Few football programs in Northern California have a trophy case as crowded as Los Gatos, which boasts 16 section titles and a slew of league championships.
After winning its first regional title last week, It now has a chance to add the 2-A state crown to the collection on Saturday night against Central Valley Christian-Visalia at Pasadena City College.
In recent seasons, it seemed as if state hardware, much less a 16th section title, would continue to elude the Wildcats.
In each of the past two years, Los Gatos had seen stellar regular seasons turn into heartbreaking first-round playoff defeats.
The Wildcats lost on a last-minute Bellarmine pick-six in 2021 and on a game-winning two-point conversion in overtime against Archbishop Mitty last season.
Los Gatos was relegated to watching other teams go on deep runs.
“You always think about that as a coach, you know, how far could we go and what would it be about,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said.
Krail doesn’t call those seasons disappointments, always emphasizing that postseason results isn’t how his program defines success.
“Our goal is always to win our league championship, and everything from there is just kind of icing on the cake, so to speak,“ Krail said.
If that’s the case, then the past few weeks have been so, so sweet for the Wildcats, who defeated Archbishop Riordan in the first round of the section playoffs to exorcize its recent playoff demons against West Catholic Athletic League opponents.
The teams were tied 14-14 at halftime. But instead of enduring another gutting crunch-time loss, the South Bay program outscored the Crusaders 14-0 after halftime to secure the victory.
“We just broke the curse,” said running back Boxer Kopcsak-Yeung, who has rushed for 25 touchdowns this season.
Suddenly, the team that couldn’t catch a break over the past two postseasons was finding a way to win tight games.
“I think there was a sense of relief, winning that first game against a really good Riordan team,” Krail said.
Los Gatos took down St. Ignatius 21-17 as the loose and confident visitors clinched the game with a eight-minute game-ending drive.
Section championship win No. 16 was an extended display of Jaylen Thomas’ many talents, the senior receiver/defensive back/kicker scoring four touchdowns three different ways in a stunning 49-14 rout of rival Wilcox.
Thomas, who led the team with 13 receiving touchdowns and hauled in 1,044 yards through the air, also played a big role in the 14-6 NorCal victory against El Cerrito and will be vitally important against Central Valley Christian.
“You can’t ask for a better adrenaline rush to do everything, always be in the action and never come off the field,” Thomas said on Saturday.
Off the field, Los Gatos exudes a sense of calm. It starts with its coach, who succinctly summed up how the Wildcats view their historic trip to Pasadena City College for a state title game.
“it’s been a nice little run we’ve been on,” Krail said.