Westmont is off to a 5-1 start in the current season, and the Warriors are 2-0 in the Blossom Valley Athletic League's Santa Teresa Division.

But just how good of a season the Warriors will have in 2002 depends very much on the next four games. Because there's no doubt about it—the going gets tough in the next four weeks for Westmont.

The Warriors will visit Leland on Oct. 26, 1:15 p.m., to start the string of four games that will determine whether it will be a winning year or a .500 season at Westmont.

Over the next three weeks Westmont will host Independence, Andrew Hill and Silver Creek.

A win in any of the four games secures a winning season for the Warriors. Wins in two or three of the four games could likely earn the Warriors a trip to the Central Coast Section playoffs, and wins in all four would give them a league championship.

But that's a long road for the Warriors.

Westmont started down that road last week, though, with a convincing 29-7 win over rival Prospect.

The Warriors turned a close 7-7 contest into a runaway with four unanswered scores.

Junior wide receiver Burt Codera pulled in a 29-yard scoring toss from senior quarterback Bryen Blankenship in the first quarter and Amir Jahini converted to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead early in the game.

But Prospect came fighting back. Jeremy Nuia scored on a 1-yard run and Garrett Karren kicked the game-tying extra point to knot the score at 7-7 early in the second period.

But Blankenship, who threw for more than 200 yards, went back to the air to hit Codera with a 61-yard touchdown toss; then the quarterback ran 25 yards for another score. Brian DeWitt ran in for the 2-point conversion, and the Warriors were up 21-7 at intermission.

That's how it remained until the fourth quarter. Dan Weller scored on a 2-yard run to up the count to 27-7; then Prospect snapped the ball out of the end zone for a safety that made the final score 29-7.

For Prospect, Nuia led the offensive attack with 17 carries for 72 yards and the one touchdown. His longest run of the night went for 15 yards. Nuia now has run for 665 yards this year.

Steven Kong supported with 69 yards on 12 carries, including a 44-yard run, and Ivan Biondic had a run for 14 yards, but was held to just 15 total yards on 12 carries.

Adam Day hit on just 1 of 3 passes, connecting with Joey Puccinelli for 25 yards.

Ted Piggins led all Prospect tacklers by getting in on 10 stops. Austin Baumgarten and Andrew Shouse were in on seven tackles apiece, Nuia had six and Tramell Staten had five. Puccinelli had a pair of quarterback sacks and Staten was in on a sack.

Garrett Karren kicked the extra point after Nuia's touchdown, and he also picked off a pass for the Panthers.

The loss left the Panthers 2-4 for the year and 1-2 in the division. Prospect will try to get back to its winning ways on Oct. 25, 2:45 p.m., when the Panthers host powerful Silver Creek.

The Raiders are 5-1 for the year and 2-0 in the division after beating Independence 42-35 last Saturday.

In other local action, Del Mar slipped to 0-6 for the year and to 0-3 in league play with a 46-0 loss to Hill. The Dons will go after their first win this week when they visit Independence on Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m.


Cross country

There were 147 girls in the field for the Monterey Bay Invitational Oct. 18 at Toro Park.

Only one of them, though, could outrun Saratoga's Alicia Follmar to the finish line.

Follmar, just a sophomore, covered the 3.0-mile course in 18:33 to finish second to Gunn senior Ruth Graham in the Friday run in Monterey.

Still, Follmar's effort could help the Falcons to just a 15th-place finish in the Friday field.

Prospect's Becky Palm starred on the girls' side. The sophomore finished 19th in 20:16 in the Friday meet.

In the boys varsity race, Del Mar's Nick Clinton finished 31st in 17:16 with teammate Angel Gonzalez 36th in 17:25. Scott Smith of Prospect ended up 68th in 18:03.