The Falcons lost 26-21 to Paly in the league opener for each club, but it was as much because of Saratoga miscues as anything that the Vikings did.

"We hurt ourselves," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich, whose club has given up 10 turnovers in the last two games. "We'd give up sacks, and the ball would come loose. We fumbled two punts, and we only got one back. We've just got to execute."

Things started out on the sour note for Saratoga on Friday. The Vikings scored to take an early lead, then quickly regained possession of the football.

"They kick off, we let the ball roll and they cover," said Heinrich. "We gave them a short field, and they scored again. Before we took an offensive snap, we were down 14-0."

The Falcons answered back with a touchdown when junior quarterback Brett Granum ran 10 yards for a score. Senior running back John Griffin carried most of the load on the touchdown drive.

"Griffin sparked us running the football," said the coach.

But Palo Alto scored two more before intermission to lead 26-6 at the half.

The Falcons scored twice in the second half while blanking the Vikings, but ended up a touchdown short.

"We couldn't wrestle the momentum away and keep it," said Heinrich.

Griffin scored on a 1-yard run and Granum tossed to Tom Cummins for the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 26-14, then Granum ran five yards for a TD and Kenny Keast kicked the extra point.

But 26-21 was as close as the Falcons could get.

"We moved the ball, so we had some opportunities," said Heinrich. "There's a lot of good things that we're doing, we're just hurting ourselves too much."

Granum led the ground attack with 120 yards rushing, and the coach praised the work of Greg Van Hoesen and Chris Barrett in the offensive line. "We're always strong from the righthand side," said Heinrich.

Van Hoesen, Jeff Lee and Jon Anderson were singled out defensively, and Heinrich added that Kyle McMullin came off the bench to play defensive end and "he really provided a spark for us."

The Falcons, now 0-1 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and 1-3 overall, will hit the road this week to visit Gunn for a 3:15 p.m. game on Oct. 11 in Palo Alto.

"They're good," said Heinrich of the Titans, who are 4-0 in the young season. "They're big and they're fast and they're strong."

Gunn represents a real test for the Falcons, who seldom play afternoon games.

"We'll see how we respond to the challenge," said Heinrich. "We're struggling right now, and we need a win. But we've got to earn it."