Too little, too late Too little, too late (October 01, 2004)

Mountain View can't recover from 21-0 first half

By Colleen Corcoran

The images were different yet the same: Milpitas quarterback Brandon Carswell tiptoeing through a jagged opening, then sprinting almost 50 yards to score. Milpitas' Greg Mitchell breaking away and rushing an open field to score. And another Milpitas player, Michael Fullbright, running 50 yards to score.

The Trojan breakaway was the indelible image left on Mountain View minds after the Spartans fell 28-14 to Milpitas on Sept. 24.

"We have a young defense that is not very big, and as a consequence we get overwhelmed," Mountain View coach Dan Navarro said. "Our quarterback (Jon Warmbrodt) gets sacked and hurried quite a bit. That causes him to lose confidence, and that limits what we're capable of doing, and it kind of snowballs."

Plagued by incomplete passes, an unstable offensive line and a small defense, the Spartans battled from behind the entire game. With Milpitas leading 21-0 early in the second half, Mountain View attempted to come back. Spartan Marc Cordero recovered a punt reception fumbled by Milpitas, ran with it and scored.

A smarter and stronger Spartan defense targeted the indomitable Carswell and brought him down quickly to regain possession. Then, a series of handoffs from Warmbrodt to Brandon Hamilton brought Mountain View into scoring position. Inches from the Milpitas endzone, Alec Nelson carried the ball to score again.

"The fumble recovery gave us some momentum, and we were able to come back and get another score, but little mistakes hurt us all game," Navarro said. "Somebody breaks down and doesn't do what they're supposed to do, and Milpitas seemed to find the error every time. We lost because of a breakdown in our play."

The game ended with another Trojan breakaway touchdown, this time by Fullbright, bringing Mountain View's record to 1-2.

As a lower, El Camino Division team, the Spartans have faced only upper, De Anza Division teams during the pre-season: San Mateo, Palo Alto and Milpitas. Even with twelve returning starters and confidence about their chances for success, they have been undermanned in terms of size and athletic ability.

"We traditionally play one of the more difficult schedules of the El Camino Division," said Navarro. "As a result, we like to think we get better. But getting beat up hurts you mentally. Did we get physically tougher or did we get mentally down?"

That question will be addressd when Mountain View begins league play on Oct. 1 against Santa Clara at home.

E-mail Colleen Corcoran at sports@mv-voice.com

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