Saratoga News
Sports
Falcons celebrate homecoming with a big win over Homestead
By Greg Lydon
A cold, rainy night couldn't dampen the spirit of homecoming night at Saratoga High School on Oct. 12 when the homecoming court wearing shining smiles rolled onto the field during halftime at Saratoga in beautiful vintage Ford Thunderbird convertibles.
On this night the T-Birds outperformed the Mustangs of Homestead, as Saratoga's ground attack led the way to a impressive 24-19 victory over Homestead. Both teams had two running backs crack the 100-yard rushing mark, but Saratoga's tandem of Matthew Spencer and Keon Ghafouri gashed Homestead for big edge gains, leading to a huge victory in Saratoga's biggest game of the year.
The victory left the Saratoga fans soaring, as the Falcons improve to 2-0 in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and 4-2 on the season.
"It feels awesome; this was the biggest game of the season for us," Spencer said after the big win. "Our line set up the run and really blocked well for us tonight. They were getting to the linebackers on the second level all night long. The minute I saw them get there, I just took off and ran hard."
The wet weather didn't dampen the energy in the packed stands as Saratoga quickly took the lead to open the game with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Guengerich to Andrew Capek to put the Falcons up 7-0 with 9:55 left in the first quarter.
Homestead brought a rushing tandem of its own to the field that each cracked the 100-yard mark and kept the game close in the first half.
Kevin Rogers was a load on the ground, rushing the ball 32 times for Homestead for over 100 yards on the ground. Darnel Green followed suit, rushing for 100 yards for the Mustangs as the Homestead offense used two lengthy drives to go into the locker room down 14-13.
"We didn't compete well enough in the first half," Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich said. "They were running the ball and we weren't stopping it, but we started competing in the second half and were able to slow them down."
After Saratoga took the lead on a long touchdown run in the second quarter, it was Green's turn to carry the load for Homestead. Green ran the ball seven times on the next drive, leading to an eight-yard touchdown scamper. A missed extra point after the second touchdown left the Mustangs trailing 14-13 at intermission.
Saratoga's defense couldn't slow the big power running game of Homestead but the Mustangs weren't having much success against the spread option attack from Saratoga, either.
Three plays after Homestead tied the score 7-7, Spencer took an edge play and sprinted 67 yards to the house for an electric touchdown run, bringing the crowd to its feet.
Ghafouri used his lightning quick speed and hands to cause some headaches for Homestead in a third quarter, dominated by Saratoga.
Ghafouri intercepted a Mustang pass and followed up the pick with an 11-yard touchdown run on the next play to give his team a 21-13 lead. A scoring drive followed with Saratoga taking a 24-13 lead into the fourth quarter on the strength of Kris Clark's 27-yard field goal. Clark also booted three extra points in the win.
"The turnovers were big for us today," Spencer said. "We get fired up on offense when our defense makes big plays for us. We want to go out and score every time they get us the ball."
A Saratoga pick opened the final quarter with a perfect read from Saratoga safety Scott McKenzie for the interception.
"With a team that keeps running and running, you have to be really, really patient back there," McKenzie said. "I saw on film that on play action they like to go to the tight end, so once I saw the play fake I just found the tight end and got to the ball before he did."
Cullen Bowen came through with a couple of big turnovers for the Falcons, picking off a pass and recovering a Homestead fumble in the end zone when the Mustangs bobbled the ball at the 1-yard line.
The backfield trio of Spencer, Ghafouri and Gabe Essner combined for most of Saratoga's 335 yards on the ground in the game. Essner, the fullback, led the attack with 147 yards on 10 carries and Spencer finished with 112 yards on seven tries. Ghafouri added 57 yards on 13 attempts and had a 70-plus yard touchdown run called back.
Saratoga will travel to face off against Fremont next weekend, looking to stay perfect in league play.
"Our line did a great job for us tonight and so did our quarterback," Heinrich said, praising the work of Guengerich and his offensive line of Matt Hawks, Bryan Dodge, David Pignatelli, Alan Yen and Zack Kowitz. "It's a great win for us, but we want to win league so we need to keep it going next week."
The Falcons will travel to Sunnyvale to face Fremont in a 7:30 p.m. game on Oct. 20 at Diesner Field. The Firebirds 1-1 in the division and 4-2 overall this year after beating Gunn 31-26 last week.
