Price carried 18 times for 376 yards and five touchdowns last week to lead the Pioneers to a gaudy 68-41 win over Fremont in one of the strangest games played in the Central Coast Section this season.

Imagine, though, what Price's numbers would have looked like had he not had two touchdown runs called back!

Price had TD runs of 62 and 57 yards nullified because of penalties in the game. He was credited with some of that yardage, but take away the flags and he would have finished the night with 20 carries for 461 yards and seven touchdowns—and he didn't even play the fourth quarter!

"It was important for us to get Jonathan Price going," said Cupertino coach Jay Braun. "Last week he only carried 11 times and against Monta Vista he only carried nine times. He's been banged up."

"Tonight our goal was to get him the ball," he added.

The Pioneers got Price the football, and he got the Pioneers a victory. But it was a win that didn't come easy.

Cupertino opened up a commanding 19-0 lead in the first quarter, but Fremont came storming back in the second period. Mike Silva, benched in the first quarter for disciplinary reasons, took over at quarterback for the Firebirds in the second, and by intermission Fremont had a 34-27 lead.

"All of sudden he came in and they got the lead," said Braun of Silva. "He started to make things happy. My hat's off to that kid—my hat's off to Fremont."

"But I felt, even in the second quarter and at halftime, I felt like we were in control of this game," added Braun. "They didn't prove they could stop our offense."

They couldn't. Cupertino ran up 584 yards on the ground on the way to 620 yards of total offense in the win. Five different players ran for touchdowns for the Pioneers, with Price leading the way.

"Our morale was down after our loss to Santa Clara," said Braun, whose club is now 5-3 for the year and in 3-2 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division. "I'm proud of our guys—proud of how we came out in the second half and showed what kind of team we are."

"I'm happy with the position we're in," he added.

The position the Pioneers are in is that they have two games to play—at Los Altos on Nov. 8, 1:30 p.m., in a league game and on Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m., at home against Milpitas in a non-league game—and likely no chance to make the playoffs. Santa Clara and Saratoga will meet on the final night of the regular season to determine the El Camino championship.

Still, the Pioneers will have the memory of last Friday's offensive explosion to remember for a lifetime.

Price led that effort with his 376 yards, but Colby Farr added 72 yards on six carries, Bronzon Farr ran twice for 43 yards and John Totaro had a 35-yard run.

The backs were working behind a solid offensive front of tackles B. Farr and Sean Crane, guards Nick Ramirez-Baker and Jason Gray, center Totaro and tight end Joe Puccinelli, whose 36-yard reception of a Todd Fitzgerald pass accounted for all of the Cupertino passing yardage in the game.

Cupertino struck quickly in the first quarter. C. Farr picked up a nice downfield block from Asim Asim to go 28 yards for a touchdown, Price followed a key block from Ramirez-Baker at the point of attack and broke a 57-yard TD run, and Price took off on electrifying 45-yard TD dash with 27.9 seconds left in the first period. Fitzgerald kicked the extra point to make it 19-0.

That's when Silva took over for Fremont. Jay Atkins took an option pitch from Silva to go 22 yards, then Silva tossed to Chris Knopf for 33 yards and a score.

A pass interception by Gabe Ruiz got Fremont the ball back, and Silva threw a 20-yard TD toss to Aaron Hickson.

A 19-yard run by Silva set up a 42-yard touchdown run by Atkins on a draw. And when Sean Garrett kicked his third extra point, the Firebirds led 21-19.

But they weren't finished yet. Juan Arce recovered an onside kick at the Cupertino 39-yard line, and Silva went right to Knopf with a 39-yard touchdown pass.

The Pioneers answered back. A 33-yard run by Price and an 11-yard scramble by Fitzgerald set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Price behind a Ramirez-Baker block. Price ran for the 2-point conversion, and the Pioneers trailed just 28-27.

Fremont drove to the Cupertino 12, missing a 28-yard field goal attempt just before the half. But with just .4 seconds left on the clock, the Pioneers elected to go to the air. Sean Osentowski foiled that strategy when he picked off the pass and raced 50 yards for a touchdown to give the Firebirds a 34-27 lead at intermission.

But Cupertino scored the first six times it touched the football in the second half to turn the close game into a runaway.

A 65-yard run by Price behind a C. Farr block, a 6-yard run by Ramy Louis up the middle, a 56-yard run by Price thanks to a big block by Asim on the cornerback, a 38-yard run by B. Farr, a 21-yard run by C. Farr and a 2-yard run by Ed Guevara all went for touchdowns. Fitzgerald kicked three more extra points and ran for a 2-point conversion.

Fremont's only touchdown of the second half came on a 5-yard pass from Silva to Hickson.

Ramirez-Baker finished the night with 10 tackles to figure as the Cupertino defensive leader. Donovan Lazaro was in on seven stops and Chris To had five—including a sack. Puccinelli, Fitzgerald and Price had four tackles each. Puccinelli and David Hsu each forced fumbles and Price, Joe Quinones and Asim each recovered fumbles. Guevara had three tackles and picked off a pass.

B. Farr, C. Farr, Gray, Louis and Mitchell Quinby also figured among the tackling leaders for the Pioneers. Gray, Mark Ravadge and Quinby all sacked the Fremont quarterback.

Crane, Ju Gauthier, Jay Shah, Amad Amin, Landon Eden, Nate Ardaiz, Bill McDonald and Justin Yim were also in on tackles for Cupertino.