McGee carried 14 times for 160 yards and a touchdown and Spencer had two long touchdown runs to lead the Falcons to the win over the Firebirds in the first game of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division season.

"Dayne and Phil both had good games tonight," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich after Saratoga's win over Fremont at Los Gatos' Helm Field. "They were difference makers out there."

Difference makers, indeed. McGee took on most of the offensive load with his 14 carries, including a 33-yard touchdown run, and Spencer backed up a 65-yard TD dash with a 94-yard kickoff return for a Saratoga score.

The win helped the Falcons improve to 3-0-1 for the year, looking ahead to a Saturday clash with powerhouse Cupertino this week. Saratoga will host the Pioneers on Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m., at Los Gatos.

"They look really good," said Heinrich of Cupertino. "They're physical, they're talented, they're well coached and they get after it."

The Pioneers opened the year with back-to-back wins before losing to Los Gatos. Cupertino opened the league season with a 52-6 win over Lynbrook last Friday and will take a 3-1 record into Saturday's game.

Heinrich is hoping that his Falcons can get off to a better start against the Pioneers than they did against the Firebirds.

"I'm not making excuses, but we had a lot of guys injured, and sickness hit our school a little this week," said Heinrich. "So unfortunately we didn't put out best game forward in the first half."

Junior quarterback Brandon Kinsting was filling in for senior starter Brett Granum, sidelined with a shoulder injury. The offense looked out of sync in the first half, with the Falcons running just 13 offensive plays to 53 for Fremont. Still, Saratoga was able to take a 14-7 lead by intermission.

The Falcons turned things around in the second half, though. Kinsting looked more comfortable in the final two periods as Saratoga dominated the game the rest of the way.

"Brandon did a good job of running our offense," said Heinrich.

Saratoga scored on its first two possessions of the second half to take command of the game.

Kinsting led the Falcons on a six-play, 71-yard touchdown drive following the second-half kickoff. A 27-yard run by Spencer and a 13-yard run by McGee set up a 33-yard TD run by McGee. Eric Frederickson kicked the third of his four extra points to make it 21-7.

The defense, sparked by Adam Sato and Ryan Newberry, stopped the Firebirds cold after the kickoff, and the Falcons took over at their own 24 after a punt.

Once again, Kinsting led the Falcons down the field. A 30-yard run by McGee and an 18-yard pass from Kinsting to Frederickson set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Newberry.

Fremont scored with 29 seconds left in the game, but it was too little, too late for the Firebirds.

Saratoga scored first in the game. After a scoreless first quarter, Spencer broke an inside reverse 65 yards for a touchdown.

Fremont fought back to tie the game, but it didn't stay that way for long. Spencer hauled in the kickoff at his own 4-yard line, picked up a block from McGee, cut hard to fake Fremont kicker Sean Garrett out of his shoes and raced from there for a touchdown. An unsportsmanlike conduct flag was tossed on the Falcons, forcing Frederickson to back up for the extra point. But he drilled it from 35 yards out to give Saratoga the 14-7 lead that would stand up at the half.

McGee led the offense with his 160 yards rushing and Spencer had 96 yards on six carries to go with his 96-yard kickoff return.

Tackles Augie Lagemann and Chris Chavez, guards Sato and Jay New and center Mark Bertelsen led the charge up front as the Falcons rolled up 266 yards rushing.

Sato led Saratoga defensively with 13 tackles, including two for losses. Javier Meza was close behind with 10 stops and Newberry got in on seven.

Mike Block finished with five tackles and a pass deflection and Mark Denari, Matt Greene and Darren Lee had four tackles each.

Jeff Lyu had a pass interception and a 22-yard punt return to go with three tackles. Tom Cummins had three stops, including a forced fumble, and Greg Mow got in on three tackles.

Chris Greene recovered a fumble and Spencer, Brent Walter, Peter Rutti, Matt Chabrier, Kyle Stoffers and Alex Kassai were also in on tackles.