Central Coast Section: Fifth-ranked Los Gatos knocks No. 3 Wilcox from unbeaten ranks, 28-7

Jake Boyd passed and ran for a touchdown and Will Brennan caught two long TD passes leading host Los Gatos (6-2, 4-0) to a 28-7 win over arch-rival and previously unbeaten Wilcox-Santa Clara to clinch the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League/PAL title.

Boyd had a 2-yard touchdown run, then completed a 74-yard touchdown bomb to Brennan, giving the Wildcats a 21-7 lead in the middle of the third.

Then Los Gatos used a bit of trickery to knock Wilcox out as Boyd handed to Jaylen Thomas who fired a 73-yard TD pass to Brennan with a minute left in the third, making it 28-7.

Wilcox (7-1, 3-1), which had outscored opponents 266-97, managed just a 1-yard touchdown run by Elijah Walker with one minute left in the first quarter. That tied the game at 7-7 after Los Gatos running back Amiliano Mejia scored the game's first TD on a 3-yard run midway through the first.

Last season, Los Gatos went 10-0 in the regular season, but lost in the first round of the section's highest bracket.

Wilcox, meanwhile, placed second in the SCVAL and was placed in the D2 bracket, which it won and moved all the way to the state 2-AA finals.

This week, Wilcox coach Paul Rosa denounced the current competitive equity model, which is implemented now by almost all of the state's 10 sections. After Friday's loss his team may have a better shot at winning a state title, albeit not at the highest level.

“Realistically and honestly, I don’t like it (the competitive equity model),” Rosa said. “I don’t think losing should help you in any system. It hurts me as a competitor that if we lose, it helps.

“Last year, Los Gatos was the best team in our league. We lost to them. But they had to go to the top division (where it lost in the first round to Bellarmine) and we were in a more advantageous position and made the most of it. In previous years, it’s gone the other way around.

“Ultimately I don’t think A league teams should drop down.”

It's possible even as a second-place team the Chargers will qualify for a Division I spot. It has wins over Valley Christian and Menlo-Atherton.