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Homestead's Matt Johnson cuts in front of Fremont's Art Ancheta to get to the football in action last Friday night. Fremont rolled to a 31-7 win over the Mustangs in the El Camino Division game.
Photograph by Tsutomu Fujita
Firebirds roll 31-7 over Mustangs
Fremont's Sardella runs well at Center, Artichoke meets
By Dick Sparrer
The messages that football coaches Ron Demonner and Charlie Bostic were delivering to their players at halftime last Friday night must have been decidedly different.
But, then, the first-half performances of the two football teams had been pretty different, too.
Fremont had scored four times to jump out to a 24-0 lead at intermission, so Demonner had to be pleased with the efforts of his Firebirds.
Bostic, on the other hand, needed to find a way to get his Homestead Mustangs to regroup after getting shut out for two periods.
He couldn't, and Fremont went on to roll to a 31-7 win over the Mustangs in a key game in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
The game was important for both teams, who entered the night with matching 1-1 league records. The winner would remain very much alive in the division title race, but the loser would face virtual elimination with just three weeks left to play.
It was Fremont pulling out the win to improve to 2-1 in league play and to 3-3 for the year. The Firebirds trail Mountain View and Cupertino by just a game. The Spartans and Pioneers share the division lead with 3-0 records but figure to break that tie when they collide on Oct. 20.
Fremont also faces a key game this week when the 'Birds host Monta Vista on Oct. 20,
3 p.m., at Diesner Field. The Matadors are 1-1 after a 10-0 loss to Cupertino last week.
The Firebirds, who opened league play with a win over Lynbrook before losing to Mountain View a week later, nailed their second win in the division last week with the 31-7 victory over Homestead.
Senior quarterback Delainy Durgin tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to senior Jessie Enchill in the first quarter to give Fremont the early lead last Friday night at Diesner. Javier Eredia kicked the extra point, and the Firebirds were up 7-0.
Fremont caught fire in the second half, scoring two touchdowns and popping a field goal to take a 24-0 lead by intermission.
Durgin scored on a 9-yard run and senior running back Donnell Forks scored on a
12-yard run. Eredia followed each touchdown with an extra point, then capped the scoring with a 35-yard field goal.
Homestead got on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter when Garren Strong pulled down a 77-yard touchdown pass from Craig Maynard. Matt Johnson kicked the extra point that cut the lead to 24-7.
But Fremont answered that score with an insurance TD. Forks went eight yards for his second touchdown of the night, and Eredia converted.
Senior back Donyell Johnson led the ground attack for the Firebirds in the win, rushing for more than 90 yards.
Homestead slipped to 2-4 for the year with the loss. The Mustangs will be gunning for a win this week when they head to Cupertino on Oct. 19,
7:30 p.m., to face Lynbrook.
Sardella runs strong
It was a perfect day for a run at Crystal Springs in Belmont last Thursday.
And Saratoga's Will Kraemer must have agreed. Because the Saratoga senior turned in just about a perfect run for the Falcons on his way to a first-place finish in the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs Center Meet.
The temperature was in the 70s as Kraemer ran 15:34.8 to finish first overall in a time that's an all-time best for a Saratoga runner on the course. He finished nearly six seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Jeremey Mineau of Menlo-Atherton (second in 15:40.1).
Fremont sophomore Austin Sardella was 26th in 17:12.6 running in the varsity field.
In the girls varsity race, Rebecca Boyle of Homestead was 14th in 20:19.4.
A week before the Center Meet, Saratoga had competed in the Artichoke Invitational in Half Moon Bay, and Kraemer ran to another win for the Falcons.
The senior star covered the 2.3-mile course in 11:42 to take the title in the boys small school event.
Fremont's Sardella and Randal Polgar finished in the top 10 in the boys large school frosh-soph race at the Artichoke.
Sardella ended up third in 12:46 with Polgar eighth in 13:07. Fremont's Min Pard was 22nd with Dennis Campos 28th and Haruki Shimoda 39th in 14:07.
Fremont sophomore Masataka Inagaki was 48th in the boys junior varsity race.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
