LOS GATOS – At the end of the first quarter of Friday night’s big game against Wilcox, the host Los Gatos football team had only five total yards and zero points.
The rest of the game, however, was a different story.
Although Wilcox stayed close into the fourth quarter, Los Gatos’ offense warmed up in the final 36 minutes of this Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division opener. It took the lead for good in the second quarter and ended up with 334 yards in the game. The Chargers trailed by only three points more than halfway through the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats then exploded for three more touchdowns in a 41-18 victory.
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Los Gatos (5-0), fifth in the Bay Area News Group rankings, certainly has a history with Wilcox (1-4). The Wildcats trailed Wilcox 19-0 last season before rallying to win 20-19. They haven’t lost a regular-season game since their defeat to Wilcox in 2019.
“We know they’re good, and they know us. We know them well and they know us well and the first half, we tried some things and it didn’t necessarily work,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. “We hit some big runs in that second half and the quarterback played great, like he always has all year.”
Los Gatos junior quarterback Jake Boyd completed nine of his 16 pass attempts for 141 yards and a touchdown. But perhaps his biggest play was a run.
On a fourth-down play at the Wilcox 7-yard line late in the third quarter, Boyd went back to pass, but his options were limited. There was, however, a large amount of open real estate in front of him, and he ran into the end zone with the eventual winning points of the game.
“I dropped back, saw a hole and I just kind of ran for it. There was a lane in the end zone and I dove and I luckily came up with a touchdown,” said Boyd about the touchdown. “We’re a big second-half team and we’re really good at coming back from when something bad happens, and we just rallied together and stuck together and played a really good game.”
Los Gatos gained 113 yards on the ground in the second half. Caspian Bailey produced all 85 of his rushing yards and two touchdowns in the final 24 minutes of the game, including a 40-yard score with 4:02 remaining. Teammate Emiliano Mejia had 37 of his game-high 93 yards on the ground in the second half.
“When it’s a three-point game with four minutes left, you’ve got to make a stop. They know if they get a first down, the game’s probably over,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said. “We’re close to being really good, but we’re also finding ways to lose games at the end of the games.”
Wilcox had a great start, as it took the opening drive 35 yards and capped it with an impressive 43-yard field goal by Anthan Wingate, competing in his first football season at any level according to Rosa. The drive took more than six minutes off the clock, and Los Gatos, which had a three-and-out on its first drive, ran only four offensive plays in the first quarter.
But on the first play of the second quarter, Boyd found Lucas White for a 64-yard reception. Although that drive stalled, Los Gatos opened its scoring with a nine-yard sweep by Alejandro Quijada. The next Wildcats drive, Jake Ripp made a leaping catch in the right corner of the end zone on a 13-yard pass from Boyd.
But Wilcox carried the momentum into halftime. It drove 70 yards in two minutes to score on an excellent 19-yard catch in tight coverage by Luther Glenn from Armand Johnson, and then Glenn ran in the two-point conversion to narrow Los Gatos’ lead to 14-11.
But Boyd’s important fourth-down touchdown run helped give his team a 21-11 advantage entering the fourth quarter. But Wilcox answered with 7:54 left in the game on a one-yard touchdown run by Glenn, who had a team-high 72 yards on the ground on 18 carries.
On the next drive, Bailey had his huge 40-yard touchdown run. Then on the next play from scrimmage, Los Gatos’ Landon Heard took an interception return 60 yards into the end zone. The final touchdown of the game was a four-yard run by Bailey with 1:27 remaining.
Wilcox’s Charles Carlson had a game-high five catches for 75 yards. Quinn Merritt led Los Gatos with four receptions for 70 yards.
