Mike Garrity’s head-coaching debut couldn’t have gone much better Friday night. His Los Altos High football team routed Independence 44-8 by dominating all three phases of the season opener.
Explosive on offense, opportunistic on special teams and downright stingy on defense, the host Eagles built a big lead early and turned the non-league game into a blowout by the third quarter.
“It was really fun,” Garrity said. “I think the greatest thing about it was that every kid who was eligible to play got into the game.”
Many of the reserves didn’t get a lot of snaps, however, because the game went to a running clock for the fourth quarter. That’s when Independence scored its lone touchdown.
Los Altos held the 76ers scoreless in last year’s meeting in San Jose, which came to an even quicker conclusion. Poor air quality led officials to stop play midway through the second quarter with the Eagles up 13-0.
Los Altos receiver Zach Fagin wasn’t surprised to see his team essentially pick up where it left off last year against undermanned Independence. The Eagles scored three touchdowns in the first quarter.
“Honestly, we did kind of expect that,” said the senior, who had a game-high 83 yards receiving and scored a touchdown Friday. “That was the goal – we’ve got to bring it right from the start.”
After holding the 76ers’ offense to a three-and-out series to open the game, Los Altos took possession at midfield and needed only four plays to breach the goal line. Noah Beedon, starting his first varsity game at quarterback, connected with Andrew Campos for a 29-yard touchdown.
Independence’s next drive was as short-lived as its first – only this time, the 76ers couldn’t get the punt off. A bad snap resulted in a fumble Eagle Leo Goebel scooped up at the 2 and carried into the end zone. Ben Bacchi’s two-point run extended Los Altos’ lead to 15-0 midway through the first quarter.
Another three-and-out drive by Independence put the Eagles near midfield again. Beedon’s 39-yard pass to Fagin, who made a leaping catch, moved Los Altos to the 19. Four plays later, receiver Tom Schumann blew past two defenders to snare a 17-yard pass from Beedon in the back-left corner of the end zone.
“Those guys can really play,” Garrity said of Fagin and Schumann. “They’re very good athletes.”
After a scoreless second quarter, in which their defense made a goal-line stand, the Eagles got their offense going again. Los Altos scored touchdowns on all three of its third-quarter possessions, starting with Fagin’s 44-yard catch-and-run in traffic on fourth down.
“Honestly, I didn’t really know what was going on around me,” he said of a play in which he outjumped a defender to make the reception. “I just kind of had my head up and my eyes locked on the ball – that’s all I was thinking about – and then I caught it. There was a guy near me, but I just kind of ran him over, and there was the end zone.”
Schumann scored the next TD, taking a 17-yard pass from Beedon into the right side of the end zone with 4:05 left in the third. Fernando Oseguera’s ensuing two-point run pushed the lead to 37-0.
Schumann totaled three catches for 47 yards; Beedon was 6-for-13 passing for 159 yards and four touchdowns.
“Noah is a very, very good football player,” Garrity said. “I’m very excited to coach him up, and I’m excited for him to get better.”
Los Altos is slated to host Carlmont (1-0) 7 p.m. Thursday.
