In the middle of a three-year period in which they were playoff participants each season, the Pioneers gained the third seed with a 21-12 record, then scored wins over St. Francis, Saratoga and top-seed Palo Alto to claim the CCS crown.

Current Cupertino High head coach Mike West is not ready to predict any championships for his 2004 squad, but he believes it is capable of reaching the CCS event in November.

"This year's team is led by a fantastic group of seniors," West says. "We are hoping to challenge for the league title."

The Pioneers passed their first two tests in the tough Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division, using a big second half to win their league opener against Los Gatos 10-5 and edging Palo Alto 7-4.

Alex Donoghue, one of three returning all-SCVAL performers on the squad, was Cupertino's top scorer against Gatos. The 6-foot-5 senior fired in four goals from his 2-meter position.

Cupertino's other returning all-leaguers, senior utility player Craig Whyte and senior defender Robert Frink, added two goals apiece. Max Sines and Boris Finkel rounded out the scoring for Cupertino.

A week later, Cupertino claimed a defensive struggle from Palo Alto. With the win, the Pioneers improved to 2-0 in league and 7-4 overall. Whyte fired in four goals to lead the attack. Donaghue, Frink and Sines tallied one apiece.

Goalie Jason Yih and utility players Eugene Fayngersh and Sines are the other senior lettermen who "hope to guide the team to CCS," West says.

Junior utility Josh Overby also returns from the 2003 squad. West and assistant coach Nick Kurns expect solid contributions from sophomore Derrick Jarvis, who was on the frosh-soph team last year. Albert Arustamov, Alex Calderon, Sean Albrecht and Max Zheng provide depth to the Pioneers, who are looking to be much improved from the team that was 11-19 overall a year ago.

After starting the new season with a non-league victory against Lynbrook, the Pioneers won three of five games at the prestigious John Schmitt Tournament. They beat Johansen of Modesto 11-2, Lodi 5-3 and Lincoln 10-6, but lost 8-2 to Clovis and 6-3 to Golden West of Visalia.

Donoghue, whose five-goal outburst sparked the win over Johansen, was Cupertino's scoring leader in the tourney with eight goals. Whyte totaled six goals, including four against Lincoln. Zheng also had six, three keying the Lodi win and three against Lincoln. Sines netted four goals and Overby added two in the tourney. Albrecht, Jarvis and Fayngersh had one each.

Football

Homestead's football team cruised to victory in its SCVAL De Anza Division opener last week against Gunn, but life wasn't as easy for Monta Vista and Lynbrook in the first week of El Camino Division play.

Homestead, led by powerful senior running back Chris Morris' four touchdowns, jumped out to a big first half lead and rolled over the Titans 32-14 at Diesner Field on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Lynbrook fell 30-6 to visiting Fremont. Two days earlier, Monta Vista bowed 35-7 to Los Altos.

Either the Matadors or the Vikings will get their first league win on Oct. 8 when the two teams collide at 7:30 p.m. at Cupertino.

Led by senior quarterback Mike Thurman, Lynbrook had success moving the ball against Fremont in the first half. Thurman's 25-yard scoring pass to Daniel Kim late in the first half gave the Vikings their first points of the season. Earlier, on the Vikes' first drive of the game, Thurman tried a 25-yard field goal, but it was blocked.

Cupertino, which completed a rugged non-league schedule on Oct. 1 with a 38-0 loss at Milpitas, opens El Camino play Oct. 7 when it hosts Los Altos at 7:30 p.m.

The next night Homestead will try to raise its De Anza slate to 2-0 when it hosts Wilcox at Diesner Field. The game is the Mustangs' homecoming and is set for an early start time of 6:15 p.m.

Homestead jumped all over Gunn last week, opening up a 26-7 halftime lead. Morris, who finished the afternoon with 196 rushing yards, scored on runs of 20, 40 and seven yards in the first half.

Homestead took the opening kick-off and marched down the field for its first score, a 19-yard pass play from Jake Mecchi to Aaron Hickson. Tyler Dailey's PAT kick made it 7-0. On the Mustangs' next drive, Morris turned a fourth-and-one play at the Titans' 20 into another score. Morris burst through a hole on the left side by guard Grant Martinez and tackle John Paul Lopez and sprinted into the end zone.

Gunn trimmed the score to 14-7, but the Mustangs picked up two more Morris scoring runs before the intermission. Morris tagged on his final scoring romp, a 53-yarder, midway through the fourth quarter.

Tom Andrews, who led the Mustangs with 11 tackles, was part of a fierce pass rush that helped keep Gunn's offense in check. Andrews, Lopez, Shawn Goldberg, Greg Jackson and Mark Robinson worked together to apply pressure on the Titan quarterback.

Meanwhile, defensive backs Dailey, Tim Kimball, Jay Atkins, Brian Backo and Craig Moberg were providing good coverage downfield on Gunn's receivers.

Cross country

Kevin Schneider ran like the wind last Thursday. And because of it, he breezed to an easy victory in the Central Park Invitational 2.3-mile run.

Schneider, a Fremont junior, ran 11:43.1 to finish a full seven seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Herrel Siller Jr. (11:50.1), a senior from Palo Alto.

Siller helped Paly to a third-place berth in the team standings, but it was Los Gatos taking home the title.

Sophomore Matthew Petrillo (12:06.4), who was coming off of a Firebird Invitational win, was fourth to lead the Wildcats.

Also finishing in the top 20 in the boys race were Luis Jensen of Lynbrook, seventh in 12:15.7, and Xi-Lin Yeh of Cupertino, 12th in 12:30.8.

The Los Gatos girls ran just as well as the boys, beating Cupertino to take the team title in the Central Park run.

Cupertino finished just behind Los Gatos. Sophomore Julianne Hanson (14:04.9) was Cupertino's first finisher in third place. Next came Kimberly Chew (14:41.4), a junior who finished ninth. Third for Cupertino was Sumika Shiokawa (14:52.9), who finished 13th. Senior Stacie Boyle (15:07.8) 20th overall for the Pioneers with Melissa Gomez (15:35.3) 33rd.

Lynbrook's MayC Huang raced to a fourth in the girls race in 14:12.3.

Kevin Sparrer contributed to this story.