After having their streak of four straight league titles snapped last season, the Los Gatos Wildcats are back on top in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division with one week remaining in the regular season.
The Wildcats (4-0 PAL Bay, 6-3 overall) rolled to a 56-13 home win Thursday night over Menlo-Atherton to clinch no less than a co-championship in the Bay Division. Only Wilcox is mathematically capable of catching Los Gatos in Week 10, but the Wildcats defeated the Chargers in the season.
Wilcox remained a game behind Los Gatos after Menlo forfeited its game this week because of a lack of healthy players.
An outright Bay crown is essentially a formality, however, as Los Gatos closes out its regular-season slate hosting Palo Alto, a team that was still winless entering play Friday.
The Bears (2-2, 3-6) fell behind 28-0 as Los Gatos rode scoring runs of 25 and 61 yards by Grayson Doslak. After M-A got on the board with three minutes to go in the second half on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Teddy Dacey to Gio Torres, the Wildcats got the score back before the half on Doslak’s third TD of the game, a 25-yard scoring jaunt.
Dacey finished with two touchdown passes, capping the night with a 45-yard strike to Zachary Sokol with less than a minute to play in the game.
Los Gatos has now won two PAL Bay Division titles since the PAL merged with the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League prior to the 2023 season. The Wildcats previously won three straight SCVAL De Anza Division titles form 2020-22.
Sophomore running back TJ Johnson enjoyed a breakout game, carrying four times for 114 yards, while junior Lukas Fitzgerald rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead the Bearcats (3-1 PAL Ocean, 6-3 overall) to victory at Capuchino. Johnson entered the night with 56 career rushing yards before recording the career high in his third game as a varsity running back.
San Mateo gained 402 yards of offense, including 332 rushing yards. Fitzgerald totaled 18 carries 86 yards, while senior Cameron Barry broke a 78-yard run to finish with two carries for 83 yards. Senior running back Jovani Hernandez Cruz also rushed for a score, while Fitzgerald used the Bearcats’ only pass attempt of the game to hit senior Sergio Oliveras for a 70-yard TD.
Cap (1-3, 2-7) has now been shut out twice this season, previously falling 49-0 to Wilcox of the upper PAL Bay Division in non-league play.
Mills (1-5 PAL Lake, 2-7 overall) dropped its fifth straight, falling at home to MacDonald-San Jose (5-1, 8-1).
With the win, MacDonald enters play Friday still mathematically alive in the race for a Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division title. First-place Jefferson defeated the Condors earlier in the season, and can clinch no less than a co-championship Friday against winless Cupertino. If the Grizzlies, who close the regular season next week against Mills, fail to clinch the Lake Division outright, they still hold the hammer by virtue of their win over MacDonald.
Mills got into the end zone twice against the Condors. Senior running back Valentino Maza totaled 14 carries for 92 yards and a score, while sophomore quarterback Brian Lourenco was 5-of-17 passing for 135 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Junior receiver Kosta Jada totaled two catches for 111 yards and a TD.
Senior quarterback Joey Donati gained 259 total yards of offense as the PAL El Camino Division champion Tigers (5-0 PAL El Camino, 7-2 overall) finished out an undefeated league season with the win at Gunn-Palo Alto (0-4, 2-7). Donati was 10-of-24 passing for 137 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The senior added seven carries for a career-high 122 yards. Senior running back Austin Snead added 14 carries for 62 yards and a TD.
Half Moon Bay (3-2 PAL Ocean, 6-3 overall) won its second straight 35-13 at home over Hillsdale (1-3, 3-6).
Sequoia (3-2 PAL Ocean, 5-4 overall) got back in the win column with a 25-7 home victory over Milpitas (1-3, 4-5).
El Camino (4-3 PAL Lake, 5-4) clinched at least a .500 overall record for the first time since 2013 with a 28-25 victory at Monta Vista-Cupertino (1-5, 3-6).
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