The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by George Sakkestad Fremont's Robin Glass (22) and Monique Gammon fly high in an effort to block a Cupertino spike. The Firebirds ended up losing the El Camino Division match to the Pioneer 15-4, 15-3, 15-12. Mustangs win bragging rights Local runners shine at St. Francis meet By DICK SPARRER It didn't count for anything but local bragging rights. Still, the Homestead football team won the right to brag a bit after turning back Fremont 21-6 in a nonleague game played last Friday night at Diesner Field. Ben Mika rambled for 105 yards and a touchdown and David Tucker romped to 101 yards and a TD to lead the Mustangs to the win over the Firebirds. Tucker gave the Mustangs the early lead with a 42-yard touchdown run in the first period. Homestead made it 14-0 in the first when Chacho Nieves ran eight yards for a score and Caslar Johnston went in for the 2-point conversion. The Mustangs held their 14-0 lead through intermission, then upped that lead to 21-0 in the third quarter when Mika went seven yards for a touchdown. Neal Mudgett kicked the extra point. Fremont faced a possible shutout heading into the final period, but an 80-yard touchdown pass from Gabe Duran to Kevin Dixon helped the Firebirds get onto the scoreboard. The loss left the Firebirds 2-5 for the year and Homestead improved to 3-4. The Mustangs will get back to action in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week when they visit Los Gatos on Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m. Cross country Homestead's Matt Hovik and Daniel Seddiqui each finished among the leaders in boys action and Celeste Dunlap of Cupertino and Sueh Han Liew were among the girls leaders at the St. Francis Invitational meet held at Foothill College last week. Hovik covered the 3-mile course in 17:07 to finish fifth in the boys senior class race. Seddiqui was second in the boys junior class division in 17:11. Dunlap ran a strong second in the girls division, finishing the three miles in 19:48. Liew was ninth in girls competition in 21:10. Girls' volleyball The Fremont girls volleyball team dropped a pair of matches last week, but only after the Firebirds had stretched one of their two opponents to the limits in a best-of-five match to open the week. Fremont pushed Mountain View into a fifth and deciding game before losing a match early in the week. The Spartans won the first game 15-11, but Fremont came back with a 15-11 win of its own in the second game. Mountain View won 15-9 in the third game, but once more the Firebirds matched the effort with a 15-9 win in game four. Mountain View eventually pulled out the victory in the hard-fought match with a 15-7 win in the fifth and deciding game. Fremont lost 15-4, 15-3, 15-12 to Cupertino later in the week. The Firebirds are now 0-10 in the El Camino Division. Homestead, meanwhile, slipped to 4-5 in the division with a 15-17, 15-4, 15-8, 15-10 loss to Gunn. The Mustangs took part in the Milpitas Spikefest last weekend, and they ended up sixth in the Gold Division. Homestead lost 15-12, 15-3 to league rival Cupertino in the fifth-place match. Homestead had beaten Hillsdale (15-10, 15-6), Notre Dame-Salinas (15-8, 11-15, 15-10) and Milpitas (15-11, 15-9) earlier in the tournament. The Mustangs lost 15-9, 15-6 to Los Altos. Over in the Christian Private Schools League, the King's Academy improved to 8-0 with a 15-1, 13-15, 15-1, 16-14 win over Liberty Baptist. The Knights had opened the week with a 15-5, 15-10, 15-13 win over San Francisco Christian. King's is now 15-9 for the year. Girls' tennis Theresa Phan nailed a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles to start the Fremont girls tennis team on the road to a 6-1 win over Santa Clara in El Camino Division play last week. The Firebirds are now 4-8 in the division. Nina Nguyen supported with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles Tri Hoang won 7-5, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Fremont swept in doubles play with Cindy Ly and Jennifer Ho teaming for a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 1, Tarang Saini and Virginia Li combining for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 2 and Michelle Pangilian and Van-Anh Nguyen joining forces for a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 3. Field hockey Catrina Olivo knocked in two goals to lift the Fremont girls field hockey team to a 2-0 win over Gunderson in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. The Firebirds and Grizzlies played to a scoreless in the first half, but Olivo buried a pair of goals in the second half to help Fremont pull out the win. The Firebirds are now 2-3 in the division and Gunderson slipped to 0-5. Homestead, meanwhile, battled Saratoga to a 1-1 tie in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL. The Mustangs are now 3-2-2. The Falcons took a 1-0 lead at the half, but Michelle Wald scored in the second half to tie things for the Mustangs. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 28, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.