Saratoga News

Sports

Florence leads Falcons past Mustangs

By Dick Sparrer

Some may not a consider a football team to be in scoring position when the line of scrimmage is its own 40-yard line.

Saratoga's Peter Florence may argue that point, though.

The Falcon senior took the football from his own 40 on the first play of the game last Friday night and raced 60 yards for a touchdown, setting the tone early in Saratoga's 42-13 non-league win over Capuchino.

Florence is a player that 'Toga coach Kurt Heinrich thinks "will be one of the best backs in the Central Coast Section" this fall, and the senior showed those signs of brilliance with his performance last Friday at Benny Pierce Field.

Florence carried just four times in the game, but he finished the night with 133 yards and three touchdowns.

His first score game the Falcons the early lead, but the Mustangs answered right back with a touchdown of their own to even the score at 7-7.

That must have just made the Falcons mad, because they reeled off five unanswered scores before intermission on their way to their second straight victory.

Florence scored again on a 35-yard run and junior Mat Spencer joined in on the fun with a 28-yard touchdown run before the end of the first period. Senior Chris Clark converted after each score, as he would after all six Saratoga touchdowns in the win, and the Falcons were up 21-7 after a period.

Things would get even worse for Capuchino in the second quarter.

Junior quarterback Michael Guercio pitched a 38-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Andy Capek and Florence was off to the races again on a 23-yard TD run.

Senior fullback Gave Essner capped the scoring when he blasted over from the two before the halftime break.

Capuchino would score once more in the fourth quarter, but the Mustangs came up well short in the 42-13 game.

"It was a big win," said Heinrich, "and the exciting thing was that everybody got to play. At halftime we took a big lead, and in the second half we got essentially everybody in. So it was a great night in that regard, and that's what's the most exciting thing for me is that the kids get to play."

Saratoga outgained Capuchino 332 yards to 173 in the game. Florence helped the Falcons run up 262 yards on the ground to just 166 for the Mustangs, and Capuchino could completed just one pass for seven yards while Saratoga threw for 70 yards.

Florence led the ground assault. Scott McKenzie supported with 35 yards on four carries, Steven Walker added 30 yards on five tries and Spencer had seven totes for 25 yards. Keon Ghafouri had a run for five yards and Jasper Loren ran once for four.

Guercio completed his only pass for the 38-yard touchdown and senior Kyle Guengerich was on target with three passes for 32 yards.

Capek caught two balls for 59 yards, Spencer one for five and Ghafouri one for three.

The Falcons, now 2-1 for the year, face a bye this week before opening play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League on Sept. 28 when they host Cupertino at 7:30 p.m. The Pioneers are 0-2 this season, losing 49-0 to Del Mar last week after opening the year with a tight 14-13 loss to Yerba Buena.