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Saratoga's Devin Schrock, trying to break free on this punt return, ran back a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown in the Falcons' 37-7 win over Prospect last Friday night.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Falcons roll to season opening win
Schrock's kickoff return goes for TD
By Dick Sparrer
Place kicker A.J. Weitsman wasn't making many friends on the Saratoga High School kickoff team last Friday night. After all, those guys work all week for an opportunity to make a tackle or two on Saratoga special teams. And thanks to Weitsman, they didn't get much of a chance last Friday against Prospect.
Oh, there were plenty of kickoffs. But Weitsman drilled the first six into the end zones for touchbacks at Los Gatos High's Helm Field. It wasn't until the seventh boot that Prospect had the chance for a return, and then only because it came with just two seconds remaining in the game and the Falcons wanted the Panthers to run out the clock.
Senior Philip Cheung made the tackle that ended Saratoga's 37-7 rout of the Panthers in the second opener for each club.
"We did a great job in our kicking game," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich after the win.
And he wasn't just talking about kickoffs. Weitsman also drilled a 30-yard field goal, and Devin Schrock ran back a kickoff 88 yards for a first-quarter touchdown.
"That was big," said Heinrich. "We got a score to answer their first score."
Prospect's score actually was something of a scare for the Falcons. The Panthers drove the football 80 yards on 11 plays in their first possession to take the early lead in the game. But Schrock evened things up in a hurry.
The Saratoga senior hauled in the kick off at his own 12, went straight up the middle, then angled up the left sideline for a touchdown. That was the beginning of the end for the Panthers as the Falcons scored on three of their next four possessions to take a commanding lead.
Game Speed
"There was a certain emotion," said Heinrich of Prospect's early TD. "But game speed and practice speed are two different things. Once our defense geared down to game speed they did a great job."
Senior Marc Muniz spearheaded the defensive effort with a team-high 11 tackles, including a pair of quarterback sacks. Schrock supported with nine tackles and Marc Crosby and David Lii were in on six apiece. Justin Noodleman got in on five tackles and picked off a pass.
Saratoga shut down Prospect after that opening drive, but the Panthers couldn't seem to stop the Falcons.
Quarterback Scott Moran led Saratoga's option attack, carrying eight times for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Arnold Chu supported with 63 yards on eight tries, John Griffin carried twice for 39 yards and fullback Todd Ziegler picked up 31 yards on five attempts.
Brent Maselli led the ground attack for the Panthers with 57 yards on 12 carries, and he scored the only touchdown of the night for Prospect to cap a drive that had to please first-year coach Mike Carrozzo.
Maselli carried four times for 34 yards on the same opening drive, including a 10-yard TD run with 7:07 left in the first period. His extra point kick gave the Panthers an early 7-0 lead.
But it wasn't all Maselli on that opening drive. Trevor Rogers ran three times for 14 yards and Ryan Schaefers added a 12-yard run. More importantly, though, was Schaefers' recovery of a Maselli fumble on the second play of the drive.
Schrock answered Prospect's touchdown with his kickoff return for a TD, but Weitsman's extra point attempt sailed wide.
The Saratoga defense stepped in to stop Prospect for three plays and a punt, then the 'Toga offense finally took the field for the first time in the game with 5:07 left in the first period.
Schrock's 13-yard punt return gave the Falcons good field position at the Prospect 42, and Ziegler and Moran ate0 that up in a hurry. Ziegler picked up 14 yards on the first Saratoga play from scrimmage and Moran when 30 yards on the option a play later.
Falcons in Front
Moran followed center Justin Oliver on a sneak for the final three yards and a go-ahead touchdown with 3:34 left in the first. Moran ran for the two-point conversion, and the Falcons owned a 14-7 lead.
Griffin recovered a missed Prospect lateral in Panther territory and Chu broke loose on a 27-yard run to set up a 30-yard field goal by Weitsman on just the second play of the second quarter.
Saratoga got good field position again when a bad snap on a punt attempt left the Falcons with a first down at the Prospect 43. A 36-yard run by Griffin set up his own touchdown, a 3-yard run over the right side behind tackle Chris Barrett and guard Greg Van Hoesen. Weitsman's kick made it 24-7 at the half.
A 38-yard kickoff return by Lii got the Falcons going in the second half, and they drove 52 yards on eight plays, Moran capping the march with a 5-yard TD run. Weitsman converted, and the Falcons were in command 31-7.
That's how it remained until late in the game when Dan Schneider sacked the Prospect quarterback and forced a fumble that Jon Anderson scooped up at the Panthers' 22 and ran in for a touchdown with just two seconds left in the game.
That set up Weitsman's only kickoff that didn't reach the zone.
"They competed hard," said Heinrich of his Falcons, "and that's what they wanted to do."
Guard Daniel Marsh, tackle Connor Peck and tight end Troy Follmar joined Oliver, Van Hoesen and Barrett on the offensive front that led the Falcons to 252 yards rushing in the win. Reserve backs Brett Behnke (two carries, 16 yards), John Finnegan (two carries, 13 yards) and Jeff Lee (two carries, nine yards) also contributed to ground attack.
Van Hoesen, Buckley Wright, Griffin, Barrett, Billy Miroyan, Anderson, Matt Bickenbach and Marsh were other top tacklers for the Falcons, and Jonny Miroyan, Andrew Rudometkin, Kyle McMullin and Paul Snider were also in on tackles.
Piggins top tackler
Ted Piggins and Schaefers were the top tacklers for the Panthers. Piggins led the club with 10 stops and Schaefers got in on nine. Maselli, Austin Baumgarten and George Brown were in on four tackles each, Trevor Rogers had two tackles and tipped away a Saratoga pass, Dejuan Quinine and Tony Barba were in on a couple of tackles apiece, and Ted Caskey intercepted a pass.
Tramell Staten, Steven Kong, Roger Meza, Thomas Niemann and Mike Reclusado were also in on tackles for Prospect.
The offensive front of Lance Taulealea, Barba, Baumgarten, Caskey, Nick Quiocho and Andrew Meade led the Panthers to 145 yards rushing.
Rogers supported Maselli's effort with 36 yards on nine carries and Schaefers added 27 yards on six tries. Kong picked up 19 yards on four attempts and David Katz carried twice for 14 yards.
Junior quarterback Steven Vidal hooked up on two of four passes, hitting Rogers twice for 34 yards. Adam Day, another junior QB, hit on one of three tosses, finding Brown for nine yards.
Coming up
The Falcons will try to make it two straight when they host Mountain View for a nonleague game at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, at their own Benny Pierce Field in Saratoga. The Spartans are coming off a lopsided 34-0 season-opening win over Willow Glen.
The Panthers, meanwhile, will go for their first win when they visit Sequoia at 7 p.m. Friday. Sequoia lost its opener 43-8 to Burlingame last Friday night.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
