Now it's not, though ... it was last Saturday.

The Firebirds pulled out an exciting 13-10 win over rival Homestead last Thursday to advance to the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division championship game against Wilcox on Saturday. Fremont came out on the short end of the 13-10 score this time around, but it was still a significant showing for the Firebirds to get the final division game.

And they did it by winning eight straight games, including the Nov. 6 win over the Mustangs.

Seniors Gordon Cameron, Andrew Amm and Tony Zhu led the scoring for the Firebirds in the important win over Homestead. Cameron led the way with five goals, Amm added four and Zhu hit three. Senior Antonio Coelho rounded out the scoring with a goal.

Homestead seniors Brian Bucher and Adam Hock led the way for the Mustangs. Bucher had three goals in the loss and Hock hit one. Juniors Dan Gossard, Taemin Oh, Kenny Russum and Thomas Denton and freshman Derek Lee also scored goals for Homestead.

Fremont coach Jacob Headley singled out Marc Boyer and Stephan Shimshock for "outstanding defensive games" and added that goalkeeper Patrick Samuels played well enough to earn the game ball.

"He played his best game of the season," said Headley of the soph0more goalie. Samuels held the Mustangs to just three goals in the first half.

Homestead took the early lead with an unanswered goal in the first period, but Fremont outscored the Mustangs 4-2 in the second quarter to lead 4-3 at the half. The clubs matched four goals in the third, then Fremont pulled away by topping Homestead 5-3 in the fourth.

The win pushed the Firebirds into the league championship game against Wilcox, but Fremont lost 13-10 to the Chargers. Cameron fired in five goals to lead the 'Birds and Coelho added three goals. Amm and Shimshock tossed in one apiece.

Homestead clinched third place in the league tournament with a 16-12 win over Lynbrook the same day. Bucher led the Mustangs with five goals and Russum and Denton had four apiece. Hock added two goals and Oh had one.

Junior Brian Yen led the Vikings with five goals.

Fremont had opened the league tourney with a rousing 15-8 win over Lynbrook. The clubs were locked in a 2-2 tie after a period, but Fremont outscored the Vikes 4-1, 6-4 and 3-1 in each of the last three periods to cruise to the win.

Am, Zhu and Cameron pitched in four goals each to lead the Firebirds to the lopsided win. Coelho supported with two goals and freshman Kevin Knopf had one. Samuels was impressive in the goal for Fremont.

Yen led the Vikings with three goals and sophomore Bora Titizer added two. Kevin Piercy, Elliott Fine and Ryan Brunmeir scored a goal each for Lynbrook. Sophomore Steve Lorenzen and freshman Steven Nguyen shared time in the goal for the Vikes.

Prior to the league tourney, the Firebirds pulled out a thrilling 24-20 double-overtime win over Homestead in the Fremont pool on Nov. 4. Goals by Cameron, Amm, Coelho and Zhu in overtime helped the Firebirds pull out the victory.

Fremont had wrapped up the El Camino Division regular season with a 20-11 win over Santa Clara.

Cameron poured in an impressive eight goals in the victory and Coelho added four. Zhu and Amm hit three goals apiece and freshmen Alex Hargrove and Michael Bursky had one each. Samuels was a force in the goal for Fremont.

The Firebirds were coming off of an impressive showing in the Monta Vista Invitational, where they won three straight games to take the Fremont pool championship (there were also winners in the Saratoga and Los Altos pools).

Fremont knocked off Piedmont Hills 21-16, Carmel 10-8 and Valley Christian 12-10.

Cameron scored a team-high 15 goals in the three games. Amm tossed in 13, Zhu added six, Coelho four, Shimshock three and Boyer and Hargrove one each. Samuels was in the goal for all three wins.

Volleyball

The Central Coast Section volleyball tournaments begin this week, and Homestead and Lynbrook are set to open play in Division II action.

The Vikings, the No. 9 seed with a 15-11 season record, will open at Westmont (23-13) and the Mustangs, the No. 10 seed and 20-17 for the year, will open at Leigh (24-13). Both matches begin at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12.

The Lynbrook-Westmont winner will move on to Leland on Nov. 15, 5 p.m., to face No. 1 seed Mitty (27-3), and the Homestead-Leigh winner will advance to the quarterfinals at No. 2 Los Gatos (30-4) at Aptos on Nov. 15, 1 p.m.

Homestead wrapped up the El Camino Division season with a 25-18, 25-21, 25-16 win over Fremont last week. The Mustangs ended up 8-4 in division play while the Firebirds finished 5-7. Fremont was 8-13 for the season.

The same day, Lynbrook whipped Cupertino 25-20, 25-19, 25-10 to finish 6-6 in the division. Cupertino was 2-10 and 8-20 overall.