Thomasgo~in on three each. Zeiter and Gletzer each had the fumble recoveries. Berg had the interception and LaBouff and Hashemi each sacked the Mountain View quar~erback. JQining ~e castofGatostaclders were Victorzapa~BurtonFergu­ son, Bowers. Mike Sporck, Hackman-Salazar, Cole Cusella,Dylan Lovit. Sean Collins, Joey Vizzusi, Jason Galvan,Shane Samuel,Charlie Zweng, Harrison Tmsley. Sean Fitzsimmons and Comstock.

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SPORTS

Polo trip was all Gatos coach hoped it would be, and more By GREG LYDON Entering his first season as boys water polo coach at Los Gatos High School,Don Appleton wanted this summer's trip to mean something to his players. He wanted it to be an experience that would open his players' eyes and .., give them a trip to cherish and share 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 a little Euro flavor. The travel team embarked on a multi-city t_our of Hungary. First stop:A town called Cegled to compete in a major area touma~ent called the Thrbo Cup. The West Valley team also visited other cities in Hungary during its two-week adventure, including the nation's capital of Budapest. Stopping in the largest city in Hungary-as well as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe-was another perk for the West Valley bunch during their Europeanjourney. "It was a lot of fun to take the group over to Hungary again,"

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Appleton said. "We were in the same city two years ago. The kids got to reconnectwith people they met the last time they came here. It was a good experience for everyone to be a part of." Six members of the Los Gatos boys water polo team took part in the trip: Carter Krach, Dillon Viskochil, Joey DeSalvo, Wes Heeter, Greg Crites and Jack Penner. In Europe, the style of play is very physical. While quick passing and spacing is key to offensive sets in the American game, the Euro style brings a more rugged aspect to the sport. "We played a lot of teams that were more experienced and older than us," Appleton said. "We held our own over there.The kids really had to adapt to the more physicaL play. The Thrbo Cup had a lot of strong teams in the field." Although the West Valley bunch didn't win as many games in the tournament as they would have liked, the experience gained is already paying off for the Los Gatos team this fall. "The big gap in experience over there hurt us," Appleton said. "Kids start playing the sport over

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there when they're 8 and 9 years old. Some guys have played nine years, while most of our guys start playing when they get to the high school level." Heeter, the Wildcats junior captain, and Penner, the senior captain, were the guys that Appleton wanted to lead his team in the pool this fall. Dealing with rigorous workouts in the weight room, long practices in the pool and their schoolwork in the classroom, the Los Gatos squad is a tired group halfway through league play, but Appleton likes what he's seen from them so far. "Playing the European water polo teams, you pick up a higher level ofphysicality,"Appleton said. "We had to get our guys to tone down the physical play we picked up over there once we got back and started high school play.You swim more over here." Los Gatos is currently 9-3 overall heading into the second half of league play. Losing by a goal to Mountain View and Palo Alto, Appleton hopes to see his team continue to improve as the season heads to the home stretch in the next couple ofweeks. ,.. page 47 .......

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.' Water 'polo ~ Continued[rompage 45

,fourth, blallldng Mountain Vie l wb:ile scoring four goals, them selv~Stoilly to come up,one short .Los Gatos will be on the roa, this week to'Visit LosAltos onOc1

"This group has 'to learn that , 9,~:30,p.m.,tobeginapoloquad eyeryoqe can't be role players," header.The t>oysfrosh-soph team ,":1\;ppleton said. "Some guys need: play at 4:45 p.m., the girls junio to be goal scorers. Anything can varsity~quadsat 5:4?p.m. and thl happen between the top four girls vars.ity teams·at6:45 p.m. The Gatos girls are coming of teams iIi thcHeague. I tJllnkMountain Vi~wmight be the best team ofwins over Homestead (9-2) ane Mountain View (14-2) last week at the e'nd~" The Spartansimproved t04-0in Mary Sweeney tosSed.in 10 go~L the diviSionand 10..2, overaIl 'with in the two wins and Carsol the tight 12-11_~inO\~er Los Gatos Nestler added five. 'lastweek. '.Sweerieybu.ried six goals ane Heeter tossediti five goals and . Nestler three in the 14-2 win ove) Penner added four to lea~t,J.t~ . ¥~.untItinView to open the, week G~tos scoring in the game. Jacob •k~l.sey· .SbYba,· ApJis"Wygant Warko."'jUl4S~a~ck~o Anna. ~-Kosni~lska... ~~. ,~ly~it ..It 'seoredifot.theWil'dcats~ . McNulty also scored intheWih.· . The Catsfe'll behind 4-2 in: the Los Gatos improved to 5-1 in first quarter but matcl1ed Moun- league,play and 8-1 for. the year tain View's four goaJs in the second with the 9~2 victory over Homequarter to trail just 8-6 at intermis- stead. Sweeney led the offenst sion.The Spartans came on'strong witb fo.ur goals and Nestler hac in'the third·, o~tscoring the Wild- two.. Shyba, Kelly Davis anc cats4,..1-to lead 12~7.But the cats Co.urtneyCellaJ:' also tossed ill .:.. made a.c1ose game of it in the goals for the Cats.