LOS GATOS — Los Gatos stared down the most dominant football player in the Central Coast Section and countered with offensive firepower of its own to beat undefeated Palma 45-21 on Friday night in a CCS Division I semifinal.

By containing Palma running back Eli Dukes, relatively speaking, Los Gatos (9-3) was able to swing momentum to its favor and advance to the championship game for the third consecutive season, where the Wildcats will face Open Division runner-up Serra.

Dukes, the section’s rushing and touchdown leader, scored three times and rushed for 178 yards on 31 carries. But Dukes’ yards per carry average of 5.7 was his lowest of the season – he came in at 11.8 – and was indicative of the difficulties in facing a defense whose primary purpose was to dole out punishment to No. 13

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