Los Gatos players make mark at Wedemeyer All-star game
LOS GATOS >> The Los Gatos High School football players who were in the Charlie Wedemeyer All-star Game on Feb. 5 had extra motivation.
The last time they played on Helm Field, they experienced a heartbreaking loss to Bellarmine that eliminated the Wildcats from the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs. It was Los Gatos' only loss of the season.
“I'm so happy that I got to win my last football game here on home field,” said Yuma Rauxmoriwaki, who was one of four Wildcat seniors who played for the North squad in its 15-14 victory over the South on Saturday. “Knowing that Bellarmine is on the other team, and knowing that we lost our last postseason game here, I definitely wanted to win one here.”
Raux-moriwaki had a gamehigh four receptions in the victory and gained 53 yards on those catches. His last catch was perhaps his most important. On the eventual game-winning drive with approximately five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the wide receiver produced a catch-andrun for 18 yards that brought the ball down to the South 20-yardline.
“I knew I was going to get some targets, but I didn't think I would get that many, and I'm really happy I did,” Raux-moriwaki said.
Quinn Merritt was very busy in the secondary for the North. Among the plays he made were two deflected passes for incompletions, including one in the South end zone, and a flying tackle to stop a ballcarrier deep in North territory.
Merritt, along with Los Gatos teammate Wil Dal Porto, patrolled the field as defensive backs during the North's final drive, which ended with a missed 42yard field goal.
“It was absolutely electric, just trying to keep everything in front of you and pull through for the North,” Dal Porto said.
“I was just hoping we were going to take away the W,” said Merritt, then he commented about the game, “That was just an amazing experience. I'm grateful for everyone who put it on.”
Los Gatos' Nathan Yore also played for the North team. Among the other North players was Leigh's Sam Betz, who was active on the field at linebacker with a number of tackles.
“It felt great to be able to come out here with all the great players around the Bay, the atmosphere in the crowd and the way the game went down, it was just an incredible experience,” Betz said. “It's really great to play at a high level like this.”
Betz was joined on the squad by Leigh teammates Aiden Williams and Jason Schwartz.
The North struck early in the game, which was played in chilly conditions. On only the third play
from scrimmage, quarterback Jackson Steffen (Mountain View High School) saw running back Luther Glenn (Wilcox) get behind the South secondary and a long pass resulted in a 66-yard touchdown. The point-after-touchdown kick by Dino Beslagic of Santa Clara tacked another point on the scoreboard.
But the South tied the score on its first drive of the game after a nine-yard pass from Spencer Gorgulho (Christopher) to Kai Matthews (Santa Teresa).
The North entered halftime with a 9-7 advantage after it achieved a safety, but the South took the lead in the first drive of the third quarter after Matthews caught his second TD pass, this time for 11 yards from Anthony Martinez (Andrew Hill).
The South held a 14-9 advantage the rest of the half until the South's game-winning drive in
the fourth quarter. Steffen capped the 58-yard, 11-play drive with an 11-yard scoring run. A conversion run attempt by Glenn failed, but the North had a 15-14 lead and was able to make it stand.
Boys basketball
Los Gatos High School stretched its winning streak to five games with a pair of Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division victories last week.
The Wildcats entered this week with a 13-9 overall record and 8-2 El Camino Division mark, which led the division by one game. Los Gatos played Fremont-sunnyvale on Tuesday after this article went to press. The Wildcats' final regular-season game is scheduled for today at home against Lynbrook at 7:45 p.m. Entering this week, Lynbrook was second in the El
Camino Division with a 7-3 record.
Los Gatos opened this month with a 52-45 win over Monta Vista on Feb. 1. Trent Splaine led the Wildcats in scoring with 13 points (including 6 for 8 shooting from the field) and teammate Arya Emarlou added 10. Luke White passed for a Los Gatos-leading four assists and had three steals, as did Splaine.
The Wildcats then hosted Saratoga, which had defeated Los Gatos in two games this season. That didn't happen again, as Los Gatos won 57-36 on Feb. 4. Emarlou poured in a team-high 21 points, and teammate Max Houghton added 11 points. White grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Girls basketball
Los Gatos High School went 2-1 last week and entered this week trailing Palo Alto by one game for first place in the SCVAL De Anza Division with three games to play.
The Wildcats, who started this week 18-3 overall and 7-2 in the De Anza Division, defeated visiting Wilcox 45-20 on Jan. 31. The Wildcats led 14-4 at the end of the first quarter and didn't trail after that. Nicole Steiner paced Los Gatos in scoring with 14 points.
Then the Wildcats dropped a 51-45 game to host Homestead on Feb. 2. The game was tied at 38 at the end of three quarters. Belle Bramer scored a team-high 19 points for Los Gatos and grabbed a team-high four steals. Steiner led the Wildcats in rebounds with 12, with teammate Casey Brennan adding eight rebounds.
Los Gatos bounced back with a 56-28 victory over Saratoga on Feb. 4. The host Wildcats bolted out to an 18-5 first-quarter lead and didn't trail after that. Bramer and Steiner both scored 12 points to pace Los Gatos. Steiner was 5 for 7 from the field in the victory. She also had team-highs in rebounds (10) and steals (four).
The Wildcats are scheduled to travel to face Los Altos tonight at 7, host Lynbrook today at 6:15 p.m. and end the regular season on Sunday at Palo Alto with a 12:30 p.m. game.