Saratoga News

Sports

Guengerich turns corner, and so do Falcons

By Dick Sparrer

Every football game has its turning point. For the Saratoga Falcons last Saturday night at Fremont's Diesner Field, it came midway through the third quarter when quarterback Kyle Guengerich took off on a crucial 52-yard touchdown run.

The Firebirds had just scored to keep the game close at 21-14, but two plays after the kickoff the Saratoga quarterback set the tone for the rest of the night.

Guengerich turned the corner and saw nothing but green grass and goalposts as he broke an option play for the score that would be the first of three for the Falcons in a seven-minute span, leading Saratoga to a 42-27 victory.

Guengerich had only one man to beat to score the touchdown, speedster Daunte Mills who raced all the way from the other side of the field to get in front of him at the 5-yard line. But Guengerich juked him, then coasted into the end zone for the score.

"He gave him the old dead leg in the corner, and it worked," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich, who was pleased with Guengerich's performance in the game.

The quarterback hit on 6 of 10 passes for 90 yards and a couple of touchdowns, and he also had three carries for 65 yards, and a fourth that ended with an option pitch to Mat Spencer for a 23-yard gain.

Guengerich's touchdown was the first of three in a short span that broke the backs of the Firebirds. When Fremont came up with an 11-man defensive front, Keon Ghafouri broke a 66-yard touchdown run. And moments later when the Firebirds attempted to go to the air, Jasper Loren tipped a pass that Casey Farmer picked off and returned 52 yards for a score.

The Falcons held on through a rather strange fourth quarter when Fremont scored twice to cut the lead to 42-27 with 4:27 left to play. But the Firebirds never attempted an onside kick, then when they got the ball back a final time with 2:06 left to play chose to just run out the clock.

"It was a weird game," said Heinrich, whose defensive reserves were tagged for the two TDs in the final quarter. Saratoga's first defense, though, was nails for most of the night.

"I was proud of 'em," said Heinrich of his defense. "On the first score we gave them the short field, but after that we were pretty good. They've got some good athletes over there and it can be difficult. We got challenged, and we answered the challenge."

Kenney Pope, another Fremont speedster, returned the opening kickoff 52 yards to the Saratoga 36-yard line and six plays later the Firebirds scored to take the early lead.

"I was concerned about that," said Heinrich. "We had just played two emotional games against Los Gatos and Homestead, and we told them we couldn't just show up and roll it out there."

The Falcons responded. The defense wouldn't allow a Fremont first down the rest of the half, and the offense scored three times to take a 21-7 lead by intermission.

Saratoga fumbled a punt, but an alert Scott McKenzie recovered the ball at the Falcons' 19-yard line. Then Saratoga put together a 13-play, 81-yard touchdown drive, capped by a three-yard TD run by Gabe Essner. The offensive front of tackles Zack Kowitz and Matthew Hawks, guards Bryan Dodge and Alan Yen and center David Pignatelli led the Falcons down the field.

The key play on the drive was the 23-yard Guengerich-Spencer option, but Spencer also had a couple of runs for 15 yards and caught an 11-yard pass from Guengerich.

The defense--led most of the night by Essner, Kowitz, Loren, Yen, McKenzie and Darrek Emerson--stopped the Firebirds at their own 8, and a 16-yard punt left the Falcons with a short field at the Fremont 24.

After a four-yard run by Ghafouri, who led the Falcons on the ground with 103 yards on 10 carries, Guengerich rolled to his right and hit Andrew Capek in the right corner of the end zone with a 20-yard touchdown pass. Kris Clark kicked one of his six extra points, and the Falcons were up 14-7.

Fremont went three plays and a punt thanks to big defensive plays by Kowitz, Yen and Steven Walker, and the Falcons were on the move again. A 34-yard pass from Guengerich to Capek and a 12-yard run by Guengerich set up an 11-yard TD toss from Guengerich to Capek.

Clark put the ensuing kickoff into the end zone--one of three that crossed the goal line, and one of six that he put inside the 5--and the defense stopped Fremont again.

The Firebirds scored on their first possession of the second half to cut the lead to 21-14, but that's when the Falcons really took over the game on the touchdowns by Guengerich, Ghafouri and Farmer.

With a 42-14 lead, Saratoga started substituting freely and the Firebirds were able to mount a bit of a comeback, but it fell well short.

The Falcons finished the night with 360 total yards, Guengerich leading the effort with his combined passing and running numbers.

Ghafouri topped the ground attack with his 103 yards. Spencer added 55 yards on eight carries and Essner finished with 40 yards on nine tries.

Capek led all Saratoga receivers with three catches for 65 yards. Ghafouri had two grabs for 14 yards and Spencer added one for 11.

Loren and Yen were the defensive leaders for the Falcons with seven tackles apiece. Loren had two tackles for losses and tipped the pass that Farmer intercepted for the touchdown, and Yen had a quarterback sack and rushed the QB into an early throw for a incomplete pass.

Essner and McKenzie were in on five tackles apiece, one of Essner's for a loss, and Kowitz and Emerson had four each. Ghafouri, Walker and Timothy Yen had three each, and Farmer, Ashkon Hamidieh and Saumaan Vahabi all had two. Vahabi sacked the quarterback.

Clark, Matt Keating, Mike Pregulman, Michael Guercio, Justin El Diwany, Capek, Benjamin Mariani, Jens Karren and Raymond Boales were also in on tackles in the win.

The Falcons, now 5-2 for the year and 3-0 in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, face a tough test this week when they take on Monta Vista on Oct. 27, 7 p.m., at Cupertino. The Matadors are 3-3-1 this year and 2-1-1 in the division following a tough 28-21 loss to Lynbrook last week.

"Monta Vista has a really good team, and Lynbrook (5-2 overall, 3-0 in league) is having a really good year," said Heinrich, indicating that the division race is far from over despite big wins by Saratoga over Homestead and Fremont.