Saratoga News

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Prospect speedster Mike Suarez is off to the races on a 92-yard kick-off return for the touchdown that lifted the Panthers to a 21-21 tie with Pioneer.

Suarez TD helps Prospect tie

Heling scores two TDs for Panthers

By Dick Sparrer

Prospect has certainly put up its share of points in the first three weeks of the 1997 football season.

The Panthers opened the year with a lopsided 43-19 win over Alvarez, and they backed that up with a 36-9 victory over Lynbrook a week later.

Prospect came back last week with 21 more points against Pioneer in a nonleague game. But while the Panthers may have continued their high-scoring ways, they didn't continue their winning ways.

The Panthers had to settle for a 21-21 tie against the Mustangs to slip to 2-0-1 in the preseason. But while Prospect head coach Dave Johnson may have been disappointed with the tie, he certainly wasn't disappointed with his club's performance.

"We played all right," said Johnson after the game. "Pioneer is a pretty good football team."

The Panthers made good use of their throwing game, with senior quarterback Justin Williams going mostly to senior wide receiver Matt Heling.

"He's probably the best receiver in the league," Johnson said of Heling.

He was sure pretty good on Friday night. Heling hauled in five passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns against the Mustangs.

Williams finished the night hitting on 12 of 25 passes for 204 yards, finding Mike Suarez three times for 42 yards, Tim Haney twice for 18 yards and Joey Mooney once for 11 yards.

Suarez, like Heling and Williams, had an outstanding night for the Panthers. Not only did he catch the three passes, but he also carried 11 times for 56 yards and had a 92-yard kickoff return for what proved the game-tying touchdown.

The Mustangs had broken a 14-14 tie when Bryan Collins blasted over from the 4 for a TD with 2:12 left in the half. A 27-yard run by Ryan Miksch had set up the score.

But Suarez answered right back. He bobbled the Pioneer kickoff at his own 8, but then raced straight up the field for a touchdown.

The clubs went in at intermission tied 21-21, then battled through a scoreless second half before settling for the tie.

"We played better (defensively) in the second half," said Johnson. "They ran all over us in the first half."

Senior linebacker Mark Maselli led a solid defensive effort in the second half for the Panthers.

"He did a great job," said Johnson of Maselli, who finished with a fumble recovery and made most of his six tackles in the final two periods.

Casey Macartney led all Prospect tacklers with eight stops, including two for losses, and Jason Burton, Heling and Matt Mchattie were in on six tackles each.

Eugene Reyes, Brad King, Jim Wright, Lee Robinson and Danny Baucus were among the tackling leaders, and Rick Gowens, Eric Ingram, Beau Knapton and Haney were also in on tackles. Mooney recovered a Pioneer fumble.

Prospect finished the night with 279 yards of total offense, but allowed 401 yards, including 295 on the ground. Miksch led the Mustangs with 132 yards on 16 carries, and Leigh Mayer carried 17 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

Williams had 10 of his 12 pass completions by halftime, including TD tosses of 10 and 68 yards to Heling. The quarterback had just two completions in the second half, and was sacked twice--once by Paul Purdy, and the second time by sophomore tackle Kevin Sparrer. Sparrer also batted down a pair of Williams passes in the final period, and Purdy blocked a Prospect field goal attempt in the first half.

Grant Murdock led all Pioneer tacklers with eight stops, and Rob Basuino was in on seven. Kevin Gelardi, Ryan Brown, Herbert Jackson, and Ryan Sexauer were other tackling leaders, and Casey Olsen and Mayer came through with big plays in the Pioneer secondary.

Panthers face Warriors

Prospect will wrap up the nonleague season this week when it hosts cross-town rival Westmont on Oct. 3, 3:30 p.m. The Warriors are 0-3 this fall after getting blanked by Los Altos 39-0 in nonleague action last week. Westmont lost to Gunn 49-0 in the first week of the season and fell 51-7 to Piedmont Hills a week later.

Falcons open league

The Saratoga football team, meanwhile, will open play in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week after falling 28-16 to a powerful Leigh team last week.

The Falcons slipped to 1-2 in the '97 campaign with the loss.

Saratoga will try to get back on the winning track in a 3:15 p.m. game at Palo Alto on Friday. The Vikings are 1-2 for the year after beating Logan 19-13 last week. Paly lost 6-3 to Menlo-Atherton to open the season, then fell 50-32 to Del Mar.

The Falcons gave Leigh a real tussle before ultimately losing. Saratoga provided the Longhorns their stiffest opposition of the young season. Leigh had rolled over Mt. Pleasant 47-6 and Silver Creek 42-14 in the first two games of the year.

Actually, it was Saratoga taking the early lead in this game on a 28-yard field goal by Eric Bickenbach. But the Longhorns answered with two touchdowns in the first period and one more in the second to take a commanding 21-3 lead in at intermission.

Senior quarterback Mike Black and his teammates were not about to give up, though. The Falcons marched in for two touchdowns in the third quarter to cut the Leigh lead to 21-16.

Black tossed five yards to Tyler Hooper for a touchdown and Bickenbach converted to make it 21-10, then Ryan Bernard took off on a 12-yard TD run later in the period to cut the lead to less than a touchdown.

But Leigh scored an insurance TD in the final period and held on for the victory.

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