Well, the same could be said of the Saratoga football team in 2004.

The Falcons are 2-2 for the year and, except for a lopsided 44-3 win over Fremont a couple of weeks ago, they have played some very tight games.

Saratoga lost its opener 29-24 to Leigh when the Longhorns scored in the final minute of play, then the Falcons edged Pioneer 34-27 when a drive by the Mustangs stalled at the Saratoga 2-yard-line.

Last Friday night at Los Gatos, it was more of the same. Saratoga lost a 35-28 heartbreaker to Palo Alto in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division opener for each club.

Paly broke a 28-28 tie with a touchdown inside the final two minutes of play. Saratoga came charging back to drive to midfield, only to have a fine defensive play by the Vikings result in a pass interception. Palo Alto was able to run out the clock for the win.

"It was a real see-saw affair," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich. "We went up and down the field, but we couldn't stop them."

"We should have had it," he added.

Saratoga got off to a good start, scoring on its first possession on a touchdown run by Peter Rutti, then stopping Paly on three plays and a punt. But the Falcons muffed the punt, and the Vikings recovered at the Saratoga 10-yard line. They punched it in to tie the game 7-7.

The Falcons scored again when Rutti took a pitch around the right side and went up the sidelines for a 40-yard touchdown run. David Orasin kicked the second of his four extra points, and Saratoga was back on top 14-7.

Palo Alto followed with a touchdown drive to tie the score 14-14 at intermission, then went down and scored on its first possession of the second half to take a 21-14 lead.

This time it was Saratoga's turn to answer back. Brandon Kinsting led the Falcons down the field, capping the drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Alex Lagemann.

"Brandon is doing an outstanding job of running our offense," said Heinrich of his senior quarterback.

Palo Alto scored again to lead 28-21 and seemed to stop the Falcons after the kick-off. But on a fake punt on fourth down, Lagemann tossed to Adam Sato for a first down to keep the drive alive.

Phil Spencer capped the march when he took a pitch from Kinsting and ran 10 yards for the game-tying touchdown.

But that's when things fell apart for the Falcons. Saratoga appeared to have Paly stopped on the ensuing drive, but what Heinrich considered a questionable penalty on a key third-down play kept a drive alive for Palo Alto. The Vikings passed for a touchdown with less than two minutes left to play to move back in front 35-28.

The interception in the final moments ended all Saratoga hopes for a victory.

"We've got to play better defense," said Heinrich after the loss.

"The good news is that we're scoring a lot of points and we're battling," he added. "But we're not pleased with our defensive play. We've got to get better."

Rutti led the offense with 116 yards on the ground, despite missing all but one practice during the week due to illness.

"He did some good work," said Heinrich of his fullback.

The coach was also pleased with the way Spencer and Tyler Williams ran the football, and praised Lagemann for his pass receiving.

He was also pleased with the play of the offensive line, singling out Danny Kowitz, Matt Greene, Scott Francis, Augie Lagemann and Chris Chavez from left to right across the front.

The coach added that defensive linemen Ryan Hall and Brent Walter were standouts in the game for the Falcons.

The Falcons will return to their home field at Saratoga High this week to host a solid Milpitas squad on Oct. 8, 3:15 p.m.

"They're big and fast," said Heinrich of the Trojans. "Milpitas looks awfully talented and they have a lot of physical kids."

The Trojans rolled over Cupertino 38-0 in a non-league game last Friday.

Despite the .500 record and the rugged De Anza Division slate ahead, the Saratoga coach is pleased with his club's showing this fall.

"I'm happy with our team," said Heinrich. "I'm happy with our mindset, happy with our commitment and happy with our desire.

"We just need to do a better job in our kicking game, and a better job on defense."

Kyle Miller snuck the final two yards in a 54-yard drive to score a touchdown with 1:04 left to play, lifting the West Valley Falcons to a junior midget victory over the Menlo-Atherton Vikings in Pop Warner Football play.

Miller completed a 33-yard pass to Craig Zeiter and a 14-yard toss to Will Sparks on a crucial fourth and eight play to set up the game-winning score.

The Falcons trailed 19-8 at the half, but Sparks capped a 65-yard drive with a touchdown run to cut the lead to 19-16, then Miller scored the final TD.

Sparks rambled for 151 yards and Daniel Ajlouni added 32 yards on the ground in the win and Miller threw for 133 yards. Tom Silva kicked a pair of important two-point conversions.

Roscoe Koontz, Josh Ajlouni, Matt Marcus, Miles Johansen, Joey Vizzusi, Sukrah Sohol and Michael Spork were the tackling leaders for the West Valley defense.

The Falcons are now 4-0 for the year.