In the opening half, the Los Altos High football team”s offense was in first-game form. The out-of-sync Eagles fumbled twice, rushed for just 28 yards and were fortunate to be in a scoreless tie with Evergreen Valley at halftime. Los Altos clicked in the second half, though, scoring four touchdowns on its way to a 27-7 home win Saturday. “We came out slow in the first half — it was first-game jitters,” Eagles quarterback Danny Young said. “We came out more focused in the second half and made it a priority not to turn the ball over. We played our game and came out on top.” Los Altos accumulated 216 of its 390 offensive yards in the second half and didn”t make a turnover. The Eagles” initial drive of the half stalled, but the next four finished in the end zone. Los Altos halfback Justin Arcune scored the game”s first touchdown, a 1-yard dive with 2:25 left in the third quarter. It capped an 11-play, 57-yard drive in which Young completed all four of his passes. Young picked up where he left off when the Eagles got the ball back. Starting from Evergreen”s 16-yard line thanks to a fumble recovered by Arcune, Young led a quick, three-play scoring drive that doubled the lead. The senior followed a 6-yard screen to Arcune with a 4-yard touchdown toss to tight end Austin O”Such in the back of the end zone. Kevin Serviss” extra point put the Eagles up 14-0 with 1:11 left in the quarter. Evergreen (0-2) retaliated with a scoring drive of its own — halfback Eugene Wright crossed the goal line on a 4-yard run early in the fourth quarter — but Los Altos had an answer for it. The Eagles marched 80 yards on seven plays, resulting in Arcune scoring on another 1-yard plunge. The senior set up the score two plays earlier with a 40-yard scamper in which he was pushed out of bounds at the 5. Down 21-7 with five minutes to play, the desperate Cougars went for it on fourth-and-7 on their next drive. Ira Steele and Blair Rasnick combined to sack Derek Pauli, however, and Los Altos took over at Evergreen”s 36. On the next play, Arcune juked a Cougar linebacker and raced to the end zone. The Cougars blocked the ensuing kick, but Los Altos still held a comfortable 20-point lead with 4:56 remaining. Arcune finished with 132 yards on 20 carries and also had three catches for 23 yards. “Justin picked up steam in the second half,” Los Altos head coach Jeff Kalb said. “We didn”t have any big runs early, but we wore them down.” Young was 19-of-29 passing for 253 yards, without an interception. Fullback Mitch McGillis caught six passes for 88 yards. The Los Altos defense held Evergreen”s offense to 195 yards, just 66 in the second half. The other stat that jumped out for the Eagles: penalties. They were flagged 11 times. Los Altos is scheduled to visit Woodside (0-1) at 8 p.m. Friday.?Lancers improve to 2-0 There was no letdown for St. Francis. A week after stunning host Oak Grove, the Lancers topped visiting South San Francisco 21-10 Friday. Houston Clark scored on runs of 25 and 8 yards for the Lancers (2-0) and Ryan Van Amburg tossed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Sam Scudellari.
Spartans shut out
Mountain View opened its season in dubious fashion, falling 27-0 at Gilroy Friday. Dijon Hall rushed for 59 yards on 10 carries for the Spartans, while Arthur Washington caught three passes for 65 yards.? Rogers stars for Mustangs Halfback Kevin Rogers rushed for two touchdowns and caught a scoring pass Friday as Homestead (2-0) won 35-14 at Branham.
