Ganesha breaks its losing streak plus which schools now have longest current losing streaks&..Watsonville-Santa Cruz celebrate 100-Year War&..Long Beach Poly probably no longer leading the nation in claiming most current NFL alums&.Cathedral Catholic's Tyler Gaffney is drawing raves&.

By Mark Tennis, Paul Muyskens & Tom Shanahan

When the Ganesha Giants pulled out a 7-6 win over Gladstone of Covina a week ago it was more than just a simple victory to move to 1-1 on the year, but a victory that ended a state-record 49-game losing streak.  

Entering the season with a losing streak that dated back to the season opener in 2003, and their last on-field win, the Giants were defeated in their season opener by Golden Valley of Santa Clarita and the losing streak continued before coming to an end last week.

Running back Julian Garcia, who later was forced to leave the game with an injury, connected with George Bauelos on a double pass for a 17-yard touchdown that gave Ganesha the lead and it was enough as the defense stepped up in the final minutes to make the lead stand, setting off a joyous celebration.

The game-winning extra-point was almost a fitting way to win as the Giants hadn't made one in almost three years. Since their win to open the 2003 season, the Giants were shut out a total of 27 times and already stood alone in the state record book after passing Moorpark's 46-game losing streak set  from 1977-82, according to our own CalHiSports.com Record Book & Almanac.

The team had won two games via forfeits but first-year head coach David Fleming was confident the losing streak would come to an end and was rewarded with a bucket of water dumped on himself for being right.

Last year, Calabasas was threatening Moorpark's state record but snapped its losing streak at 44 with a win.

With Ganesha winning, two schools are now tied for having the longest current losing streaks in the state. That would be St. Monica of Santa Monica and Desert Mirage of Thermal, both of which have now lost 30 straight games. Desert Mirage, which has never won a varsity game since the school opened, nearly won its game last week against Calexico, but still lost, 29-27.

Other long current losing streaks: 0-25 for La Quinta of Westminster, 0-24 for Lindsay, 0-23 for Morse of San Diego, 0-22 for Pacific of San Bernardino, 0-21 for Encina of Sacramento. Victor Valley of Victorville also is on a current 0-20-1 winless streak, but broke its losing streak last week by playing in a 12-12 tie against Eastside of Lancaster.

100-Year War or Not: Rivalry Still Worth Celebrating

In one of the state's oldest rivalries that was locally celebrated last week as the 100th anniversary of the first meeting between the two teams, it came down to the final minutes as the visiting Watsonville Wildcatz pulled out the 22-19 win at Santa Cruz.

Trailing with just a few minutes remaining, the Wildcatz got the ball on their own 45-yard line and led by junior QB Jerry Alvarez drove 55 yards for the winning score. On the game-winning drive, Watsonville converted a 4th-and-5 from the 14-yard line with a sideline pass from Alvarez to set the stage two plays later for a 3rd-and-goal three-yard scramble from Alvarez, who dove into the end zone for the go-ahead points.

Alvarez finished the game with 164 yards passing and a touchdown while rushing for two touchdowns, which included the game winner.

Each school has new rivals but for more than half of their history they were the only two schools in Santa Cruz County. That set the stage for their faceoffs to be the game they wanted the most each year.

A Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper clipping noted a 1908 rugby game as the teams' first meeting that sparked the century celebration. Our founder and the creator of the state record book, the late Nelson Tennis, has a report in his files of a Santa Cruz-Watsonville game played in 1896. The 1896 start date makes it the second longest rivalry in the state. San Francisco's St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral first played in 1892.

Long Beach Poly NFL list cut down

With seven former players on NFL rosters last year, you'd expect that California's Long Beach Poly High would still have more players in the league than any other high school in the nation this year. That may not be true, however, even though an additional former Jackrabbit, rookie wide receiver Desean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles, is now in the league.

Four of those players from last year including wide receiver Samie Parker and defensive tackle Manuel Wright were training camp cuts this year and as of this week none of those four were currently listed on any NFL roster.

Who's No. 1 for NFL alums now?

The new national leader just might be another California school, De La Salle of Concord. The Spartans had their total reduced to five in August when quarterback Matt Gutierrez lost out in the battle to be No. 3 on the depth chart of the New England Patriots. But Gutierrez was just added back onto the Patriots' roster in the aftermath of Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury.

De La Salle's five other current graduates in the NFL are linebacker D.J. Williams (Broncos), running back Maurice Jones-Drew (Jaguars), wide receiver Amani Toomer (Giants), tackle Derek Landri (Jaguars) and wide receiver Demetrious Williams (Ravens).

Two other former Spartans, wide receiver Cameron Colvin, from the University of Oregon, and defensive back Damon Jenkins, from Fresno State, almost made NFL rosters in August but were late cuts. All of those players, except Toomer, are part of the school's national record 151-game winning streak.

Gaffney gets off to sizzling start

Cathedral Catholic coach Sean Doyle is calling senior running back Tyler Gaffney "the most gifted athlete we've had here. He has the speed and the power."

That's not small statement considering some recent running backs at the San Diego school, currently ranked No. 2 in the San Diego Section according to the San Diego Hall of Champions after a 2-0 start with wins over Steele Canyon and Point Loma.

Justin Green played for the Baltimore Ravens after setting the San Diego Section career rushing record for the Dons. Demetrius Sumler broke's Green's the record and is now a starter at Colorado.

In last week's rematch of the San Diego Division III championship game, Gaffney scored five touchdowns with 263 yards of total offense. The 6-foot, 215-pounder carried 20 times for 186 yards and scored on runs of 4, 8, 1 and 13 yards. He caught three passes for 77 yards, with a 47-yard touchdown reception when he got behind the secondary down the right sideline and quarterback Parker Hipp hit him in stride.

When Gaffney emerged on the varsity scene as a sophomore as a running back and linebacker, his future was thought to be on the defensive side of the ball. He was good against the run and pressured the quarterback on blitzes.

But Gaffney is being recruited as a running back prominently enough that he's narrowed his choices to USC and Stanford, although he hasn't ruled out another school entering the picture. Gaffney, who also wants to play baseball in college, spent the offseason working on his explosion and moves.

"I looked at my films last year and I knew that was a weakness," said Gaffney, referring to adding some slashes to his running game. "I worked a lot in the weight room on gaining explosion and worked on a lot on back-and-forth drills."

Against Point Loma, Gaffney was often a single back, but Doyle said the Dons' aren't getting away from their traditional Wing-T offense. They're just taking advantage of a running back behind an offensive
line that features 6-7, 325-pounder Everett Benyard at one tackle and 6-5, 290-pounder Alex Crosthwaite at the other tackle.

"That's our Power I," Doyle said. "We ran that with Justin. We're taking advantage of our size up front.'

And talent in the backfield. Through two games, Gaffney has scored nine touchdowns and carried 33 times for 293 yards.

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