For the first three games in El Camino Division play the Gunn Football team played near flawless ball as they rolled to a 3-0 record while outscoring their opponents 131-16. So dominant in league play some people said it wasn’t if Gunn would win their next league game, but how much would they win by?
Well, Los Altos had different ideas.
Coming in as prohibitive underdogs, the Eagles came out in their Homecoming game with a great defensive game plan and were aided by five Titan turnovers that either led to all their points or snuffed out Gunn’s last opportunity for the win.
“We really shot ourselves in the foot today,” said a disappointed Gunn Head Coach Bob Sykes after the game. “We really gave it away, but you have to give credit to Los Altos. They came out and played hard and took advantage of their opportunities.”
After the game the Titan players seemed more stunned than angered as they literally wondered what happened as a fumble at the goal line with two minutes to go as it looked like they were going to go in for the winning score sealed the final nail in the Titan’s coffin on this grisly game that will go down as the Titans own “Halloween Nightmare.”
The final fumble came after Gunn took advantage of the only Los Altos mishap of the game.
With 3:57 left, the Titans stopped Los Altos after Gunn closed the score to 23-21 on Anthony Cannon’s 25 yard touchdown pass to Jon Zeglin. The Eagles were forced to punt and a bad snap resulted in Gunn getting the ball at Los Altos’ three yard line.
On the first down Maceo Parks went around the right side and looked he might have scored, but the referee marked his knee down and put the ball a foot from the goal line.
On second down Cannon snuck in for the apparent touchdown, but Gunn had a five yard illegal motion penalty that put the ball on the six. On the next play Parks carried the ball around the right side and was pushing toward the goal line, but right before he crossed the goal, the ball popped out and Los Altos recovered. The Eagles then got a touchback and ran out the clock for the win.
For the Titans, though, the last fumble should not have made the difference it was two previous fumbles and two interceptions that doomed them.
Gunn scored on a two yard touchdown run on their opening drive on a two yard run by Josh Jackson and were at it again after stopping Los Altos for the second time on a three and out. Gunn drove to Los Altos’ 32 and had first and 10, but on a roll out play Cannon lost the ball off his hip and the Eagles recovered.
For the next 10 minutes, Gunn had what they have done to others, happen to them. After going eight straight quarters without a touchdown, the Titans gave up three scoring runs in the second quarter by Mike Lopez of five, four and five yards as each followed a Titan turnover.
Gunn found itself trailing 20-7 at half and after going three and out on their opening drive of the second half, things looked bleak when on the next Titan possession, the first two plays netted zero yards and Gunn faced third and 10 from their own 20. The next play the star of the game for the Titans, sophomore Casey Jackson, carried 53 yards on a draw. Casey had a great game as he carried 94 yards on just five carries. Casey played a big role in the game as Josh Jackson had to leave the game with an injury in the second quarter.
Casey’s run rejuvenated Gunn as four plays later Parks scored from one yard out to cut the score to 20-14 with 4:46 to go in the third.
The next time Gunn got the ball back disaster struck again as Cannon was intercepted and Los Altos scored a field goal for what turned out to be the winning margin.
Besides the turnovers, the key for this game was how Los Altos limited Gunn’s big play attack. In their last game against Fremont the Titans had six plays of 20 yards or more and two returns for touchdowns. Against Los Alto Gunn could only managed two plays of 20 yards or more and their longest return was a 37 yard kickoff return by Parks after the Los Altos field goal. Los Altos masterfully kicked the ball away from Parks and Gunn faced long drives each time they got the ball.
Gunn now falls to 3-1 in league play and trails 4-1 Los Altos for first place in the El Camino Division. Next up for Gunn will be Santa Clara, a team that last year rallied from 19 down to defeat Gunn 29-19.
“We have to come back and play hard and eliminate mistakes,” said Sykes. “Last week Santa Clara almost beat Los Altos and our guys could face another loss if we don’t execute well.”
