LOS GATOS, CA. - Turnovers and Joey Wood finally proved to be the difference in a game that boasted no defense at the outset.
In the end Los Gatos emerged with a 59-34 victory against North Salinas.
The victory sends Los Gatos to next week's Central Coast Section Division II semifinals against Menlo-Atherton.
Tied 14-14, Los Gatos' Cole Wisecarver recovered a fumble late in the first quarter to set up Logan Chapman's 23-yard field goal, making it 17-14 Wildcats.
"Our defense held them a few times and we just kept scoring," said Los Gatos junior running back Wood who ran for 310 yards and six touchdowns. and also had a scoring reception. "I just held onto the ball and ran north and south. That's the way I like it."
Wood's fumble set up a 2-yard scoring run by North Salinas' David Dorr with 7:33 left in the first half as the Vikings took a 21-17 lead. But Wood made up for it with a 6-yard scoring jaunt to put Los Gatos ahead for good 24-21 with 5:34 left in the half. Then another Viking fumble that was recovered by Cody Marshall led to an 11-yard Wood scoring run and a 31-21 Los Gatos lead heading into halftime.
Los Gatos had two interceptions and recovered two North Salinas fumbles.
"Our offense played well," Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. "We got some turnovers and we ran the ball when we needed to. Our offensive line played an awfully good game."
The Wildcats' O-line of Grady Duggan, C.J. Hibbits, Jack Jarnigan, Andrew Hilliard and Brendan Ross bored holes in the Viking defense. Fullbacks Jack Tittle and Keegan Kreutzer also did their part in blazing paths for Wood.
After extending its lead to 45-28 in the third quarter, Los Gatos (8-3) broke the game open with a 60-yard pass play from quarterback Nick Bawden to Wood to make it 52-28. Wood took the screen pass on the right side, got a nice block by Jarnigan and sped the rest of the way to the end zone.
Wood had four touchdowns in the third quarter alone.
North Salinas (7-4) had its moments as well. Quarterback Justyn Gutierrez threw for 384 yards on 19 of 30 passing for two touchdowns. Dorr caught seven passes for 195 yards for the Vikings and Randy Ivey latched onto seven passes for 148 yards.
It was a noble end to the season for North Salinas which had gone a combined 3-17 the previous two years.
"We were more positive with the kids this season and we enabled our seniors to show some leadership and the rest of the kids took to it," North Salinas coach Steven Zenk said. "I'm proud of them."
Bawden didn't need to throw a lot for Los Gatos, completing 6 of 10 passes for 180 yards and two scores.
Los Gatos' next opponent, Menlo-Atherton, defeated the host Wildcats 19-10 in a non-league game on Sept. 13.
