In his first two seasons at the Wilcox helm, coach Paul Rosa and his Chargers came up on the short end of two meetings with Los Gatos, both on the road, 42-22 in 2015 and 50-36 in 2016. However, in the last two seasons Wilcox has turned the tables on its De Anza League rival, winning 40-14 in 2017 at home and 25-19 last year at Los Gatos.
This year’s matchup on Friday night will be at 7:00 pm in Santa Clara.
Wilcox (3-2, 1-0), the No. 3 team in the Prep2Prep Central Coast Section rankings and No. 47 in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings, has scheduled very tough and in neither of their two losses were they soundly defeated.
To open the season the Chargers fell behind 13-0 to P2P CCS No. 1 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 16 Valley Christian-San Jose in the first half, were never able to recover, and fell 23-13 on the road against a Warriors team they beat 10-6 last year en route to a 14-1 season that culminated in a CCS Open 1 Division runner-up finish to Menlo-Atherton, followed by a CIF state Division 3-A Bowl Game championship in a 41-27 victory over Kaiser-Fontana.
After getting kept out of the end zone against Valley Christian, 5-6, 165-pound senior running back Paul M. Rosa, the son of Coach Rosa, went for 273 yards and two TDs in a 34-20 victory over San Benito-Hollister, but injured his groin in the process. He didn’t play in a 49-34 victory over Leland, and also missed a 35-31 loss at P2P NCS No. 5 and Cal-Hi Sports No. 40 Pittsburg.
Even without their star running back the powerful and explosive running game of Wilcox piled up 351 yards and four TDs on the ground at Pittsburg with 5-11, 185-pound senior Isaiah Flores leading the way with 215 yards and two TDs, leaving one to ponder if the absence of Rosa’s running might not have been the difference between winning and losing.
Rosa returned to the backfield against Palo Alto last week, and despite still being “a few weeks away from being 100-percent” according to his father, he carried 27 times for 164 yards and one touchdown, and was complemented by the 165 yards and one TD of Flores. One thing Rosa didn’t do was play on defense and special teams and when he will fully return to those duties is still a question.
Besides Rosa and Flores, 6-3, 175-pound senior quarterback Geremy McCollough has only passed for 291 yards with three TDs but he’s only attempted 32 passes in five games. McCollough has rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns. Two other running backs to look for on Friday night are seniors Aaron Ah Sing and Roan Poulivaati. They have rushed for 424 yards and six TDs combined.
There is little doubt that Coach Rosa is going to need the Wilcox powerful rushing to control the game, and having played and run the ball well against teams like Valley Christian and Pittsburg could be an asset.
“I think so. For sure it will help us and it can’t hurt,” was the response of Coach Rosa when asked about scheduling some tough non-league competition. “My first two years we scheduled tough on purpose because we were going to meet those teams. As we got better we had to play those teams to be able to schedule games because of the disparity between the top teams and second tier teams.”
Los Gatos (5-0, 1-0) comes into the game with its best start since 2002, and although the Prep2Prep CCS No. 4 and Cal-Hi Sports Medium Schools No. 11 ranked Cats have not played as tough a schedule as Wilcox, they’ve put some points on the board, including a 34-3 homecoming victory last week in a De Anza League opener against Milpitas, and they have a 35-8 win over a San Benito team that Wilcox beat 34-20. All told the Cats are averaging just over 45 points a game.
“Los Gatos has looked really good and we’re looking forward to playing them in what should be a great rivalry game,” Coach Rosa said.
Los Gatos has used a combination of running and passing and they have been playing mostly error free football with only three turnovers in five games.
“To keep it going, on offense it’s really necessary for us to continue what we’ve been doing the last five weeks, moving the ball and avoiding penalties and mistakes,” said seventh year Coach Mark Krail. “On defense the key is to win first down, create turnovers and try to get them out of their comfort zone. Their offense is unique and difficult to stop.”
Yost Girvan, a 5-11, 190-pound senior dual-threat quarterback, has passed for 741 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for 196 yards and three more scores.
The workhorse for Krail and the Cats offense has been running back Adam Garwood. The 5-6, 145-pound junior has rushed for 563 yard and 12 touchdowns. Two other running backs to look for are senior Mason Holbrook and junior Kyle Pinkham. They have rushed for 401 yards and six TDs combined. The top wide receiver for Las Gatos is senior Gian Lagemann. He has 32 receptions for 434 yards and five touchdowns.
“Our guys are excited about this Friday. It’s going to be an electric atmosphere,” Krail remarked.
Wilcox will be favored but Coach Rosa knows it’s not just his offense that can light up the scoreboard but Los Gatos as well.
“The key for us is to take care of the ball and not turning it over,” Coach Rosa said. “Their offense is pretty explosive so another key is keeping them in front of us.”
It’s still only week two of league play, and in the tough De Anza League anything can happen, but by all accounts the winner of this game should have the inside track on the league title.
