Saratoga News

Sports

Saratoga's Van Housen, Griffin in major college bowl games

By Dick Sparrer

It's not coincidence that the Saratoga High School football teams of the early 2000's were successful, and that Greg Van Housen and John Griffin were members of those teams--one just led to the other.

Van Housen and Griffin starred for the Saratoga team that made it to the Central Coast Section semifinals in 2001, and they were back for sensational senior seasons in 2002.

But that high school success didn't mark the end of the line for the two Saratoga football players--far from it. Van Housen and Griffin each continued their careers at the collegiate level, and both spent the holidays with their teams at bowl games.

Van Housen is a junior linebacker at UC-Berkeley and played for the Golden Bears in their 45-10 win over Texas A & M in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 28 in San Diego.

A few days later, Griffin, a top ball carrier as a prepster for the Falcons, was a senior tailback on the USC team that knocked off Michigan 32-18 in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on New Year's Day.

Both Van Housen and Griffin were 2002 all-league picks for the Falcons in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League as seniors--now both of them were members of college teams that won bowl games in 2006.