Ballingall certainly did his part. The defensive lineman played a superb game and, after his club turned in a lackluster first half effort, he led a renewed defensive charge to open the second half that helped the Falcons take a 12-7 lead.

But Saratoga--the victim of two lost fumbles, an interception and six quarterback sacks--ended up dropping a disappointing 22-12 decision to Homestead to slip to 0-2 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

"We made a ton of mistakes," Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich said after the game. "When we look back at the film, we're going to hate ourselves because we had so many opportunities."

The biggest opportunity of the them all came with just over eight minutes left in the game, and it presented itself thanks to Cameron Ballingall.

With his club up just 7-6, Homestead quarterback Gareth Pack dropped back to pass. But he was hammered by Ballingall and the ball popped free. Sean Casserly was there to scoop up the football and he raced 33 yards for a touchdown to put the Falcons up 12-7 with 8:17 to play in the game.

Not long after that, though, the wheels fell off for the Falcons. The Mustangs drove right in for a touchdown, then, on the first play after the kickoff, an option pitch missed its mark and Homestead recovered at the Saratoga 21. Jay Atkins took a sweep to paydirt on the next play and Homestead had its second touchdown--and a 22-12 lead--within 24 seconds.

"The defense did a great job," said Heinrich, "but offensively we didn't hold up our end."

Saratoga's offensive numbers were certainly not staggering. The Falcons could manage just 90 net yards on the ground and 19 through the air as two quarterbacks hit on only 2 of 8 passes.

Defensively, though, the Falcons had their moments. After giving up 174 yards but only one touchdown in the first half, Saratoga toughened up in the second half, holding the Mustangs to just two first downs on their first five possessions--and forcing a couple of turnovers.

Scott Newberry led the Falcons with 10 tackles, one that forced a fumble, and Joey Pollard-Vithanage, Augie Lagemann and Ballingall were in on nine each. Ballingall had two quarterback sacks, including the sack that forced the fumble.

Sean Nasiri two tackles for losses among his eight stops and Young Byun had four tackles, including a quarterback sack. Nasiri also blocked a Homestead field goal attempt. Alex Keating had six tackles, Eric Wong was in on five stops, Casserly had three tackles and a couple of fumble recoveries and Danny Miroyan had four tackles, a pass interception and a fumble recovery.

Jeff Frederickson had three tackles, including a forced fumble, Jordan Eliastam had three stops, Brian Dowdle and Bennett Rothenberg were in on stops and Alex Lagemann batted down a couple of passes.

Tyler Williams led the offensive effort with eight carries for 37 yards and Steven Marinero added 26 yards on six tries. Newberry finished with eight carries for 20 yards, and he scored Saratoga's first touchdown.

The Falcons moved right down the field to open the game. Newberry picked up a key block from Alex Lagemann to take the opening kickoff 37 yards to the Saratoga 49.

Williams gained six before Newberry took a keeper 31 yards to the Homestead 14-yard line. Working behind an offensive front of tackles Keyan Estahbanaty and Jeff Roberts, guards David Pignatelli and Augie Lagemann and center Scott Darchuk, the Falcons moved to the Homestead 5 before Newberry followed Darchuk over the middle for the score.

Homestead answered right back with a score, and it remained 7-6 until Saratoga's fumble recovery for a touchdown in the fourth.

The Falcons, 1-4 for the year, will hit the road to visit Milpitas on Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m. The Trojans are coming off of a 24-0 loss to Palo Alto.

Panthers, Warriors win

It was a nice weekend for the local football teams from Prospect, Westmont and Del Mar after all three clubs won important league games on Friday.

Prospect blanked Andrew Hill 10-0 thanks to a 39-yard field goal by David Matusewicz and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Zach Stevenson to Wesley Nichols.

The wins helped the Panthers get off to a 1-0 start in the West Valley Division season. Prospect, 2-2-1 for the year, will host Overfelt on Oct. 14, 3:30 p.m.

A week after fighting Lincoln to a 28-28 tie, Westmont made the same point total stand up for a 28-14 win over Evergreen Valley.

Chantz Staden had another big night for the Warriors, running for three touchdowns and nearly 150 yards. Stephan Fowler also scored a TD in the victory.

The Warriors improved their record to 1-0-1 in the Santa Teresa Division and they are 4-0-1 for the year.

Westmont will continue league action when it visits Willow Glen on Oct. 15, 2 p.m.

Young Falcons 2-2

The Saratoga frosh-soph football team opened the year with a split over the first four weeks of play, beating San Mateo 40-6 and Lynbrook 33-13 but losing 35-21 to Pioneer and 7-0 to Los Gatos.

Steven Walker scored three touchdowns and Kyle Guengerich ran for one TD and threw to Mathew Spencer for another to lift the Falcons to the win over the Vikings.

Keon Ghafouri's 90-yard kick off return for a touchdown started the season off right for the Falcons in the win over San Mateo.

Guengerich touchdown passes to Ghafouri and Walker and TD runs by Walker, Spencer and Pete Florence rounded out the scoring for the winners.

Ghafouri ran back a kick off 80 yards for a score, Guengerich flipped a TD toss to Walker and Florence ran 57 yards for a touchdown, but the Falcons lost 35-21 to Pioneer.