By Pete Borello
A bitter beginning for Eagles
The start was stellar. The finish was fine. Everything in between was downright ugly for Los Altos High, which opened its football season with a 35-12 loss to visiting Gunn last Thursday.
It’s doubtful the Eagles could have imagined a better start to the 2002 campaign, as Royce Hurd returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. The Los Altos sideline celebrated with screams of approval and helmet slaps, unfazed by Mike Calonica’s missed extra point.
The Eagles and their sparse home crowd wouldn’t have anything more to celebrate until the game’s final minute. That’s when Los Altos capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback Ben Driscoll.
Prior to the drive, Los Altos made a barrage of blunders and eerily resembled the team that went 0-9 a year ago. While the lackluster running game (43 yards on 23 carries) and inability to produce first downs (seven in all) certainly hurt the Eagles, those things didn’t completely ruin their chances of upsetting an upper-division team.
Penalties and poor pass coverage led to Los Altos’ downfall.
The Eagles gave up 90 yards on nine penalties, including three costly personal fouls in the third quarter.
“That was just stupid,” Los Altos head coach Ken Green said. “That behavior is absolutely stupid.”
Two of the personal fouls, both credited to Ryan Sherbino for illegally engaging a Gunn player, aided the Titans’ opening drive of the half. Three plays after being flagged on the kickoff, which allowed Gunn to start on its 35-yard-line, Sherbino handed the visitors another 15 yards.
On the next down, Titans quarterback Doug Campbell connected with receiver Phil Ghilarducci for a 46-yard touchdown. Keith Schuman’s extra point provided Gunn with a commanding 21-6 advantage.
The Eagles did an admirable job containing Gunn’s ground game (72 yards on 19 carries), but couldn’t find a way to stop its aerial attack.
Campbell completed nine of his 16 passes for 248 yards and tossed three touchdown strikes. Five of his completions went to Ghilarducci, a two-time all-league selection, who scored twice and racked up 140 yards. The 6-foot-4 senior often made Los Altos pay for single coverage, starting with a 50-yard catch-and-run against cornerback Donnie Ecker that accounted for Gunn’s first touchdown.
“He’s a good receiver,” Green said of Ghilarducci, “but if you double him, they flood the zone and hit the backs in the flat.”
That’s exactly how Gunn scored its second touchdown late in the initial quarter.
Campbell found Sam Doniach open in the left flat and the running back raced 25 yards down the sideline, fending off a defender at the goal line.
Up 14-6 after Schuman’s extra point, the Titans were quickly making Hurd’s touchdown return seem inconsequential.
“After they returned that kick, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be just like last year,” said Gunn head coach Sam Picture, recalling Gunn’s 2-8 season. “But I didn’t jump on (my players). I wanted to see if they’d bounce back and they did.”
Hurd’s highlight appeared to have the opposite effect on Los Altos. Instead of building on it, the pumped-up Eagles steadily deflated.
“We were up (emotionally) and then we were down - we need to level out,” said Green, in his third year as coach. “It was a little like a roller coaster.”
The Eagles finished with 127 fewer yards (320 to 193) than the Titans and went 0-for-3 on fourth-down conversions.
Green did praise the play of quarterback Shaun Girouard, who was 13-of-27 passing for 150 yards despite being under constant pressure from Gunn. Girouard’s favorite target was receiver Ecker, who had five grabs for 48 yards.
Los Altos will try to rebound Saturday when it hosts Sacred Heart Prep at 1:30 p.m.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Green said. “The talent is there; it’s just a matter of them believing in themselves.”
The Titans, meanwhile, will face Homestead at 7:30 p.m., Friday, at Fremont (Sunnyvale).
The host Mustangs (1-0) are considered by many to be the team to beat in the SCVAL El Camino Division and are eager to prove they belong in the upper SCVAL De Anza Division with the likes of Gunn.
“That will be a real gauge of where we are,” Picture said. “People ask me if we’re good, and I tell them I won’t know where we stand until after the Homestead game.”
