LOS Gatos – The Los Gatos football team fell behind by two touchdowns in the first quarter of its opener Friday night and was never able to totally make up the deficit in a 28-14 loss to visiting Corona del Mar.

“I thought phases were all right. I thought our defense played great actually, very physical, played fast. Offensively, we were not good tonight. I think a lot of it was some jitters in the beginning, first-game stuff, we didn’t make some plays early on that we normally do,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. “Credit to (Corona Del Mar). They are a great program and we knew that when we put them on the schedule that it would be a great test.”

After Corona del Mar (2-0) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions, it only reached the end zone twice more. The Los Gatos defense forced three turnovers, including one that resulted in a Wildcats touchdown and another that set up another Los Gatos score.

But the Los Gatos offense was never able to get totally on track. It finished with 128 total yards, including negative-seven rushing. Quarterback Jake Boyd was under consistent pressure, as he was sacked six times and finished with negative-43 rushing yards. He also had to deal with several low center deliveries, particularly in the final Wildcats drive. Boyd did pass for 135 yards, including 6-for-7 passing in the second half.

The Sea Kings opened the scoring on a short field with a five-yard pass from quarterback David Rasor to Zach Giuliano. After a Los Gatos three-and-out, Corona del Mar produced another touchdown on a 27-yard leaping catch by Cooper Hoch on a pass thrown by Rasor. Hoch, a 6-foot-3 senior, finished with eight receptions for 118 yards.

But Los Gatos’ Kevin Rogers recovered a fumble and returned it into Corona del Mar’s red zone. Two plays later, Boyd connected with Jaylen Thomas for a nine-yard touchdown pass, and the Wildcats halved the Sea King’s lead to 14-7 with eight minutes, 46 seconds left in the first half.

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Corona del Mar immediately answered with an 80-yard, 14-play drive, capped by a one-yard Rasor scoring run. Rasor completed 18 of his 22 pass attempts for 228 yards in the game and also rushed for 50 yards. Kaleb Annett, another Sea Kings quarterback, completed six of his 11 attempts for 23 yards and an interception.

After trailing by 14 points at halftime, Los Gatos struck suddenly early in the third quarter when Landon Heard returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown. But the Wildcats were not able to score after that, and Corona del Mar gave itself some breathing room with a 34-yard touchdown strike from Rasor to Hoch with 9:54 remaining for the final score of the game. The Sea Kings drove deep into Los Gatos territory later in the fourth quarter, but an interception by Thomas off a deflected pass ended that drive.