Son of Arizona coach Brent Brennan leads Los Gatos to surprising win over Riordan in NorCal football playoffs

Scotty Brennan throws 3 TD passes including go-ahead 18-yarder in final minute as the Wildcats beat the star-studded Crusaders in Central Coast Section D1 semifinal

Los Gatos senior quarterback Scotty Brennan (14), shown here in a game versus Palo Alto earlier this month, Saturday threw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats' stirring 35-28 win at third-seed Riordan in a CCS Division 1 semifinal game. / Photo: Scott Dinn

By most accounts, Scotty Brennan is a better basketball player than a football quarterback.

That opinion may change after the rangy 6-foot-4, 185-pound left-handed signal caller led overmatched Los Gatos to a stirring 35-28 win Saturday at Riordan in a thrilling Central Coast Section Division 1 semifinal game.

Brennan, the son of University of Arizona coach Brent Brennan, threw his third touchdown pass, an 18-yard strike to Owen Panu with 51 seconds remaining, breaking a 28-28 tie and giving Los Gatos its first lead against a red-hot Crusaders with 10 players listed as at least 3-star prospects from its 2025 and 2026 classes.

Among those in Vanderbilt-bound junior quarterback Mike Mitchell, who quickly drove the Crusaders down field, but his last gasp, a 26-yard with perfect touch was caught by another top junior, receiver Cynai Thomas. Only problem for Crusaders it was three yards out the back of the end zone and correctly ruled incomplete, setting off a wild celebration among Los Gatos faithful.

Los Gatos running back Grayson Doslak rushed for more than 100 yards, including a key 25-yard TD run to tie the game at 28 against Riordan, is shown here when he rushed for 137 yards and three TDs in a 44-6 win over Palo Alto. / Photo: Scott Dinn

Yes, it was the second straight year Los Gatos (10-2) had eliminated Riordan (7-5), but this season the talent disparity appeared to wide. No less than 10 Riordan players in the 2025 and 2026 class are listed by 247Sports as at least 3-star prospects.

That includes Mitchell, Thomas, three offensive lineman and two-way athlete Chris Lawson, a Washington commit.

Los Gatos, by comparison, has none and Brennan might be the closest thing. He opened Los Gatos' scoring with a 19-yard TD strike to Panu and a 73-yard TD to Beau Musser. He finished with more than 300 yards passing as the Wildcats, the defending state 2-A Northern California champion who graduated most of their top end talent, advanced to the section finals to meet another West Catholic Athletic League squad Saint Francis.

Veteran Los Gatos coach Mark Krail, in his 26th season, won his 211th game according to Cal-Hi Sports. He and his staff couldn't have done better than Saturday.

Though Scott Brennan doesn't have a college offer yet, according to 247Sports, he has been talking to a couple schools. And yes, one of them is Arizona. The others are UCLA and San Jose State, where his dad coached for six seasons and he led the Spartans to three bowl games, the first SJS coach to ever do so.

Considering Arizona dropped to 4-7 this season following Saturday's 49-28 loss to TCU, Brent Brennan no doubt got a big boost hearing how well his son played.

For Riordan, it was a very disappointing loss, especially considering how well it had been playing.

Led by Vanderbilt-bound junior quarterback Mike Mitchell, the Crusaders had won four straight games, including landmark wins over Serra (27-21) and Saint Francis (34-24). Riordan had no trouble moving the ball with Mitchell leading the charge and strong running from junior Adonyae Brown and senior Jeremiah Jones.

Riordan junior QB Mike Mitchell Jr., who committed to Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tenn., brought back the Crusaders from a two-TD fourth-quarter deficit to beat McClymonds 35-34 to open the season. Mitchell finished his junior season with more than 2,500 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. / Photo Eric Taylor

Two long passes from Mitchell to Thomas set up a short Jones touchdown to start the game and this looked like it might be easy for the Crusaders.

The rushing duo combined to run for three touchdowns and more than 100 yards apiece. When Brown answered Brennan's TD bomb to Musser with an 80-yard TD run, the Crusaders seemed to just have too much firepower, leading 28-20 and 2:46 left in the third.

But on a beautifully designed counter, Doslak Grayson sprinted home from the 25 and after a 2-point conversion pass from Brennan to Panu again, the game was tied at 28-28 with 11:01 remaining.

Near midfield on 4th-and-4, Riordan decided to go for it, but only gained 3, and Los Gatos took over with 6:09 remaining. Los Gatos started with a flea flicker for 16, but eventually was stopped on 4th down on a great breakup by a leaping Lawson. That seemed to set up Riordan for a possible game-winning TD drive, but on third down. Mitchell fumbled and Aurelio Valdez recorded at the Riordan 31.

After a first-down, most thought Los Gatos would mile the clock for a walk-off field goal. Instead, Brennan found Panu for his second touchdown.