Newberry finished the night with seven tackles for the Falcons—and six straight came late in the first half with the Eagles inside the Saratoga 25-yard line.

It had been a game of field position for the first 17 1/2 minutes, and the Eagles found themselves with a pretty good piece of real estate after a bad snap on a Saratoga punt attempt. Los Altos took over at the Saratoga 21 with 6:25 left in the first half of the scoreless game. And that's when Newberry stepped up his defensive game.

The senior linebacker got in on six of the next seven tackles—two of them for big losses—to stop the Eagles cold.

"He's one of the best defensive players in the league," said Saratoga head coach Kurt Heinrich of Newberry. "He's the heart and soul of our defense."

Newberry's biggest play on the stop came when he hit a Los Altos back for a 7-yard loss to the 14 to force a third and goal at the 14. A play later, Javier Meza shot through for a quarterback sack at the 19, getting some help from Mark Denari.

Los Altos had to settle for a 36-yard field goal attempt, and that was foiled when Phil Spencer sliced in for the block.

"Our defense won the game for us," added Heinrich.

And the statistics prove his point. The Falcons shut out the Eagles, allowing just 35 yards of total offense—and only two net yards on the ground.

But the offense did its part, too, thanks in no small way to senior quarterback Brett Granum.

Granum led the Falcons on a drive for a field goal to end the first half, then scored the game's only touchdown in the third quarter.

"He prepared himself to have a great season, and he is," said Heinrich of Granum. "He's just a tough, competitive kid."

He certainly was on his touchdown run. It was only a 5-yard run, but Granum was not to be denied as he pulled and scrapped his way into the endzone.

He finished the night with 41 yards on 14 carries, but it could have been a lot more. He had at least 85 yards nullified on penalties, including a 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

"We had some big plays called back," said Heinrich. "We self-destructed. I don't believe we executed very well."

The Falcons were flagged for six major penalties that proved very costly in their attempt to get points on the scoreboard.

Saratoga, now 7-0-1 for the year and 5-0 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division, will have to eliminate those mistakes to have any hope for a victory this week against rival Los Gatos. The Falcons will face the Wildcats (6-1, 5-0 in the De Anza Division) on Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., at Helm Field.

"You've got to give Butch [Cattolico] a lot of credit," said Heinrich of the Gatos coach. "Year in and your out, he puts a quality team on the field."

"He does a great job," added Heinrich, "and Mark [Magagna] does a great job with the defense."

The Falcons showed flashes of why they're in first place in the El Camino Division on Saturday night, but them were hit hard by untimely penalties.

Dayne McGee, who led the offense with 88 yards on 19 carries, took an option pitch around the right side 43 yards to the Los Altos 18-yard line following Spencer's block of the field goal. A play later, McGee when 12 yards to the 6, but an unsportsmanlike penalty took the Falcons back to the 23.

Ultimately, Saratoga had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Eric Frederickson with Granum putting down a good hold are a hard to handle snap.

The Falcons led 3-0 at intermission, then drove right in for a touchdown to open the second half.

Spencer returned the second-half kick-off 23 yards and a personal foul against the Eagles took the Falcons to the Los Altos 36. Saratoga ran 10 straight times behind the offensive line of tackles Augie Lagemann and John Cha, guards Jay New and Adam Sato, center Mark Bertelsen and tight ends Tom Cummins and Denari, Granum capping the drive with his TD run.

Spencer supported McGee's effort on the ground with 10 carries for 71 yards in the game. Granum completed just one pass in six tries, hitting Paul Culbertson for 11 yards.

Sato finished as the Saratoga tackling leader with nine stops, two of them for losses. Newberry got in on seven tackles, T.J. Florence and Meza had five apiece and Cummins added four. Denari sacked the Los Altos quarterback three times and Meza and Brent Walter also had sacks.

Spencer came through with a couple of bone-jarring tackles to go with his block of the field goal, and Darren Lee had two tackles and batted down a couple of passes. Ryan Hall also figured among the Saratoga tacklers.