The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunalp Homestead senior Lisa Massey takes a mighty kick at the soccer ball in last week's clash with Palo Alto. But the Mustangs ended up losing a 2-0 heartbreaker to the Vikings in the battle for first place in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL. Fremont in hoops race Firebirds win two, now tied for second By Dick Sparrer The race is on. And the Fremont boys basketball team just trails by a neck as the teams of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division head down the final stretch to the finish line. The Firebirds posted two big wins last week to remain just a game behind first-place Gunn in the division race. Gunn and Mountain View collided in a game of co-leaders last Friday night, and Gunn knocked off the Spartans to take over sole ownership of first place. The same night, Fremont whipped Monta Vista 41-32 to move into a second-place tie with Mountain View. Both clubs are 7-2 in division play. Senior guard Melvin Rabena tossed in a pair of three-pointers on his way to a game-high 18 points to lead the Firebirds to the victory over the Matadors. He blistered the nets for 10 points at the free-throw line in the win. Cameron McNeil also pitched in a three and finished with eight points for Fremont. Tam Kim hit six points, Jacab Esau three and Glenn Marasigan, Darrel Sansano and Reynold Carlos two each. The Firebirds, now 12-10 for the year, had opened the week with a thrilling 54-52 win over Saratoga. Fremont outscored the Falcons in every period but the fourth, but had to hold off a late comeback by Saratoga to pull out the important victory. The Firebirds were up 12-6 after a period and 30-22 at the half. They stretched their lead to nine by the end of the third, 45-36, but just hung on in the fourth, when they were topped 16-9 by the Falcons. Rabena had the hot hand for the Firebirds, hitting three threes on his way to 21 points. McNeil had a three among his nine points and Marasigan had two threes on his way to eight points. Kim supported with eight points, Esau hit four and Carlos and Sansano added two apiece. Homestead, meanwhile, lost its only game last week. The Mustangs fell 52-42 to Mountain View to slip to 3-5 in the El Camino Division and to 6-16 for the year. Matt Hoffman led the Mustangs with 15 points, putting two threes together with nine free throws. Steve Lambert added seven points, and Matt Hovik had two threes to finish with six points. Trenton Hill and Max McKay hit four points apiece, and Dat Lai and Matt Root had two each. Mustangs win The Homestead girls basketball team rolled to a 69-34 win over Santa Clara last week. The Mustangs pushed their record to a solid 7-1 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL and to 20-3 for the year. Julie Speckels buried three three-pointers and finished with 15 points to lead the Mustangs to the win. Marie Levey chipped in with 12 points, and Julia Randall joined the others in double digits with 10 points. Tanya Green added eight points, Michelle Wald and Vickie Chiang seven apiece, and Diana Lee and Chris Strombel two each. Scoreless soccer Local soccer teams came up scoreless when the Homestead and Fremont girls and boys teams took the field in SCVAL action. The Homestead girls soccer team dropped a tight 2-0 decision to Palo Alto in the battle for first place in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL. The loss left the Mustangs 7-1-3 in league play and 14-1-3 for the year. Palo Alto leads the division with an 8-1-2 record. The Fremont girls lost 4-0 to Lynbrook to slip to 0-10 in the El Camino Division season. In boys action, Homestead battled Milpitas to a scoreless tie in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL. The Mustangs are now 5-3-3 in the division and 10-7-3 for the year. Fremont, meanwhile, lost 1-0 to Lynbrook in El Camino play. Firebirds fall The Fremont wrestling team dropped a 28-27 heartbreaker to Los Altos in a De Anza Division dual match last week. The Firebirds nailed seven victories in the first 10 weight classes, but finished the night losing four straight to fall by a point. Anthony Galano nailed a 16-3 major decision win at 103 pounds, and Kai Garcia matched the four team points with an 11-1 major decision victory at 112. Jose Guardado wrapped up a 6-2 victory at 119 pounds to push the Firebirds ahead 11-0 on the team scoreboard. Los Altos battled back with a pair of wins, but then Fremont reeled off three straight victories to take command of the match, at least at the time. Anthony Baza pulled out a tight 4-2 win at 135 pounds, and Healy won 7-2 at 140. Jamie Kashitani backed up the two wins when he pinned with just seven seconds left to wrestle at 145 pounds. Los Altos won at 152 pounds, but Daniel McCune matched that win with a 13-0 major division victory at 160. That just set the stage for Los Altos victories at 171, 189, 215 and 275 that sparked the Eagles to the tight one-point team victory. The loss left the Firebirds 2-3 in the division. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.