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Published on 10/02/1995 All articles from this issue

Los Altos Football

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By Alex Valdes

Special to the Town Crier

For the first half on last Friday afternoon, mostly everything went the way Los Altos High's football team wished it had this season: an offense that moved the ball well, a defense that dictated the tempo and even scored a touchdown, and hope that perhaps the outcome would be different this time.

However, Los Altos could not sustain such good fortune and wound up on the losing end of an 18-9 score at Gunn in a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League-El Camino Division opener. The Eagles dropped to 1-3 overall while Gunn improved to 3-1.

There were indications that Los Altos would garner a victory. In the first half, senior defensive end Arne Andersen pounced on a Gunn fumble in the end zone for the game's first touchdown. Los Altos later engineered a 49-yard drive, ending with a missed field goal, and a 29-yard drive that was more successful, capped by Mark Meyer's 25-yard field goal that gave Los Altos a 9-6 lead.

But the offense, which gained 114 yards in the first half, sputtered in the second half. The Eagles could muster only 58 yards after intermission on three possessions.

Defensively, Los Altos broke down twice in the first half, allowing two touchdowns that lifted Gunn to a 12-9 halftime lead.

On the first score, coming on third and 10, tight end Josh Waldorph caught a pass over the middle from quarterback Shawn O'Neil. Two Eagles converged on him and applied hits, but Waldorph broke their tackles and sped by another defender en route to an 86-yard touchdown that made it 6-6.

Late in the first half, on fourth and 17, Gunn used trickery for its second touchdown. The Titans lined up a tackle and wide receiver far right, and two others far left. The strange formation apparently confused the Eagle defense, because when Waldorph released from his spot at left tight end he was wide open over the middle for a 24-yard scoring pass from O'Neil.

Despite the defeat, Los Altos could point to several positives. One was the performance of big Willie Howard (6-foot-4, 275), who caught two passes for 33 yards, nailed two punts that landed at the Gunn 15 and provided such a fearsome presence on the defensive right side that it forced the Titans to run away from him all game long.

"We went to the right side all the time," O'Neil said. "Willie was killing us on the left side."

Other defensive contributors included defensive backs Nick Vanderburg and Shawn Perotti, who combined to break up several passes.

Offensively, Los Altos appeared much improved over the previous week's 36-0 loss to Monta Vista. On the one scoring drive, Meyer, who replaced Perotti at quarterback in the first quarter, twice kept the march going by running for the first down on fourth-down situations. He then booted a 25-yard field goal.

The Eagles also moved into Gunn territory on several other occasions, but could not score. The most painful of those came in the first quarter, when the Eagles had first and goal at the 9 but ruined the chance with a 5-yard penalty, a loss of 2 yards on a run and a missed field goal.

Casey Lopez rushed for 55 yards on seven carries and Victor Ambruso gained 54 yards on 17 tries. Meyer completed four of 10 passes for 71 yards.

Los Altos 6 3 0 0 - 9

Gunn 6 6 0 6 - 18

LA - Andersen recovered fumble in end zone (kick blocked)

G - Waldorph 86 pass from O'Neil (kick failed)

LA - FG Meyer 25

G - Waldorph 24 pass from O'Neil (kick blocked)

G - Waldorph 5 pass from O'Neil (pass failed)

Records: Los Altos 0-1 (1-3), Gunn 1-0 (3-1).