LOS GATOS — Luis Rodriguez had never kicked a football before April.
Six months later, on Friday night in Los Gatos, Pittsburg’s starting kicker found himself faced with the two biggest attempts of his fledgling career.
He didn’t panic.
Rodriguez, a senior who focused on stopping shots as a goalkeeper for Pittsburg’s soccer team last winter, won the Pirates a football game on Friday by nailing back-to-back field goals right between the uprights. His 37-yarder with 7:03 to play tied the game, and his 43-yarder with 18.9 seconds left won it.
Final: Pittsburg 30, Los Gatos 27.
“Nothing much,” Rodriguez said of what he looks for on a crucial field goal. “Just go out there, make it like another kick.”
It was that straightforwardness that enabled Pittsburg (4-1) to come back from a 27-17 second-half deficit after Los Gatos got its offense in gear and showed signs of pulling away.
The Wildcats (2-3) had scored on back-to-back drives and negated a 17-13 Pittsburg advantage early in the second half, answering the Pirates’ previous possession, which gave the visitors the lead on a 71-yard double-pass connection from Carlos Torres to RJ Mosley to King Wade.
Pittsburg just wouldn’t go away. The Pirates dug in and mounted their own scoring drive capped with a 4-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Harrison, then set up Rodriguez to save the day.
“We expected it to be close,” Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez said. “We expected it to be tough. I was telling them all week, ‘This is going to be a playoff atmosphere.’ It’s going to be a playoff-caliber team … and that’s exactly what it was.”
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For Los Gatos, it was its third heartbreaking defeat this season. The Wildcats’ other losses were to Soquel 42-40 and Clovis 41-40.
Check back for updates to this story.
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