Bill's Aviation Log

Lined up against Awalt, who were defending CCS Champions. We were flat this game and lost 13-7.

Mateo rears back to throw the ball. Like most high school teams [and college and pro at the time], we were mostly a running team. Mateo would throw the ball maybe ten times a game.

Mountain View cheerleaders go wild!

Proof that I was on the team! #54, center of picture. Notice the clean pants.

QB Dennis Mateo scrambles around the left side.

Left tacke Joe Zigulus, biggest player on the team, hurdles a Leland player.

Victorious! Final score: 14 -8. The Leland player's stance on the right says it all.

Game films were always in black and white and are lost to history. But the CCS Championship game was such a special event for Mountain View that it was filmed in color. And it was saved over the years. It has even been uploaded to YouTube. Check it out.

Game Part One: Link

Game Part Two: Link

My sister Susan also did a nice page on the championship season: Link.

One of the Mountain View kickoffs. This was not the opening kickoff, or you'd have seen me at far left. I was always just to the right of the kicker. Anyways, on opening kickoff, I was one of the first down the field, looped around the right side of the blockers, made the tackle, but was knocked out in the process. I didn't come to my senses until sometime in the third quarter! But it was nice to make a contribution.

Center and Linebacker Rich Shaw also kicked extra points and field goals! Here he kicks an extra point against Monta Vista. He was three for three.

Jeff Melenudo, Tony Metcalf, Fred Zobel and Coach Wells look on with the issue still in doubt.

And then it was over. To quote Al Michaels: Do you believe in miracles?

Yes, Mountain View beat mighty Monta Vista. But how did it happen? "The normally razor-sharp Matadors committed an unfathomable eight turnovers on five lost fumbles and three interceptions while Eagle errors totalled only two. 'Mistakes, early and continuously' lamented Mat coach Buck Shore. He had to say no more." -- Ken Luthy

But were turnovers the whole story?

As mentioned before, I missed the actual game as I was concussed on the first play and didn't know where I was until sometime in the third quarter. I watched the game film a few days after the game, and then I watched it a couple of years later after Coach Ryerson generously lent it to my Dad. But basically I had never seen the game. So recently I watched the game film on YouTube, and recorded the results of each play. Some plays like the opening kickoff, and middle-screen, I watched many times. Then I analyzed the data. Yeah, analytics.

I summarized the game the way the TV networks do, by drive. Here is the first half. Mountain View kicked off.

Monta Vista Mountain View

1. 1 play 0 yards Fumble 1. 6 plays 25 yards TD*

2. 4 plays 4 yards Punt 2. 3 plays 7 yards Fumble

3. 8 plays 45 yards TD* 3. 5 plays 21 yards Punt

4. 3 plays 6 yards Punt 4. 10 plays 29 yards Loss on downs

5. 3 plays 2 yards Fumble 5. 6 plays 12 yards Loss on downs+

6. 1 play 0 yards Interception 6. 5 plays 36 yards TD*

7. 4 plays 36 yards TD (long kickoff return & 15 yard penalty)

*scored off turnover

+ missed opportunity

First Half summary: The score at half was 14-13 Mt. View. Both Mountain View touchdowns were based off turnovers. But we failed to capitalize on a third turnover deep in Monta Vista territory, a big missed opportunity. Monta Vista's touchdowns were based off a turnover and then a long kickoff return plus a 15 yard penalty. Neither team had a long scoring drive in the first half. Two things stood out to me: Mt. View could move the ball offensively on Monta Vista and could stop Monta Vista's offense.

And the second half: Monta Vista kicked off.

Mountain View Monta Vista

1. 1 play 0 yards Fumble 1. 4 plays 24 yards FG*

2. 11 plays 71 yards TD 2. 1 play 0 yards Fumble

3. 4 plays 4 yards Loss on downs+ 3. 9 plays 43 yards Fumble (ran back for Mt. View TD)

4. 16 plays 89 yards Loss on downs (meaningless fumble)

4. 4 plays 5 yards Punt 5. 8 plays 48 yards Interception (all passes on drive)

5. 4 plays Kneeldown

Second Half Summary. Mountain View fumbled on their first play after kickoff, but Monta Vista was unable to score and had to settle for a field goal. This still put them ahead 16-14. At this point, many probably thought that the stars were now properly aligned and that Monta Vista would now go on and take control of the game. But Mountain View responded with the only long, sustained drive of the game by either side. The scoring play was a beautifully executed middle screen to Jeff Melenudo who took it 38 yards to the house. Vista coach Buck Shore said "That middle screen, I think perhaps that was a big turning point." Then, learning from the St. Francis game, we completely surprised Monta Vista with a fake extra point two point conversion. Monta Vista fumbled again on their first play but Mountain View was unable to take advantage. Monta Vista finally got a good drive going, but once again fumbled. This time Scott Hamilton picked up the ball and ran it back 56 yards for a touchdown. Monta Vista, now down by two scores, started running trick plays like double-reverses, and drove 89 yards but finally turned the ball over on downs. Their last drive -- all passes since they no longer had enough time to run the ball -- fizzled out with an interception.

Total Game Summary: All Monta Vista's scoring was off turnovers and the long kickoff return/penalty. The bend but not break Mountain View defense prevented them from ever scoring on a long drive.

Monta Vista's six meaningful turnovers cost them three touchdowns. Furthermore, at least four turnovers meant lost Drives. In other words, although Monta Vista technically had 11 total drives in the game, they really only had seven. That was huge.

Mountain View had their share of turnovers and mistakes as well. Two fumbles and the long kickoff return/penalty resulted in two Monta Vista touchdowns and a field goal. But only two lost drives. Mountain View also had 11 total drives but nine opportunity drives. Two more drives than Monta Vista.

Monta Vista's turnovers were very costly, yet Mountain View turnovers and mistakes almost matched Monta Vista's scorewise. Monta Vista had one missed opportunity but Mountain View had two. In my opinion, the real difference in the game was Mountain View's long scoring drive in the third quarter, capped off by the perfectly execued middle-screen, Jeff Melenudo scoring play. But as always, in the final analysis, it was the blocking and tackling down in the trenches, hard running and hard hitting, great coaching, hard work, courage and guts that won the game. Classy Monta Vista coach Buck Shore said after the game "They just came at us and played a hell of a ball game. I give them all the credit in the world."

Victorious coaches Ryerson and Wells carried off the field

Team Captains Joe Zigulas and Alfred Garcia. Both played offense and defense the entire game.

Both Joe Zigulis (Lineman) and Alfred Garcia (Defensive Back) were selected to the San Jose Mercury all-CCS team, as were Jeff Melenudo (Running Back) and Steve Vago (Linebacker).

On that all-CCS team was Santa Teresa quarterback Rich Campbell who would go on to star at Cal and with the Green Bay Packers (1981-1984).

December 16, 2023 - Mountain View High School Varsity Football Season
Football was always my favorite game. I played Little League football for four years in northern Virginia. I went to a huge school in Virginia, and being on the small side and slow, there was no possibility of me playing high school football. But when we moved to Moffett Field my junior year, I got my chance. Mountain View was a small school, and they did not cut. If you wanted to be on the team, you could be on the team. So my junior year I played on the Junior Varsity football team and even started. My problem I was too small -- 145 pounds -- and slow. A bad combination in football. But I could tackle. Coach Harris was the JV head coach. We were not a good team. We won our first game but lost every game after that. There was one guy on our team, a sophmore, who played linebacker. He was great. If he was not on every tackle the defense made, I'd be surprised. His name was Steve Vago. The next year I got to play on the varsity as a senior. This had always been a dream of mine, but I never thought I'd get the chance. That said, I was second string, and we only had two strings. I didn't care. I was just happy to be on the team and experience playing varsity football. For some reason, the coaches decided to let the second stringers man the kick-off team. So I did get to start as a special-teams player. To set the context for the CCS playoffs, here is a quick run through of the regular season. The first game was against non-conference Lincoln. We won 14 to 0. Fremont was our next non-conference game. We lost the game 20 - 12. I recall Fremont scoring a touchdown via a middle-screen. At practice next week Coach Ryerson said "Never let it be said we don't learn from our mistakes." and installed a new middle-screen play for our offense. This new play would figure large in the CCS championship game. The third game was also non-conference against Sunnyvale. The previous year, although the varsity had beaten Sunnyvale in a wild, high-scoring "whale of a game", our JV team has been crushed by Sunnyvale. It left a mark on anyone who played in that game. I don't know if that fear of Sunnyvale carried over to this year's team, but Sunnyvale came out and dominated us in the first half 20-0. At half time the coaches were upset, but I remember Coach Wells saying the reason he was so upset was because we were champions and we were better than this. I wonder how he knew. Even though we didn't score, we played much better the second half and the game ended 20-0. We started the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) games by playing Wilcox, winning 20 - 7. Next was our big rival game agains Los Altos, at Los Altos. Late in the game, down 7-0, we drove down the field where QB Mateo passed 12 yards to Tony Metcalf in the middle of the end zone with 12 seconds to go. Metcalf went to his knees to make sure he caught the ball. We went for two. Melenudo swept around left end but fumbled. Fortunately Guard Leonard Denux fell on the ball in the end zone. We had won 8-7. The next game against Buchser was an easy 43-26 win. Up next were the defending CCS Champions: Awalt . It was an away game. We were flat and ended up losing 13-7. Our homecoming game was against Santa Clara at Foothill Junior College. We won 21 to 6. The next game was a non-conference game against highly-regarded St. Francis at their place. St. Francis would make it to the CCS Playoff semi-finals, beating previously unbeaten Santa Teresa before losing to Monta Vista. The coaches wanted to see what our backup QB Tony Metcalf could do so he played QB the entire game. Our offense was on fire the first half and we jumped out to a 20-0 lead. But St. Francis kept chipping away at it and scored their third touchdown in the 4th quarter. They lined up to kick an extra-point to tie the game, but it was a fake, and they scored the two points. There was still time, and our offense drove down the field but fumbled near the end zone and we lost: 21-20. Strangely enough, even though we lost, I think this was the game which made us realize we were a bona fide good team. And once again, Coach Ryerson said "Never let it be said we don't learn from our mistakes" and installed a fake extra point play. Again, this new play would also figure large in the CCS championship game. Our final regular season game was a conference game against Peterson at home on Wendall Grubb field. A couple of my elementary school friends played for Peterson. Although our kickoff team allowed a touchdown return, we dominated and won easily, winning 31 to 8. At one point, it looked like there was going to be a three-way tie for the SCVAL championship: Los Altos, Awalt and Mountain View. All three schools had one conference loss. But in their last game, Awalt somehow lost to Santa Clara, and by virtue of our head-to-head win against Los Altos, we were conference champion. We would be going to the CCS playoffs with a 6-4 record. 128 high schools with 153,000 students comprise the California Central Coast Section (CCS). It is equivalent to a State Championship, really. ------------------------------------------- The following pictures were all taken by a man named David Hori, MVHS Class of 1967, who was given permission to take photos from the sidelines and chronicled the last key games of the season. Sadly Mr. Hori is no longer with us. His wife, Peggy, MVHS Class of 1968, was just about to throw out the slides when she connected with my sister Susan who recognized their value and obtained them. Here is a nice look at the Mountain View offense. Top row, left to right: David Hopp (RT), Dan Gunnion (RG), Jeff Melenudo (FB), Leoard Denux (LG), Joe Zigulus (LT). Front row, left to right: Steve Stolte (RE), Brent Nakamura (HB), Rich Shaw (C), Alfred Garcia (HB) barely visible, Tony Metcalf (LE). QB Dennis Mateo is facing the ten players. Only Hopp came from last years JV team. Tackles Hopp and Zigulas were the only two players on the team weighing over 200 pounds. Metcalf the end transfered from Monterey High School. Mateo the sophomore quarterback came from last years Freshman team. The remaining offensive players were returning Varsity. An amazing nine of the players played both ways, starting on both offense and defense. Steve Vego, the linebacker who was the best player on my JV team the previous year, only played defense for some reason.

Lined up against Awalt, who were defending CCS Champions. We were flat this game and lost 13-7.

Halfback Alfred Garcia surrounded by Awalt players.

Mateo rears back to throw the ball. Like most high school teams [and college and pro at the time], we were mostly a running team. Mateo would throw the ball maybe ten times a game.

Next we move to pictures from the first CCS playoff game, against Homestead. Homestead only had one loss, against Monta Vista. We scored in each of the first two periods and then held on for the victory: 13-6. Homestead moved within scoring distance four times in the second half, but could not score. Here, Alfred Garcia runs the ball off right tackle. We are wearing our home blue jerseys.

Mateo throwing a rare pass.

We win the first round of the playoffs!

Mountain View cheerleaders go wild!

The happy team celebrates.

Proof that I was on the team! #54, center of picture. Notice the clean pants.

Next up. Leland High School. Undefeated. No way we should have a chance against them. But like the late, great John Madden once said. "This is why you play the game." Leland had won it all in 1972. They lost the championship final game in 1974 to Awalt -- a game me and my friends went to as spectators -- never dreaming I would be in the game next year. Once nice thing about making it to the next level in the playoffs was that for the first time we got to wear our new white jerseys with names on the back. Here, halfback Alfred Garcia dives up the middle.

Once again, we scored twice in the first half land then held on to win 14 to 8. "Sophomore quarterback Dennis Mateo guided the Eagles, passing 26 yards to Steve Solte for one score and sneaking a yard for the other. Leland helped the Mountain View cause by turning the ball over six times. Leland scored early in the third quarter on a four-play, 43-yard drive after Mark Buller of the Chargers intercepted a pass. Fullback Charlie Todd went the final eight yards and also added the two-point conversion. Buller intercepted another pass on the next Mountain View offensive series, but Leland turned the ball over on downs after marching to the 19-yard line." Here receiver Steve Stolte catches a pass over the middle. Stolte scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass over the middle on a similar play, if not this play.

Fullback Jeff Melenudo sweeps around the left side with Halfback Alfred Garcia and guards Leonard Denux and Paul Liu leading the way.

QB Dennis Mateo scrambles around the left side.

Halfback Alfred Garcia dives up the middle.

Left tacke Joe Zigulus, biggest player on the team, hurdles a Leland player.

Fullback Jeff Melenudo sweeps right.

Safety Alfred Garcia and Cornerback David Azcueta defend against a Leland pass.

Mountain View sweep left with guards Leoard Denux and Paul Liu leading the way for Fullback Jeff Melenudo.

Victorious! Final score: 14 -8. The Leland player's stance on the right says it all.

We would face the Monta Vista Matadors in the final game. Monta Vista was a powerhouse, undefeated, had never been behind the entire season. What the six coaches whose teams faced both Mt. View and Monta Vista thought about the match-up is revealing. From a piece by Ken Luthy in the Palo Alto Times: "Art Chaboya of Sunnyvale, Mort VandenBerghe of Homestead, Gerry Ferguson of Fremont, Bob Baird of Los Altos, Mickey Ording of Santa Clara and Ron Calcagno of St. Francis all see the Matadors winning. Chaboy and Ferguson [who we played early in the season] pick Monta Vista to prevail by two touchdowns while Ording favors the Mats by three TDs. Baird, of Los Altos, tabs the Eagles as six-point underdogs. VandenBerghe and Calcagno hedge at guessing on the point-spread but do say what Mountain View will have to do in order to win. 'They'll have to play a perfect ball game and then they might win,' says VandenBerghe. "Mountain View will have to score two touchdowns and maybe three to beat them," predicts Calcagno [who was right]. Baird is the most optimistic. 'Mountain View has a lot of things going for them and I think they are physical enough to play Monta Vista. If Mountain View can force them to throw they have a good chance of winning... the big question is the depth problem. [quite true; we had little depth]" Krazy George and Mt. View waterpolo/swimming coach Bill Smith arrive to the big game via helicopter! Krazy George -- a professional cheerleader -- is on the right, with his signiture hand drum. At this time, Krazy George was in the early part of his career. He would end up working for numerous major and minor league sports teams, giving motivational talks for corporations,and appearing at rallies for political candidates. Five years after this game, Krazy George would invent the Wave. The first documented use of the Wave was during his cheerleading routine on October 15, 1981, while at a nationally televised Oakland Athletics American League Championship Series game against the New York Yankees.[20][21] Henderson says that the Wave was originally inspired by accident when he was leading cheers at a Colorado Rockies National Hockey League game at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado in 1980. At the Colorado Rockies game in late 1980, there was a delayed response from one section of fans, leading to them jumping to their feet a few seconds later than the section beside them. The next section of fans followed suit, and the first Wave circled McNichols Sports Arena of its own accord.[23] The A's/Yankees game combined a full stadium with an energetic crowd, the ideal situation for a Wave. After a few false starts, the crowd understood what Henderson was trying to accomplish, and the Wave circled the Oakland Coliseum, followed by several others during the game. As of 2022 he was still appearing at San Jose Earthquakes games in San Jose. 10,000 fans were estimated to have attended the CCS Championship game.

Game films were always in black and white and are lost to history. But the CCS Championship game was such a special event for Mountain View that it was filmed in color. And it was saved over the years. It has even been uploaded to YouTube. Check it out. Game Part One: Link Game Part Two: Link My sister Susan also did a nice page on the championship season: Link. One of the Mountain View kickoffs. This was not the opening kickoff, or you'd have seen me at far left. I was always just to the right of the kicker. Anyways, on opening kickoff, I was one of the first down the field, looped around the right side of the blockers, made the tackle, but was knocked out in the process. I didn't come to my senses until sometime in the third quarter! But it was nice to make a contribution.

I'll let writer Ken Luthy describe the CCS Championship game results: "Mighty Matadors tumbled. Mountain View High School, that's right, Mountain View, is 1975's premiere prep football geam. Amazing and incredible as it sounds. The irrepressible Eagles, who were thought to have about as much chance of winning the Central Coast Section championship as a snowman surviving in Hades, did just that Friday night at Spartan Stadium before an estimated 10,000 fans. No, not survive. Win. And how. Their 29-16 puncturing of the once mighty, invulnerable and undefeated Monta Vista Matadors caps one of the most unlikely seasons in Midpeninsula football annals. " Giant-killer Mountain View won the title by upsetting previously unbeaten Monta Vista. Mountain View held a 14-13 halftime edge, fell behind 16-14 on a 34-yard Skip Scollan field goal, and then scored two quick touchdowns to clinch the victory. Jeff Melenudo, named the outstanding offensive back, scored the winning touchdown on a 37-yard screen pass from Dennis Mateo. The Eagles iced the game when Scott Hamilton picked up a Monta Vista fumble and rambled 57 yards on the final play of the third quarter. Mateo earlier passed for another M.V. score and plunged over from the three. It marked the second year that a school from the city of Mountain View had won the title. A look at the Mountain View defense. Our great junior linebacker, Steve Vago, is at left. He led the team in tackles for the season. In this game, he made two hits to force Monta Vista fumbles.

Center and Linebacker Rich Shaw also kicked extra points and field goals! Here he kicks an extra point against Monta Vista. He was three for three.

This might be a shot of the biggest play of the game: Jeff Melenudo's middle-screen 37-yard touchdown run. This play is worth watching, It's 5:20 into the the second YouTube video. We ran this middle-screen on a four and 28 in the middle of the third quarter when we were down 16-14. It was the biggest play of the game and probably the turning point. But it wasn't the first time we ran a middle screen in this game. We had run it earlier in the second quarter, on a fourth and ten. Then Monta Vista had disrupted Mateo in getting the ball to Melenudo and the pass was incomplete. But this second time the middle screen worked like a swiss watch. It may be the most perfectly executed play I have ever seen, and I've watched a lot of football. Mateo drops back with the entire Monta Vista defensive line charging in at him. He lofts the ball over their heads to Melenudo. In front of Melenudo are all five Mountain View lineman, in a row as if lined up in formation. They charge forward, overrunning two Monta Vista defenders. They block another two arriving defenders, forming a gap up the middle that Melenudo charges through, barely getting touched. Now Meleneudo was in the open field, where he was at his best. The last two remaining threats are taken out by excellent downfield blocks, one by receiver Tony Metcalf. Melenudo sprints into the end zone. Touchdown! Mountain View takes the lead back, never to relinquish it.

Coaches Wells, Ryerson and Rognier.

Coach Harris on the right. He had been my JV Head Coach the previous year. He joined the coaching staff to be quarterback coach for our sophomore quarterback Denny Mateo.

Jeff Melenudo, Tony Metcalf, Fred Zobel and Coach Wells look on with the issue still in doubt.

And then it was over. To quote Al Michaels: Do you believe in miracles? Yes, Mountain View beat mighty Monta Vista. But how did it happen? "The normally razor-sharp Matadors committed an unfathomable eight turnovers on five lost fumbles and three interceptions while Eagle errors totalled only two. 'Mistakes, early and continuously' lamented Mat coach Buck Shore. He had to say no more." -- Ken Luthy But were turnovers the whole story? As mentioned before, I missed the actual game as I was concussed on the first play and didn't know where I was until sometime in the third quarter. I watched the game film a few days after the game, and then I watched it a couple of years later after Coach Ryerson generously lent it to my Dad. But basically I had never seen the game. So recently I watched the game film on YouTube, and recorded the results of each play. Some plays like the opening kickoff, and middle-screen, I watched many times. Then I analyzed the data. Yeah, analytics. I summarized the game the way the TV networks do, by drive. Here is the first half. Mountain View kicked off. Monta Vista Mountain View 1. 1 play 0 yards Fumble 1. 6 plays 25 yards TD* 2. 4 plays 4 yards Punt 2. 3 plays 7 yards Fumble 3. 8 plays 45 yards TD* 3. 5 plays 21 yards Punt 4. 3 plays 6 yards Punt 4. 10 plays 29 yards Loss on downs 5. 3 plays 2 yards Fumble 5. 6 plays 12 yards Loss on downs+ 6. 1 play 0 yards Interception 6. 5 plays 36 yards TD* 7. 4 plays 36 yards TD (long kickoff return & 15 yard penalty) scored off turnover + missed opportunity First Half summary: The score at half was 14-13 Mt. View. Both Mountain View touchdowns were based off turnovers. But we failed to capitalize on a third turnover deep in Monta Vista territory, a big missed opportunity. Monta Vista's touchdowns were based off a turnover and then a long kickoff return plus a 15 yard penalty. Neither team had a long scoring drive in the first half. Two things stood out to me: Mt. View could move the ball offensively on Monta Vista and could stop Monta Vista's offense. And the second half: Monta Vista kicked off. Mountain View Monta Vista 1. 1 play 0 yards Fumble 1. 4 plays 24 yards FG 2. 11 plays 71 yards TD 2. 1 play 0 yards Fumble 3. 4 plays 4 yards Loss on downs+ 3. 9 plays 43 yards Fumble (ran back for Mt. View TD) 4. 16 plays 89 yards Loss on downs (meaningless fumble) 4. 4 plays 5 yards Punt 5. 8 plays 48 yards Interception (all passes on drive) 5. 4 plays Kneeldown Second Half Summary. Mountain View fumbled on their first play after kickoff, but Monta Vista was unable to score and had to settle for a field goal. This still put them ahead 16-14. At this point, many probably thought that the stars were now properly aligned and that Monta Vista would now go on and take control of the game. But Mountain View responded with the only long, sustained drive of the game by either side. The scoring play was a beautifully executed middle screen to Jeff Melenudo who took it 38 yards to the house. Vista coach Buck Shore said "That middle screen, I think perhaps that was a big turning point." Then, learning from the St. Francis game, we completely surprised Monta Vista with a fake extra point two point conversion. Monta Vista fumbled again on their first play but Mountain View was unable to take advantage. Monta Vista finally got a good drive going, but once again fumbled. This time Scott Hamilton picked up the ball and ran it back 56 yards for a touchdown. Monta Vista, now down by two scores, started running trick plays like double-reverses, and drove 89 yards but finally turned the ball over on downs. Their last drive -- all passes since they no longer had enough time to run the ball -- fizzled out with an interception. Total Game Summary: All Monta Vista's scoring was off turnovers and the long kickoff return/penalty. The bend but not break Mountain View defense prevented them from ever scoring on a long drive. Monta Vista's six meaningful turnovers cost them three touchdowns. Furthermore, at least four turnovers meant lost Drives. In other words, although Monta Vista technically had 11 total drives in the game, they really only had seven. That was huge. Mountain View had their share of turnovers and mistakes as well. Two fumbles and the long kickoff return/penalty resulted in two Monta Vista touchdowns and a field goal. But only two lost drives. Mountain View also had 11 total drives but nine opportunity drives. Two more drives than Monta Vista. Monta Vista's turnovers were very costly, yet Mountain View turnovers and mistakes almost matched Monta Vista's scorewise. Monta Vista had one missed opportunity but Mountain View had two. In my opinion, the real difference in the game was Mountain View's long scoring drive in the third quarter, capped off by the perfectly execued middle-screen, Jeff Melenudo scoring play. But as always, in the final analysis, it was the blocking and tackling down in the trenches, hard running and hard hitting, great coaching, hard work, courage and guts that won the game. Classy Monta Vista coach Buck Shore said after the game "They just came at us and played a hell of a ball game. I give them all the credit in the world."

Happy Mountain View cheerleaders.

Victorious coaches Ryerson and Wells carried off the field

The CCS Commissioner Gene Arnold about to present the trophy.

Team Captains Joe Zigulas and Alfred Garcia. Both played offense and defense the entire game. Both Joe Zigulis (Lineman) and Alfred Garcia (Defensive Back) were selected to the San Jose Mercury all-CCS team, as were Jeff Melenudo (Running Back) and Steve Vago (Linebacker). On that all-CCS team was Santa Teresa quarterback Rich Campbell who would go on to star at Cal and with the Green Bay Packers (1981-1984).

Tired but happy champions.


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December 16, 2023 - Mountain View High School Varsity Football Season