Saratoga News Photograph by Skye Dunlap Saratoga's Jason Choe battles to get around the corner in last Friday night's clash with Homestead. Choe had nine carries for 85 yards to help the Falcons to a 35-6 victory. Bickenbach's block helps Falcons By Dick Sparrer Eric Bickenbach has backed up just about every Saratoga touchdown this fall with an extra point. But the Saratoga senior played a different role last Friday night for the Falcons: he set up a touchdown. Bickenbach shot through the Homestead line to block a punt, and Andrew West scooped it up to go 28 yards for a touchdown to start the Falcons on the road to a lopsided 35-6 win over the Mustangs. It was Saratoga's fourth straight win of the year, and the second for the Falcons in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Saratoga will take that 2-0 record up against rival Los Gatos in a key league game for each club this week. The Falcons will visit the Wildcats on Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m. "They're extremely balanced," Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich said of the Cats. "They run and throw the ball very effectively. They're very well coached, and they believe in themselves." Saratoga, at 4-1, has the better record heading into the game. Gatos is 2-3 after destroying Mountain View 49-6 last Friday. "But in games like this, you throw the records out," Heinrich said. "It's Los Gatos vs. Saratoga. I don't think anyone's looking at records. Everybody plays hard because it's a rivalry." The Falcons enter the game at a point in the year when they are playing pretty good football. They scored early and often in rolling to their fourth straight victory last Friday. "We're very businesslike," Heinrich said of his Falcons. "We go out there with a purpose. There aren't a lot of frills; we just want to be proficient." They certainly were against the Mustangs. The Falcons opened up a 21-0 lead before the half, and were leading 35-0 before clearing the bench early in the fourth period. Saratoga scored quickly in the win, even before the club's offense took the field. The defense stopped Homestead cold to force a punt just over two minutes into the game. But Bickenbach blocked the kick, and West turned it into a touchdown. Bickenbach kicked the first of his five extra points, and the Falcons led 7-0 with 9:48 left in the first period. Mountain View moved the ball a bit on its next possession but stalled once again. This time the Spartans got their punt away and it rolled dead at the Saratoga one. The Saratoga offense took the field for the first time with their backs pinned to the goalline. But quarterback Daniel Goñi engineered a 99-yard drive to lead the Falcons to their second touchdown. Ryan Bernard, who led his club with 109 yards on 12 carries, ran it in from the 5, and Bickenbach's second kick made it 14-0 with 2:19 left in the first. Ed Conway added to Saratoga's lead when he scored on a four-yard run with 5:34 left in the half, and Bernard scored again early in the third period on a two-yard run. Bickenbach converted after each score, and the Falcons held a commanding 28-0 lead with 9:14 left in the third period. Andrew Bosworth capped the scoring for Saratoga when he stripped a Homestead runner of the ball and raced 44 yards for a touchdown with 11:49 left in the game. Bernard led the offense with his 109 yards. Jason Choe supported with nine carries for 85 yards and Brent Coleman had 50 yards on six tries. Goñi hooked up on just two of four passes for 25 yards, but one was a deep out to Andre Sorba to set up a Saratoga touchdown. Coleman had the other reception for the Falcons. "He was proficient," Heinrich said of Goñi, who also had a 45-yard completion to Sorba called back because of a penalty. "We moved the ball real well," the coach added, singling out the work of center Eric Allen, guards Adam Weiskal and Brady Moran, tackles Lou Petrossi and Brian Cavanaugh and tight end Tim Young in the offensive line. "They're doing a great job." The coach praised the work of Bernard and Goñi as inside linebackers and cited Bosworth and West for their performances as outside linebackers. He also singled out Alex Foster for his play at noseguard. Warriors win Mike Hilbert returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown then later scored on a three-yard run to lead Westmont to a 14-0 nonleague win over Prospect last week. The win helped the Warriors improve to 2-3 for the year. Prospect slipped to 1-4. The clubs played to a scoreless tie through the first half, but Hilbert broke the deadlock with his 70 yard kickoff return for the touchdown. He scored against in the fourth, and Tony Oka tossed to Ryan Brando for the two-point conversion. The Warriors will get back to action in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League this week when they host Mt. Pleasant on Oct. 16, 7 p.m. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 14, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.