Los Gatos, following a huge win over St. Mary’s-Stockton, took down previously unbeaten Wilcox on Friday night, 42-32.
“The Cardiac Kids, I call them,” said Los Gatos coach Mark Krail. “It’s been fun; these guys just keep playing, no matter the score -- that’s all we ask.”
The defining moment was when Los Gatos was down 32-28 and quarterback Hunter Bigge hit senior captain, Miles Beach on a 4-yard screen pass where Beach broke a tackle and proceeded to carry the ball another 46 yards for what would be the game winning touchdown.
“Well, today we played with a lot of passion," Beach said. "Wilcox is a good team; they’re always good.”
Good they were, as the Chargers had 427 total yards and only four plays for negative yards.
Charger quarterback Eduardo Andrade showed himself to be a complete threat with big plays such as his 87 yard touchdown run in the third and his 22-yard pass in the first -- the latter setting up an easy six points.
“I think he played great. He did what we asked of him: he competed,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said.
Turnovers hurt the Chargers. They had five turnovers as opposed to Los Gatos’ one.
“We’ve just got to take care of the ball,” said Rosa. “That’s a big difference in the game right there.”
Perhaps the turnovers are a testament to the toughness of the Wildcat defense, being that there were three caused fumbles, two of which were recovered by Los Gatos.
Leading the defense were senior captains Colt Doughty and Jake Holton, who had 16 tackles and 15 tackles respectively.
“The read option is a pain," Doughty said. "It’s a real hard offense to play against and those linebackers can all make plays. They all deserve massive praise.”
Beach also had a big defensive play after his clutch touchdown, batting down an Andrade pass attempt. Also deserving credit was the Los Gatos secondary, which only allowed Andrade to go 6 for 13 on passing, capped of by an interception from junior Ryan Wilcox in the 2nd quarter.
Bigge completed 10 of 21 passes for 191 yards and junior running back running back Jordan Howell had two touchdowns on 15 carries. Junior Kyle Reid completed his only pass attempt, a 42-yard touchdown pass to senior Grant Rosenbaum.
“He finished strong running the ball -- credit to our offensive line in the fourth when Jordan started grinding out yards,” said Krail.
Wilcox running back Robbie Saulus had a touchdown, but was forced to leave the game in the fourth due to a leg injury.
“Our big players tonight were Robbie Saulus and our offensive line; they played great and really competed out there.” Rosa said.
Los Gatos is at Saratoga on Friday and Wilcox hosts Santa Clara.
