Serra sets sights on Los Gatos rematch

No. 2-seed Serra (7-5) is coming off a 33-13 loss to Riordan in last week’s CCS Open Division finals. With the format of the hybrid Open Division/Division I bracket, the Padres fall to the Division I title game, where they will face the same Los Gatos team that ended their 2024 season in the first round of the CCS Open Division playoffs.

“For me, the motivation for this week is from losing to Los Gatos last year,” Serra senior Jace Cannon said. “That’s what really is the chip on my shoulder. Because after we lost to them, that really hurt. They ended our season last year, and I’ve always been looking forward to getting back at them any way.”

No. 3 Los Gatos (9-3) triumphed over Serra 14-7 last season, dropping head coach Patrick Walsh’s career record against the Wildcats to 0-2 all-time.

“If anything, they’re better than last year,” Walsh said. “And that’s because a lot of the guys that were on the team last year are coming back. Very senior-heavy team. They play with great vigor. And so it’s a very, very good football team.”

Walsh’s previous loss to Los Gatos came in 2014 in what would be an infamous postseason for Serra.

With the Padres coming off their first-ever CCS Open Division championship in 2013, the CCS instituted a short-lived CCS Open Division consolation bracket in 2014. The Padres were knocked into said consolation bracket with a 28-0 loss to Los Gatos in the opening round.

“It seemed like that was a very pivotal moment for our program,” Patrick Walsh said. “It was very painful. I think it’s important for me and for our program to teach it’s OK to feel pain. Do you learn from the pain or do you kind of let it shroud you in misery when it shuts you down?”

Two weeks later, after Serra knocked off Palma 28-14 in the consolation semifinals, Walsh announced the Padres would not play in the consolation finals by forfeiting their game against Milpitas, citing concerns over the health of his players playing in a game of little consequence.

Although the Padres were suspended from the CCS postseason in 2015 by virtue of the forfeit, they would return in 2016 to begin the greatest CCS dynasty in program history, winning section titles in six of the next seven years, including a CIF Nor Cal championships in 2016, ’17 and ’19, a CIF Division 2-AA state championship in 2017, and three straight appearances in the CIF Open Division championship game from 2021-23.

“We learned from that,” Patrick Walsh said. “That 2015 team had no playoffs, came back, played their tails off. They were always playing for something ... and then of course 2016, ’17, ’19, we’ve had a lot of success since that forfeit.”

The Padres now have a chance to bounce back from last week’s loss in the CCS Open finals, their second loss to Riordan in three weeks. The Crusaders also downed Serra 42-35 in the regular-season finale to claim the West Catholic Athletic League championship.

It was a rough night for Serra quarterback William Orr, who became the first freshman to start under center for the Padres in a playoff game. The excellent performance of Riordan’s secondary limited Serra to 227 yards of offense, including 122 passing yards.

“What they did a great job of in that game is, in the first game they ran a lot of man coverage, and the second game they did not,” Walsh said. “So, they mixed up the coverage, which is a smart thing to do when playing a quarterback who has played four games as a starter, or something like that.”

Serra relies on a young complement of receivers as well. Cannon at tight end, and slot Charlie Walsh are both juniors, and are neck-and-neck for the team lead in receiving yards. As a blocker, though, Cannon has been critical to Serra’s rushing game, with the Padres totaling 2,186 ground yards this year.

“We’ve kind of been a run-first offense, and he’s absolutely massive in the run game,” Charlie Walsh said. “He moves bodies. ... He’s been doing a great job. So, when we pass the ball — and he attracts a lot of attention because of his size — so that really opens up our outside receivers, me, Brody Smith and Matteo Gambelin, and whatnot. When you finally get him the ball ... he’s deadly dangerous.”

“We’ve always been known as a running team, really,” Cannon said. “I take pride in blocking. I don’t have any problem with blocking. I love blocking. We also pass the ball a good amount too. I feel like last year we didn’t pass it as much as a lot of people thought we would. But this year we’re starting to open it up a lot more. And, so I’m happy with that. I love it. I’m happy with doing both.”

Los Gatos boasts a balanced offense that is knocking on the door of 5,000 total yards this season. If the Wildcats surpass the benchmark against Serra — they are currently sitting at 4,672 yards — it will bode well for them. The same goes for running back Grayson Doslak and the 1,000-yard rushing plateau. The senior leads Los Gatos with 910 ground yards this year.

In last year’s CCS playoff win over Serra, Doslak enjoyed the biggest game of his varsity career to that point, with 148 yards on 20 carries.

Head coach Mark Krail is 2-0 all-time against Serra, having run the program since 2013.

“Coach Krail does a great job,” Patrick Walsh said. “He’s a great football coach. He’s a great man, and he’s obviously running a great program down there.”

Serra is 1-2 against Los Gatos all-time, having defeated the Wildcats 21-7 in the opening round of the CCS playoffs in 1990.

Kickoff Friday at Jaguar Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.