Saratoga News

Sports

Cats dim otherwise bright night for Falcons

By Dick Sparrer

Benny Pierce Field never looked better. The brand news lights illuminated the turf field below and reflected off the black and red helmets of the Los Gatos and Saratoga football players.

The field's namesake, local high school football icon Benny Pierce, was there to watch the team from the school he attended, Los Gatos, face the team from the school where he so successfully coached for more than three decades, Saratoga. And a packed house was on hand with him to watch the renewal of the longtime rivalry.

The Los Gatos-Saratoga game is a fall classic that dates back to the Falcons' first varsity season in 1961. The first 44 of those games were played at Los Gatos' Helm Field, since the two schools from the same district had always shared the stadium.

But the 45th game between the two rivals was played for the first time ever at Saratoga. Thanks to the generosity of Saratoga alumni, the project to install permanent lights at the field was completed just the night before the big game.

But the Falcons' bright prospects for the evening dimmed quickly. Almost before the members of the Saratoga marching band could set aside their instruments following a stirring rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner," the Wildcats had a 14-0 lead.

On just the third play after the opening kick-off, junior quarterback Andrew Gomez hit David Martini with a 54-yard scoring strike. Patrick Kahn recovered a loose ball on the ensuing kick-off, and four plays later Will Kapp blasted over for a touchdown.

The clubs were less than three minutes into the game, and the Cats were already on top 14-0. They would go on to record a 49-13 non-league victory.

"Against anyone, but especially Los Gatos, you can't fall behind 14-0 before you even run an offensive play," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich.

"We came out and played great football," countered Gatos head coach Butch Cattolico. "We set the tone early and dominated the game. We didn't want them to think things were going to any different just because we were playing over here."

The Wildcats have defeated the Falcons 19 straight times. In fact, other than a loss in a Central Coast Section playoff game in 1987, the Cats have topped Saratoga in 25 regular season games in a row.

Los Gatos struck quickly and often in the first half last Friday night, opening up a 35-0 lead by intermission. But Saratoga came out strong in the second half to make a game of it. Much like the Cats did in the first half, but the Falcons scored to open the third quarter, then recovered a loose ball on the kick-off and moved in for another score. Midway through the quarter, Saratoga had cut the lead to 35-13, then the Falcons got the ball back and appeared to be moving in for yet another score.

Saratoga drove to the Gatos 16 before fumbling a pitch on the option that Martini scooped up and took 74 yards for a back-breaking score.

"We got a little complacent in the second half," said Cattolico, "and they moved the ball well."

"Our guys showed tons of grit the way they came out in the second half," said Heinrich. "I thought we really competed hard in the second half, but we just made too many mistakes and turned it over too much."

The outcome of the game was really decided pretty early after the Cats got off to such a quick start. But then things went from bad to worse for the Falcons. After Alex Lagemann returned the kick-off 15 yards to the Saratoga 36, the Falcons fumbled a pitch-out and Mark Hasson recovered for the Cats at the 29.

A five-yard pass from Gomez to Martini and a 23-yard run by Kapp set up another 1-yard TD run by Kapp with 8:29 left in the first.

Los Gatos made it 28-0 on the second play of the second period when Nick Kalpin took off on a 55-yard touchdown run.

Saratoga had its first real offensive threat later in the period. Kevin Sieczkarek, Peter Florence, Jeff Frederickson and Lageman carried the football as the Falcons drove to the Gatos 13. But the Cats managed a defensive stand inside the red zone. A few plays later, Gomez hit Martini streaking down the left sidelines for 42 yards and a touchdown.

The momentum seemed to shift when the second half began, though. Lagemann, who finished the night with 247 all-purpose yards, ran back the kick-off 38 yards to the Saratoga 49. A few minutes later fullback Lenny Liccardo broke one 39 yards for a touchdown and Nicholas May kicked the extra point.

May drilled a low kick-off that bounced off a Los Gatos player and Brian Dowdle recovered for the Falcons at the LG 46.

Sieczkarek passed six yards to Lageman and Keon Ghafouri made an outstanding leaping catch for 33 yards to the 2-yard line. On the next play Sieczkarek snuck the final two yards behind center Jake Burne and right guard Bennett Rothenberg for the score.

The Saratoga defense then went to work. Gabe Essner, Andrew Pei, Dowdle, Matt Keating and Sean Casserly teamed up for tackles to force the Cats to go three plays and a punt, and the Falcons were in business again.

A personal foul call, a 10-yard run by Sieczkarek and a 31-yard pass from Sieczkarek to Casserly gave the Falcons a first down at the Gatos 22. Lagemann ran for six yards, but a play later the Falcons fumbled a pitch and Martini scooped it up and went 74 yards for the touchdown.

A 22-yard touchdown run by Aaron Miller in the fourth quarter closed out the scoring, but the Falcons made one last gasp. A 44-yard pass from Lagemann to Ghafouri and an eight-yard run by Florence to Saratoga to the Gatos 15. Sieczkarek ran for 12 yards, but in his effort to score he lost the ball into the end zone for a touchback.

Los Gatos couldn't move on three plays and was forced to kick the ball away, but Casserly blocked the punt that the Falcons recovered at the LG 15. Martini intercepted a pass in the end zone, though, and the Cats just ran out the clock for the win.

Lagemann was the offensive leader for the Falcons. He caught five passes for 70 yards, completed a pass for 44, ran three times for 25 and returned four kick-offs and a punt for 108.

Sieczkarek completed 6 of 16 passes for 106 yards and he ran 16 times for 55 to lead the Falcons on the ground. Liccardo added 50 yards on five carries, Florence 30 on eight tries and Frederickson 13 on five attempts.

Ghafouri had two catches for 77 yards and Casserly had the one for 31. Matt Casas completed 1 of 3 passes for 28 yards.

Tackles Sean Nasiri and David Pignatelli and guard Bryan Dodger joined Burne and Rothenberg on the offensive line that led the Falcons to 190 yards on the ground and 368 yards of total offense.

Casserly was the defensive leader for the Falcons with 10 tackles, a pass interception and the blocked punt. Dowdle had seven tackles and a fumble recovery, Steven Walker had six tackles, Ghafouri five and Mat Spencer, Essner and Pei four each. Keating, Young Byon, Nick Shehtanian, Kourosh Asahdel, Florence and Liccardo were also in on tackles and Danny Miroyan tipped the pass that Casserly intercepted.

The Falcons are now 5-2 for the year and return to play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week when they head to Cupertino on Oct. 27 to face the Pioneers at 7 p.m. Cupertino is 1-5-1 for the year and 0-4 in the division after losing 42-0 to Los Altos last week.

Frosh-soph team falls

The Saratoga and Los Gatos frosh-soph teams actually played the debut game under the new lights at Pierce Field, and the Wildcats spoiled the debut for the Falcons with a 28-0 shutout.

"The game started out the way we had hoped with stellar defense and a ball control offense," said Saratoga coach Shelley Smith. "Unfortunately, that only lasted for the first quarter."

"Mistakes on offense kept us from maintaining ball control, and missed assignments and tackles on defense gave Los Gatos opportunities for some big plays," he added. "That's all it took to turn a close game into a slow rout."

Timothy Yen led the Saratoga offense with eight carries for 67 yards and Casey Farmer ran 11 times for 33 tough yards. Gibran Meza picked up 21 yards on six tries and Grant Thomas added 16 yards on three attempts.

Michael Guercio completed 3 of 14 passes for 26 yards, hitting Farmer twice for 19 and Alex Wokas once for seven. Guercio also punted three times for a solid 42.0 yards per kick average.

"He came in a did a fantastic job punting the ball, which gave our defense opportunities to work in favorable field position," said Smith.

Jens Karren, Jasper Loren and Brandon Shahmirza were defensive standouts for the Falcons in the game.

The Falcons will now visit Cupertino on Oct. 27, 5 p.m.