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Published on 10/13/1999 All articles from this issue

Mtn. View holds on; beats Los Altos 28-20

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By Pete Borello

Town Crier Staff Writer

The past two seasons, Mountain View High committed five turnovers in each of its games against Los Altos High and - not surprisingly - lost both times.

This year, Mountain View managed to hang on to the ball - and the game.

The Spartans played 48 minutes of turnover-free football last Friday in a 28-20 win that spoiled the Eagles' homecoming.

"Turnovers really hurt us the last two years against Los Altos and I talked to the team about that going into this game," Mountain View coach Dan Navarro said. "We concentrated on (preventing turnovers) and that helped us."

The Spartans also received some help from Los Altos, which committed three turnovers - all in the first half.

The second miscue proved costly for the Eagles. Quarterback Sai Pela squandered a drive that had reached Mountain View's 9-yard line by throwing an interception to cornerback Roland Gabriel, who made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone.

Two plays later, the Spartans were in the Eagles' end zone. Quarterback Ryan Malatesta hit a streaking Ross Stanley on a long pass down the right sideline for a 78-yard touchdown as time expired in the first quarter.

The pair hooked up again late in the second quarter on a 17-yard play that pushed the Spartans' lead to 14-0. Malatesta found Stanley wide open along the left sideline and the receiver sauntered into the end zone untouched.

"Our pass defense was 'el stinko,'" Los Altos coach Ron Moser said. "There were some big holes in our pass coverage in the first half and we gave them easy touchdowns."

The Eagles struck back in the opening minute of the second half with a touchdown pass of their own. Pela connected with tight end Joe Lucky, who evaded two would-be tacklers on his way to a 49-yard score. The touchdown was set up a play earlier when Vernis James returned the second-half kickoff 42 yards.

The Spartans countered with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in 2-yard touchdown run by Michael Chavez. The drive was sparked by a 35-yard burst by halfback Ricardo Lopez, who finished with a game-high 116 yards on 20 carries.

Los Altos wouldn't go away, however. Halfback Steve Holloway scored on runs of 5 and 11 yards to put the Eagles within 21-20 with 7:31 left in the game. Holloway wound up with 180 yards of offense: 102 rushing and 78 receiving.

But just when Los Altos appeared to have momentum on its side, Mountain View snatched it back on one play. Gabriel returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown with 4:41 remaining to give the Spartans a 28-20 edge.

"That punt return was the game breaker," Moser said. "That broke our backs."

The Eagles had two more chances with the ball, but the Spartans thwarted both drives with solid pass defense.

The first drive ended at the Los Altos 44 when cornerback Jordan Nelson broke up Pela's fourth-down bomb to Wesley Battle. Nelson timed the play perfectly, reaching over Battle's back to bat down the pass before the receiver could get a handle on it.

Pela gave Los Altos some hope on its final drive by completing a 27-yard pass to Holloway on fourth-and-10 that moved the ball to midfield. But the Eagles would get no further. Gabriel knocked down a long pass along the left sideline on first down, Travis Kelbaugh sacked Pela for a 5-yard loss on second and the next two passes fell incomplete.

The Spartans then took over on downs with 30 seconds left and ran out the clock.

Los Altos wound up with more yards than Mountain View (330 to 277) and more first downs (12 to 8), but that didn't prove to be enough.

"Los Altos has great athletes and better speed, but our kids played hard," Navarro said. "We battled and battled and got some big plays at the right times."

The win improved Mountain View to 2-0 in the SCVAL El Camino Division and 3-2 overall. Los Altos fell to 0-1 in the division, 1-4 overall.