Sports Wrap Sports Wrap (October 21, 2005)

Eagles football falls to Paly

Los Altos knew it faced an uphill battle in playing De Anza Division co-leader Palo Alto on the road. Though the Eagles saw their four-game winning streak end in a 35-14 defeat on Oct. 14, they were heartened to find that they could more than match up with an upper-division program.

Facing a team that had shut out its previous two opponents, Los Altos (4-2, 2-0 El Camino) found success by using its smash-mouth ground attack to set up quarterback Richard Rullo's passing game. A pair of Rullo-to-Evan Nelson passes resulted in touchdowns and kept the Eagles even with the powerful Vikings at 14-14 early in the third quarter in this non-league contest.

Ultimately, Palo Alto (5-1, 2-0 De Anza) proved too much for the inexperienced Eagles, but Los Altos now knows that its game is enough to give even a top program a true test.

Returning to league competition, the Eagles visit Fremont on Oct. 21 in a battle to remain in first place in the El Camino Division. The winner will likely challenge Santa Clara for the lower division title and a berth in the CCS playoffs.

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With less than two weeks remaining before the De Anza Division playoffs, Los Altos hopes to begin peaking after an up-and-down season.

With a 2-2 league record going into a game against division-leading Palo Alto on Oct. 19 (the result was not available before the Voice went to press), the Eagles are unsure what to expect when they jump in the pool.

Despite trailing Gunn and Los Gatos in the upper-division standings, Los Altos (15-9 overall) defeated both teams en route to a recent third-place finish at the Palo Alto Invitational. The Eagles played tough against Palo Alto in two early-season meetings, losing 9-7 and 3-2, but have yet to break through with the elusive big win.

With the league playoffs set to begin on Nov. 3 and the section playoffs to follow, the Los Altos squad hopes to quickly gather itself and not jeopardize a CCS semifinal appearance -- a spot the Eagles have earned in seven of the past eight seasons.

Sports Shorts

Mountain View's football team took all of its aggression from its four-game losing streak out on Homestead, defeating the host Mustangs 48-34 on Oct. 14. Senior Shane Bounos scored 3 touchdowns in leading the Spartans (2-4 overall) to their first win since a season-opening defeat of Gunn. Mountain View, 1-2 in its first year back in the De Anza Division, hosts Milpitas on Oct. 21. ... St. Francis' football team remained undefeated with a 19-7 victory over visiting Serra on Oct. 14, the 33rd consecutive time the Lancers have defeated their Peninsula rival. With the victory, the Lancers remain in a three-way tie for first place in the WCAL with Bellarmine and Valley Christian. The Lancers (7-0, 3-0 WCAL) host Bellarmine in their homecoming game on Oct. 21.
-- Scott Campbell

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