Saratoga News
Sports
Meunier blocks a punt that leads Lynbrook to 9-7 win
By Kevin Sparrer
Sometimes pure offense isn't enough. It takes something special to win a football game.
That was certainly true for Lynbrook on Sept. 9 when the Vikings knocked off the Del Mar Dons 9-7 in the first game of the season.
Trailing 7-0 through most of the game, Lynbrook was finally able to mount a little bit of offense in the fourth quarter to tie the game 7-7 before strong defense and a foiled punt attempt gave the Vikings two more points and the win.
Though the Vikings' offense struggled to move the ball against the Dons, Lynbrook's defense was able to keep the Vikings in the game. One of the defensive standouts for the Vikings was senior Eric Park, who picked off two passes from the Del Mar quarterback, one in the second quarter and another in the third. Ryan Tom added his expertise to the defensive effort for Lynbrook with a key sack with only seconds to go in the first half.
The big offensive play for Lynbrook came in the beginning of the fourth quarter. After senior Kevin Rahbar and junior Scott Day each ran for three yards, Yas Sakurai took off on a third and four to scramble his way through the Del Mar defense 67 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter for the only Lynbrook touchdown of the game. Jim Baglanis came in to kick the extra point for the Vikings to tie the game 7-7.
After the touchdown, Del Mar came back hard, driving the ball from its own 27 to the Lynbrook 32. But Lynbrook junior Bobby Esquivel picked up a loose ball and ran for 21 yards before finally being brought down by the Dons.
The Vikings attempted to take advantage of the fumble recovery, but Del Mar picked up its game on defense and kept the Lynbrook offense from advancing into the red zone. After only one first down on a pass interference flag, Lynbrook was forced to punt back to the Dons.
Del Mar found itself in the same situation and was unable to drive the ball against the strong Lynbrook defense and was forced to punt. But junior Andy Meunier came flying through the line to get a hand on the football before it got away, knocking the ball back toward the Del Mar end zone. Though none of the Lynbrook Vikings were able to recover the ball, it bounced 20 yards back where Del Mar recovered but was tackled in the end zone for a safety. It turned out to be the two points Lynbrook needed to take the lead and eventually the win.
"We didn't execute really well," said Lynbrook head coach Ray Wright. "We had a little bit of the first game jitters. But our coaches were able to make some adjustments at the half that helped our offense. We found the weak side holes, our line had a good push for us and we were able to take care of the ball."
Rahbar had a big night offensively for the Vikings, carrying most of the load with 18 carries for 103 yards. Matt Kemp and Park were the defensive leaders in the win, and Meunier had the crucial punt block. Rahbar, Kemp and Park are all returning lettermen from last year's Lynbrook club.
Taking the snaps for Lynbrook was junior Greg Wallis under Esquivel at center. To Esquivel's right were senior Ben Shin at guard and junior Mark Tabarez at tackle. To the left were senior Chris Song at guard and senior David Chen at tackle.
Wallis, Day and Sakurai were each key players on the Lynbrook frosh-soph team that posted a winning season record last fall.
Del Mar's offense attempted to mount one last attack late in the fourth quarter, but again the Lynbrook defense was too much for the Dons. After Del Mar had moved just 20 yards, Sakurai intercepted a pass at the Del Mar 37 to seal the Lynbrook win.
The Vikings will now face the James Lick Comets on Sept. 15, 7 p.m., in their second straight game under the lights at Cupertino High School. The Comets lost 21-0 to Mt. Pleasant in the season opener for each club last Saturday. Lick plays in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League during the regular season while Lynbrook plays in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
