Paly, Gunn football rivalry more than that Paly, Gunn football rivalry more than that (September 21, 2005)

Laurence household gets involved in this week's grudge game

by Keith Peters

It will be more than just Palo Alto against Gunn when the crosstown rivals meet in a nonleague football game on Friday on the Titans' field at 3:15 p.m.

It will be Laurence against Laurence, in a manner of speaking.

On one side of the field will be Gunn junior quarterback Tucker Laurence. On the other (actually in the stands) will be his parents, Scott and Kathie. Scott is the principal at Paly and Kathie teaches AP psychology there. Before moving to Paly, Scott was Gunn's principal.

That should make for some interesting conversations at the dinner table this week in the Laurence household.

Both teams come into the game with 1-1 records. Paly is coming off a 31-20 loss to visiting Burlingame last Friday while Gunn is rolling following its 35-21 victory at Carlmont. Paly beat the Scots a week earlier, 33-7.

Laurence also is coming off a career day. Running out of the spread option, Laurence rushed for 169 yards on 18 carries. He also scored on runs of 16 and 10 yards as the Titans scored 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

Earlier, Stephan Campbell scooped up an attempted field goal by Carlmont that was blocked and returned it 86 yards for a TD just before the half.

Gunn gained a season-high 258 rushing yards - Cory Babbington added 94 -- while allowing 206. Palo Alto was held to a season-low 44 rushing yards while allowing 257. Laurence, however, will have to balance his offense with more than the 19 passing yards he had against Carlmont, if the Titans are going to have a shot at the Vikings.

While Laurence accounted for 15 points, Sacred Heart Prep quarterback Pat Coffey was equally responsible for this team's 49-31 nonleague triumph over host Mills. Coffey completed 10 of 13 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns, ran for two more and intercepted a pass and returned it 39 yards to finish the scoring.

The Gators (2-1) rushed for 236 yards as Anthony Riesch gained 113 and finished with 493 total yards.

Menlo (1-1) rebounded from a season-opening loss to SHP by knocking off visiting Mountain View of the SCVAL De Anza Division, 21-7, Saturday. Andy Gregg threw for 176 yards and three touchdowns (to Matt Burke, James Walker and Anthony Bouvier) to spark the Knights.

Girls water polo

The 11th annual Amanda MacDonald Invitational will feature the top teams in the CCS beginning Friday at Menlo College and Sacred Heart Prep.

Host Menlo (5-3), the defending CCS champion, will open Friday against Leland at 1 p.m., with Palo Alto (6-3) taking on Burlingame at 1:55 p.m. At SHP, the Gators (3-1) play Soquel at 2 p.m., with Menlo-Atherton (4-1) meeting Castilleja (3-8) at 2:50 p.m.

The championship match will be Saturday at 4 p.m. at Menlo.

Based on last week's annual St. Francis Invitational, Sacred Heart Prep is the logical favorite. The Gators upended Menlo in the third-place match, 6-2, after both teams had fallen in the semifinals - Menlo to eventual champion Rio Americano (8-6) and SHP to runnerup Davis (7-6).

Palo Alto took fifth with a very big 9-7 victory over St. Francis.

SHP senior Melissa Mordell scored three goals against Menlo and finished with seven for the tourney while sophomore Pallavi Menon added two of her team-high nine that she had in the four matches. Sophomore Lindsay Dorst, a transfer from Menlo-Atherton, had 15 saves in goal.

Menlo scored 32 goals in its first two matches before running into Rio Americano. Palo Alto thrust itself into the CCS picture with its 7-6 loss to Rio American and two-goal win over the host Lancers.

"The highlight was definitely the game against St. Francis," said Paly coach Theo Ludwick, who singled out Tanya Wilcox for her 11 goals and 10 steals while Polly Ziegler had 23 saves and allowed only 11 goals in the cage.

Girls tennis

Sacred Heart Prep's Sam Rosenkrans and Haley Hemm remained undefeated in singles play this season, but the Gators still weren't able to defeat Menlo for the first time in school history while suffering a 4-3 nonleague loss last Friday.

The Gators were coming off a 4-3 victory over Mitty a few days earlier and pushed Menlo to the limit as Rosenkrans topped Sarah Hoffman and Hemm disposed of Marjorie Adams.

The match came down to No. 4 singles where Maggie Brezinski of SHP held a second-set lead over Ashley Carlisle, before Carlisle clinched the victory, 7-5, 6-4.

Menlo improved to 8-3 while Sacred Heart fell to 5-4.

Boys soccer

Michael McMahon scored two goals to pace Sacred Heart Prep (5-3) to a 4-0 blanking of visiting Crystal Springs.

Girls volleyball

Castilleja (9-3) struggled a bit during a 3-2 performance at the always-tough Presentation Tournament last weekend. The Gators lost to eventual runnerup Los Gatos and host Presentation.

"Our low point was our loss to Presentation, who decided to play one of their best games against us that day," said Castilleja coach Tracie Hubbard. "Our high point was actually when we lost to Los Gatos (25-15, 25-19). We played better than we had all day. Prior to that match, I think the team thought they could not play Los Gatos and win. Now, they know they can."

Menlo (5-9) finished 11th in the tournament as Natalie Sandman, Nicole Curatola and Abby Whelan led the Knights.

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