Griffin and the Falcons were going up against Los Gatos, arguably the best team in the Central Coast Section, but by intermission Saratoga trailed just 14-0 and the Falcons cut that to 14-7 when Griffin broke the second play of the third quarter 70 yards for a touchdown.

But it was after that play when the roof caved in on the Falcons. Los Gatos scored three unanswered touchdowns in just over a six-minute span and rolled from there to a 42-13 victory.

Still, it was quite a night for Griffin, whose number on his mud-soaked white jersey was not visible by the game's end. The workhorse carried 21 times for 155 yards, accounting for most of Saratoga's 167 yards of total offense.

"He's a very good running back," said opposing coach Butch Cattolico of Griffin. "But I think that all of their kids played hard."

The Los Gatos coach was impressed by the effort put forth by the Falcons in the game.

"The bottom line is that they wanted this football game more than we did," said Cattolico of the Falcons. "The Saratoga kids played their hearts out."

"The important thing, though, is that we played fine in the second half," he added.

Fine is an understatement.

Fireworks exploded in the western sky over the campus a couple of minutes into the game on Friday night. But it wasn't until the third period when the fireworks exploded on the field for the Wildcats.

Los Gatos seemed to wake up after Griffin's touchdown run. The offense, which had sputtered in the first two periods, came to life, and Dennis Freeman, Cameron Fee and Derek Tam all scored touchdowns to turn the close game into a runaway.

Fumbles, which have proven costly to Saratoga all season long, hurt the Falcons in the first half.

The Falcons came out running the option, but two pitches in the first quarter got away—one of them recovered by the Wildcats to set up their first touchdown, and the second recovered by Saratoga's Marc Crosby for an 11-yard loss.

Still, the Saratoga defense—led early in the game by Buck Wright, Jeff Lee and Paul Culbertson—held the potent Los Gatos offense to just two touchdowns in the first half.

The Falcons took the second-half kickoff, and two plays later Griffin was off to the races. He took a pitch around the right side, cut it back to the middle of the field and outran the Wildcats to the end zone. Matt Bickenbach kicked the extra point, and with 10:57 left in the third quarter the Falcons were down by just a touchdown.

That seemed to wake up the sleeping giant, though. Los Gatos scored three times in the quarter and four times before Saratoga could get on the scoreboard again.

Late in the game, with the Cats just trying to run out the clock, senior linebacker Greg Van Hoesen put a crushing hit on a Los Gatos ball carrier to force a fumble. Sophomore Ryan Hall scooped the loose ball out of the mud and rambled 68 yards for the touchdown.

But that was the last bright spot of the Saratoga season as Los Gatos closed out the 42-13 win.

Griffin was the offensive standout for the Falcons with his 155 yards rushing. Junior quarterback Brett Granum could complete just 2 of 9 passes for 10 yards, both of them going to Wright.

Culbertson and Crosby were the defensive leaders for the Falcons with 12 tackles apiece. Crosby had one tackle for a loss for Saratoga.

Wright was in on eight tackles in the game and Van Hoesen and Jon Anderson finished with seven each. Anderson had a tackle for a loss, and Van Hoesen hit two Cats for losses, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.

Lee had six tackles in his final high school football game, and Bickenbach and Jonny Miroyan had four apiece. Bickenbach made a tackle in the enemy backfield. Kyle McMullin finished with three tackles, one for a loss.

Griffin, Gene Lu, Tom Cummins, Hall, Ryan Newberry, Javier Meza and Mark Bertelsen were also in on tackles, and Hall and Meza each recovered Los Gatos fumbles.

The Falcons wrapped up the season with a 4-6 record, 2-4 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.


Frosh-soph falls

The Los Gatos frosh-soph football team ended Saratoga's dream of an undefeated season with a hard-fought 14-7 victory over their traditional rivals.

A spectacular interception by Eric Chen, who has led the young Wildcat defense all year, ended the Falcons' hopes with 2:07 to go in the game.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Wildcats put together an eight-play, 95-yard drive, capped by a 48-yard burst up the middle by Alex Ghanavatti to post a 6-0 lead.

Saratoga answered on its opening drive of the second half, going 70 yards on nine plays, with Phil Spencer going over from the 1-yard line. Spencer carried for 65 yards on the drive behind the power blocking of T.J. Florence and Michael Block. The conversion by David Orasin put the Falcons ahead 7-6.

In the fourth quarter, quarterback Kevin McCarty led the Wildcats on what proved to be the winning drive—69 yards on nine plays.

Spencer had 92 yards on 12 carries to lead the Saratoga offense.

Saratoga ended the year as the De Anza Division champion with a 5-1 record. The Falcons were 9-1 overall.

Nick Tuttle contributed to this story.