Photos

By Keith Peters
Palo Alto Online

Gunn's run toward a possible football championship in the SCVAL El Camino Division was stopped short by five plays on Saturday, all by the Titans and all of them were costly. The result was a 23-21 loss to host Los Altos in its homecoming game, giving the Eagles reason to celebrate and the Titans reason to shake their heads.

All Gunn (3-1, 5-3) needed to do to win its first league title since 1971 was to win its final three games. All the Titans had to do was take care of the ball and not hurt themselves with mistakes. That didn't happen Saturday as the Eagles (4-1, 5-3) took advantage to possibly ruin Gunn's season.

"We made too many mistakes," said Gunn coach Bob Sykes. "Mistake after mistake after mistake. "You just can't make mistakes and win games."

After Gunn had scored on its first possession with Josh Jackson running in from three yards, Los Altos recovered a fumble by Gunn quarterback Anthony Cannon and scored 10 plays later. Four plays following the kickoff, Cannon threw an interception. Six plays later, LA's Mike Lopez scored the second of his three TDs for a 13-7 lead. Three plays after the next kickoff, Cannon fumbled a handoff and LA recovered. Four plays later it was Lopez scoring again for a 20-7 halftime lead.

Gunn appeared to settle down in the third quarter, finally getting a spark on Casey Jackson's 54-yard run to LA's 27. Maceo Parks finally ran it in from the 1-yard line for a 20-14 game. Gunn then held on downs, but on its second play, Cannon threw his second interception. Four plays later, Alfredo Marin kicked a 29-yard field goal that would provide the eventual winning points.

Gunn bounced back from that and scored in eight plays, with Cannon hitting Jon Zeglin on a 25-yard scoring play to make it a 23-21 game with 5:43 still to play. The Titans held Los Altos on downs and forced a punt, which went high and through the kicker's hands. Gunn's Tyler Ziebelman recovered at the Los Alto 4 and Gunn looked to have victory all but locked up.

Parks took it down to the 1-yard, nearly getting into the end zone. Cannon then appeared to get an apparent TD, but it was called back by a penalty. From the 6, Parks bulled his way through the Los Altos line before fumbling the ball away with the Eagles' Ray Mataele recovering for a touchback. Nine running plays later by Los Altos and Gunn's outright championship was gone.

"We lost the game today because of mental breakdowns," said Sykes, who told his team after the game that they came in overconfident. "We just didn't execute like we have all season.

"We really shot ourselves in the foot today. 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."

Los Altos has only one league game left against Monta Vista (3-1) next Friday at Foothill College, while Gunn has two winnable games left at Santa Clara and home against Cupertino. Both teams should finish 5-1 in league, and could wind up sharing the league crown with Fremont, which handed LA its only league loss. Gunn manhandled Fremont last week, 42-2.

At that point, a tiebreaker will be needed to decide which of the three teams – should they all finish tied for first – gets the league's automatic berth into the Central Coast Section playoffs. Should Gunn not get that automatic berth, it's still possible for the Titans to get an at-large bid. They would need, of course, to win their final two games. And, that means no more mistakes.

SCVAL El Camino Division
Gunn 7 7 0 7 – 21
Los Altos 0 20 0 3 – 23
Gunn – J. Jackson 3 run (Blanchette kick)
LA – Lopez 5 run (kick failed)
LA – Lopez 4 run (Marin good)
LA – Lopez 5 run (Marin good)
G – Parks 1 run (Blanchette kick)
LA – FG Marin 29
Gunn – Zeglin 25 pass from Cannon (Blanchette kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Gunn, C. Jackson 6-90, Parks 9-35, Campbell 1-14, J. Jackson 3-12, Zeglin 1-4, Godoy 1-(minus 1), Cannon 9-(minus 19). Los Altos, Lopez 25-120, Abramo 4-26, Stout 2-3, Cape 3-(minus 2), Vanneman 4-(minus 10). Totals: Gunn 30-135; Los Altos 38-137.
PASSING: Gunn, Cannon 10-20-2-131. Los Altos, Vanneman 10-18-0-105.
RECEIVING: Gunn, Ziebelman 4-41, Campbell 2-28, J. Jackson 2-23, Zeglin 1-25, Dean 1-14. Los Altos, Cape 3-39, Lopez 3-11, Abousamra 1-29, Aycott 1-18, Young 1-5, Abramo 1-3. Totals: Gunn 10-131; Los Altos 10-105.
Records: Gunn 3-1 (5-3); Los Altos 4-1 (5-3).