ATHERTON, CA -- Repeating as a CCS champion is not easy. Just ask St. Ignatius after its 2012 Open title (4-9in 2013) or 2013 Open winner Serra this season (0-2 this year).
Threatening to buck the trend is last season's Division II section champ Los Gatos, which swept aside another opponent in convincing fashion on Friday, defeating Menlo-Atherton 35-7 under sunny skies. Los Gatos topped a solid Mitty team 21-13 in its opener.
The Wildcats got two Dru Brown touchdown passes to Miles Beach and three touchdown runs from Joey Wood to overwhelm the Bears (0-2).
"We have some similar pieces to last year," Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. "We're off to a good start and our defense has been productive, so our defense doesn't feel like it has to score every time. Dru has done a good job replacing Nick Bawden, Joey is running well and our offensive line might be a little better than last year."
Los Gatos' O-line had no easy task against M-A's big front but the Wildcat earth movers -- Brendan Ross, Griffin Jordan, Jack Jarnigan, Zach Smits and Henry Tuckfield -- became increasingly effective on the hot day.
Asked when he knew his team was dominant, Jordan said: "After the first few touchdowns. We knew we'd dominate if we had a good first half. We wanted to come out here and show how Los Gatos plays."
Los Gatos out-gained M-A overall 365 to 165.
The Wildcats lost some talented players from last season to graduation such as Bawden (now at San Diego State) and receiver Corey Olivet, but have re-loaded nicely.
"I think our team is more connected this year," Jordan said. "We have a special bond. We trust each other and have good leaders."
Trailing 14-0 early in the second quarter, Menlo-Atherton gambled on fourth-and-two at the Los Gatos 46, going for the first down. But Robby Bearsley's pass was too high for Ben Stanley and the Wildcats took over.
Eight plays later Los Gatos was in the end zone for the third time, tallying on Brown's 3-yard pass to Beach.
The Wildcats led 21-0 with 6:06 left in the half and were not going to be caught -- not the way Los Gatos defenders such as Jarnigan and Mitchell Schwager (four tackles apiece), Hugh Bohn (two sacks) and Colt Doughty (one sack) were playing. Jarnigan, the son of the San Jose SaberCats assistant coach Jeff Jarnigan, also had a sack.
"(Menlo-Atherton) has some big bodies up front, so our technique and angles had to be good," Krail said.
Wood ran for 81 yards on 16 carries and caught two passes for 61 yards. Brown completed 14-of-18 passes for 206 yards and Matt Wilcox caught four passes for 73 yards.
Down 35-0, Menlo-Atherton scored its only touchdown with six minutes left in the game on a 19-yard Beardsley to Chase DelRosso pass. Marcus Moimoi had runs of 10 and 15 yards on the gutsy 11-play drive. A fumble recovery by Bears' defensive lineman Ezequiel Galvan-Navarro on the Bear 28 set up the M-A score.
Menlo-Atherton is at Riordan at 1 p.m. September 20. Los Gatos hosts San Benito on at 7 p.m. Friday.
