CCS champions! Stunning first half powers Los Gatos to Division I title game rout of rival Wilcox
CCS Division I championship: Jaylen Thomas scores four touchdowns as Los Gatos routs Wilcox: “That’s the best half of football I’ve seen in all my years of coaching”
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Los Gatos would easily defeat Wilcox in a matchup between two premier public schools for the Central Coast Section Division I championship.
Instead, the Wildcats buried the Chargers by the middle of the second quarter with one Jaylen Thomas touchdown after another in a 49-14 victory at San Jose City College on Friday night.
“Oh my goodness, we couldn’t have asked for a better championship game,” he said. “The two best public schools in the area… all of our alumni are coming.” It’s a huge rivalry, unrivaled for how important this game was for us.”
Los Gatos led 42-7 at the half and had a running clock in the fourth quarter of the program’s 16th section title. Mark Krail didn’t mince words when describing the first 24 minutes of action.
“That’s the best half of football I’ve ever seen in all my years of coaching,” the Los Gatos coach said after winning his third section title with the school, having won the previous two in 2013 and 2019.
By halftime, Thomas had run for a three-yard touchdown, caught a two-yard touchdown, returned a kickoff 82 yards to the house, and hauled in a 19-yard jump ball in the end zone.
Los Gatos won 24-21 in the final minute of the regular season after Boxer Kopcsak-Yeung ran for the winning score and Thomas clinched it with an interception.
Los Gatos relied on those two players once more, along with senior quarterback A.J Minyard, to build an insurmountable lead.
Wilcox botched a punt after Thomas scored the game’s first touchdown, giving the Wildcats the ball inside the five-yard line. Minyard, who completed 8 of 9 passes for 140 yards, made it 14-0 with a short touchdown pass to Thomas midway through the first quarter.
Wilcox fumbled the ball on its next possession, allowing Kopcsak-Yeung to run for a 16-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead behind strong blocks from offensive linemen Matthew Ludeman and George Charles.
“That’s the best thing ever, when your defense shows up like that,” Kopcsak-Yeung said after gaining 114 yards and scoring three times.
Aside from Tyson Bonilla’s 65-yard touchdown run on the next drive, the Chargers, who are usually methodical, could do very little right.
Los Gatos senior Scott Garwood jumped on a forced fumble to end one drive. Another Wilcox drive deep into Wildcat territory was thwarted on fourth down when defender Lyndon Bailey knifed into the backfield and tackled the ball carrier for a loss.
“It’s just one of those days where everything went wrong for us,” said Wilcox coach Paul Rosa.
On Los Gatos’ next three possessions, Thomas’s return touchdown, Kopcsak-Yeung’s 11-yard scoring run, and Minyard’s 19-yard jump ball to Thomas made the second half a formality.
It was a far cry from Los Gatos’ previous two playoff games, in which it outscored Archbishop Riordan 14-0 in the second half of a 28-14 first-round victory. Krail defeated St. Ignatius 21-17 in the second round by going for it on fourth down twice in the second half.
Wilcox’s veer ran for over 350 yards during Friday’s rout, with Bonilla leading the team with 111. It was the Chargers’ second loss in a row, as they were defeated 63-27 by Serra in the Open Division title game after defeating St. Francis 52-28 in the first round.
Wilcox advanced to the Division I championship game as the Open runner-up.
“I felt that early in the week, like we had just lost our mojo a little bit, and I don’t know if it was because of that game or because of the length of the season,” Rosa told ESPN.
Los Gatos will next compete in a regional tournament. The Wildcats are ready to play anyone, but a rematch with Pittsburg, one of the two teams that defeated them during the regular season, would be ideal.
“I hope we get them, and that would be huge,” Thomas said. “We can get our get-back.”
jLos Gatos quarterback AJ Minyard #16 celebrates with teammates after a 49-14 victory over Wilcox and the CCS Division I high school football championship at City College in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
