Saratoga News

Saratoga varsity football players earning all-league honors this fall included (left to right) Ray Goni, Cory Schwaderer, Michael Black, Troy Cardin, Tyler Hooper, Louis Petrossi, Matt McKenna and Brian Cavanaugh. Not pictured is Jeremy Devich.

Black is Saratoga's MVP

Football players win honors for '97 season

By Dick Sparrer

It wasn't exactly the inaugural season that first-year head coach Tim Tramp was hoping for.

The Falcons won just two of six games in the rugged De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, and they finished the year under .500 overall at 4-6.

Of course, you wouldn't catch Tramp or his Falcons saying it, but the odds were stacked against Saratoga from the beginning. After all, only one starter was returning from the team that won the Central Coast Section title the year before. And then the Falcons were hit hard by season-ending injuries to key personnel early in the season.

Still, the Falcons perserved. Two of their six losses were by a touchdown or less (10-9 to Soquel in the season opener and 7-0 to Homestead in the season ender), and they lost 21-3 to Palo Alto after trailing just 7-3 at the half.

And four of Saratoga's six losses were to teams that advanced to the CCS playoffs--Los Gatos, Wilcox, Leigh and Palo Alto. Three of them, in fact, were CCS finalists.

Saratoga lost 28-16 to Leigh in the preseason and 47-6 to Wilcox and 34-16 to Los Gatos in the league season. Wilcox went on to beat Leigh 28-21 in the CCS Division II championship game, and Los Gatos won the CCS Division III crown.

The Falcons defeated Fremont and Monta Vista in league play and Lynbrook and Valley Christian in nonleague games.

Michael Black, the lone returning starters for Saratoga, was the leader for the Falcons all season long. The senior quarterback put together outstanding passing statistics with impressive rushing totals to lead the Saratoga offense.

Black was honored for his efforts with a spot on the De Anza Division all-league first team. He was joined on the list by teammates Tyler Hooper and Matt McKenna, both seniors.

Earning all-league second team honors were seniors Cory Schwaderer, Jeremy Devich and Troy Cardin; and juniors Raymond Goni, Louis Petrossi and Brian Cavanaugh.

Black also won the team's Benny Pierce Award as the most valuable player, and he and McKenna were named the squad's co-captains.

Goni was the winner of the Al Bosworth Award as the defensive player of the year for the Falcons; Dennis Ballere won the Joe Assenza Award as the lineman of the year; and Paul Kim took the Andy Butera Award as the back of the year.

Pat Brady won the Teeple & Sons Award as the most inspirational player, with Eric Bickenbach earning the Valley Athletic Award as the hustler of the year, Curtis Stanley the Jim D'Angelo Award as the most improved player, Andre Sorba the Coca Cola Award as the most valuable underclassman, Hooper the Roger Sutter Award as the scholar-athlete, and Brady Moran the Dan Berry Memorial Scholarship.

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