The Falcons held on to claim a 26-24 win over the Bruins in a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division game. It was Saratoga's first win in league play, pushing their division mark to 1-3 and their season record to 2-5.

And while Heinrich was pleased to see his club get the win, he was a little disappointed that the game was as close at it was.

"Hey, a win's a win," said the Falcon boss. "But we made it more exciting than it should have been."

"We've been turning the ball over too much—that's the bottom line," he added. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the theme this year."

The Falcons had an opportunity to lock up the win early against Santa Clara after Greg Van Hoesen blocked a punt, giving Saratoga possession at the Bruins' 5-yard line. But the Falcons fumbled the ball away and failed to score.

Saratoga scored enough for the win, though, thanks to the efforts of Dayne McGee. The junior running back raced for 120 yards, including three touchdown runs, to lead the Saratoga offensive attack.

"He really had a nice evening," said Heinrich of McGee. "He did a good job."

Mark Crosby also got in on the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown run, and junior quarterback Brett Granum tossed to Jonny Miryon for a 2-point conversion.

It was an 18-yard pass from Granum to Buck Wright that set up one of McGee's touchdowns, a 1-yard run.

"He caught a nice post to put it down to the 1-yard line," said Heinrich of Wright.

Granum also chipped in with a 40-yard run to keep the Falcons moving offensively.

But the story of the night was the Saratoga defense.

"Our defense played really well," said Heinrich.

The coach praised the work of noseguard Kyle McMullen, who had a couple of quarterback sacks and recovered a fumble. He also singled out Van Hoesen for a solid effort at linebacker, as well as at offensive guard.

Sophomore defensive tackle Ryan Hall and defensive ends Tom Cummins and Ryan Newberry drew praise from Heinrich, along with Wright, Crosby, Jon Anderson and Jeff Lee.

"We were coming off of a hard-fought battle and a really good effort against Milpitas," said Heinrich. "We were hoping to bring that momentum into the Santa Clara game, and I think we did on defense."

The Falcons will try to keep the momentum rolling this week when they hit the road for a non-league game against Monta Vista on Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m., at Cupertino. The Matadors are 1-5 for the year and 0-3 in the El Camino Division following a 27-9 loss to Cupertino last Friday.

"We watched some film of them, and they do some good things," said Heinrich of the Matadors. "Overall, they do a pretty good job."