"Coach Barbeau made a great defensive adjustment that allowed us to shut them out in the second half," praised Diaz, the Cupertino head coach.

After Fremont led the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division game 13-7 at halftime, Barbeau used the 15-minute intermission to instruct the defensive linemen and linebackers to stop slanting into the gaps between Fremont's offensive linemen and just meet the linemen "straight on."

As the Pioneers carried out Barbeau's instructions, Fremont's running attack stalled and sputtered. The Firebirds, who had put together a couple of long scoring drives in the first half, found the going much tougher in the third and fourth quarters.

Middle linebacker Chris To and defensive end Kyle Richard sparked the defense. To made six solo tackles, including two for losses, and Richard made four stops. Matt Ravadge also had a hand in four tackles along the defensive front.

Meanwhile, Cupertino did some running of its own. Senior Bronson Farr led the way with 237 yards and two touchdowns, one a 45-yard dash to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Travis Scibetta ran four times for 47 yards. Renato Linares carried nine times for 43 yards and a touchdown, and Richard earned 20 yards on six runs.

Fremont led 13-0 before Farr scored on a 16-yard run in the second quarter. Sophomore Max Ingraham's kick made it 13-7.

Cupertino went ahead in the third quarter on a fourth-and-two pass. Scibetta connected with Asim Alam for 43 yards and a touchdown. Ingraham's kick gave the Pioneers the lead 14-13. Moments later, Linares bolted into the end zone from the 2-yard line, capping a long march. Ingraham converted for a 21-13 lead.

After Farr put the Pioneers ahead by 14 with his long TD run in the fourth quarter, Fremont mounted its only threat of the second half. But after a long pass completion put the Firebirds inside Cupertino's 10, a Fremont ball carrier fumbled and Jonathan Hiley recovered for Cupertino.

Cupertino looks to improve its league mark to 2-1 at Santa Clara on Oct. 23. Fremont (1-1-1 in the El Camino Division) plays a non-league game Oct. 22 at Homestead.

The Mustangs will try to bounce back from two straight losses in the De Anza Division. Homestead started strong with four straight wins, including the league opener against Gunn, before losing to Wilcox and Milpitas.

Lynbrook, which lost 50-21 at Gunn last Friday afternoon, gets back into El Camino action Saturday afternoon at Los Altos.

Mats physical in loss

Although Monta Vista dropped a 28-19 SCVAL El Camino Division clash with Santa Clara, coach Jeff Mueller is optimistic about the Matadors' play.

"I feel real good about our football team," Mueller said. "We have been playing very physical. We only have 25 players, but those 25 will all hit you."

Safeties Jeff Clewett and Dave Clewett, nose guard Matt Delgado and linebacker Taylor Oberhelman made several hard hits for the Matadors, helping force three turnovers by Santa Clara in the second half.

Monta Vista cashed in on all three opportunities. Quarterback Jason Dias and J. Clewett hooked up twice for scoring passes and sophomore Marcus Woo ran for another touchdown.

Ben Lovelace was successful on the Mats' first PAT kick try, but muddled snaps led to two failed kicks. If Monta Vista had converted each of its PATs, the score would have been tied at 21 with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Santa Clara quarterback Sundar Pappu broke loose for an 80-yard TD run with 1:30 to go to stretch the lead.

Santa Clara's defense put up a goal line stand late in the second quarter to keep Monta Vista scoreless in the first half. After driving 75 yards in about 30 seconds, Monta Vista reached Santa Clara's 5-yard line. However, four plays later the Mats had only gained the two.

"Too bad," Mueller said, "we even used all three timeouts down there and still didn't put it in."

Monta Vista, now 1-2 in El Camino play, resumes league play Oct. 22 at Mountain View. Game time is set for 3:15 p.m. The Spartans are in first place after edging Los Altos 12-10.