As a talented, but inexperienced ninth-grade runner in 2003, Matt Petrillo of Los Gatos High placed 15th in the Firebird Invitational, a race hosted each cross country season by Fremont High School. Twelve months later, as a sophomore with a full season and a spring track campaign under his belt, Petrillo is the overall champion of the 2004 Firebird event.

Petrillo, running 47 seconds faster than a year ago, was the first of 113 varsity boys to complete the flat 2.05-mile course on and around the Fremont athletic fields on Sept. 16. His winning time of 10:08 was four seconds better than runner-up Eric Dam of Milpitas and six better than Fremont junior Kevin Schneider, who placed third.

Saratoga senior Hari Iver (10:32), last year's individual champ, and junior teammate Ken Douglas (10:39) placed sixth and seventh, respectively, leading their team to the varsity boys crown.

Los Gatos was second out of 18 complete boys varsity teams with 105, followed by 2003 champ Santa Clara (122), Mountain View (145), Cupertino (171), Fremont (175) and Homestead (181).

There was a change at the top in the girls varsity team competition, but the individual winner for the third year in a row was Alicia Follmar. The Saratoga senior clocked 11:30, easily the best time among the 110 finishers. She was well ahead of the next three finishers, sophomores Julianne Hansen (12:11) of Cupertino and MayC Huang (12:23) of Lynbrook and Prospect senior Becky Palm (12:30).

Led by Hansen's second-place effort, Cupertino's varsity girls were impressive winners. The Pioneers claimed five of the top 20 spots, and their total of 59 points easily outdistanced runner-up Castilleja (128) and the 12 other schools with complete teams. Mountain View (134) placed third, The Kings Academy (146) fourth, Lynbrook (165) fifth and Saratoga (170) sixth.

Medals were awarded to the top 20 finishers in both the varsity races. The top 15 placers in the boys junior varsity and frosh-soph races and the 10 fastest junior varsity girls also earned medals.

Fremont's Elijah Castillo (10:50) was eighth, Luis Jensen (10:52) of Lynbrook ninth, Sean Robinson (10:59) of Kings 13th, Xi-Lin Yen (11:05) of Cupertino 14th, Rishi Agarwal (11:08) of Homestead 15th and Michael Pickens (11:22) of Westmont was 20th.

For Homestead, David Pochowski was 29th in 11:38, Chris Cook 39th in 11:54 and Marcor Gaeta 41st in 11:55. Joe Sereda of Kings placed 33rd with a time of 11:40, and Fremont runners Mark Mannigan and Estrada Crisbotel took 48th and 50th, respectively.

Medalists in the varsity girls race included Jessica Wacker (11th) of Westmont, Jessica Douglas (12th) of Saratoga and Kristen Butelo (19th) of Kings.

Nikki Kenney (21st) was host Fremont's top finisher. Kelly Cochran of Kings was 23rd.

Kings had three runners among the next nine places: Monica Monari (31st), Emily Henderson (34th) and Kim Henderson (39th). Homestead's Madeline Weeks (43rd) also cracked the top 50.

Football

In soccer and hockey, it's a big deal when a player scores a "hat trick," a three-goal performance in a single game. Although the points flow more freely in football, a three-touchdown effort by one player still is not a common event.

Uncommon efforts by Cupertino High running back Bronson Farr and Homestead wide receiver Craig Moberg led their teams to non-league road victories last weekend in San Mateo County.

Farr, a powerful 232-pound senior, ran for 287 yards and three touchdowns in Cupertino's 26-12 win over Hillsdale of San Mateo on Sept. 18.

A day earlier, Moberg made three scoring catches in Homestead's 35-20 win against Capuchino of San Bruno. The 5-foot-10, 165-pounder scored Homestead's first six points on an interception return, then later hooked up with quarterback Jake Mecchi for a couple of TD passes.

Cupertino, now 1-1, plays its home opener on Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., against Los Gatos. Homestead takes a 2-0 record into a 3:15 p.m. game the next day at Monta Vista (0-1-1), which lost 12-0 to Willow Glen last week.

Two other local teams were shut out last weekend. Lynbrook fell 13-0 to Prospect at Cupertino, and Fremont lost 52-0 at Independence. Fremont (1-1) tries to rebound against visiting Saratoga Thursday night at 7:30 p.m., and Lynbrook travels to Wilcox for a 3 p.m. game on Friday.

After Capuchino turned what Homestead coach Charlie Bostic called "two blown coverages" into two long scoring passes and a 12-0 first-quarter advantage, the Mustangs did not hang their heads. Instead, Homestead's defense came up with a long scoring play of its own early in the second quarter.

Moberg intercepted a Capuchino pass and returned it 50 yards for the Mustangs' first score of the day.

"The kids really battled back," Bostic said. "Being a day game and getting down 12-0 early, it would have been easy to play in slow motion and not bounce back against such a hard-hitting team as Capuchino."

Moberg, a three-sport athlete who did not play football last year, scored again late in the period on a 22-yard toss from Mecchi. Tyler Daily booted the second of his five PAT kicks to give Homestead a 14-12 lead at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Mecchi-to-Moberg combination clicked again for a 10-yard touchdown. Daily's PAT made the score 21-12, and that's how it stayed until the final minute, when 22 points were scored.

Homestead running back Chris Morris turned a fourth-and-eight situation into a 15-yard scoring romp with just 35 seconds left in the game. Morris, who had set up the previous score with a terrific 80-yard run, finished with 146 yards on 25 carries.

After Homestead's kickoff, Capuchino's first play resulted in a long scoring run. A two-point conversion pulled Capuchino to 28-20 with 15 seconds left. Then, with Homestead's "hands team" in the game anticipating a short kick, Cap's kicker pooched his kick over the bunched-up Mustangs. Daily alertly fielded the bouncing ball and raced up the left sideline and into the end zone.

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Bostic, who had expected the final 30 seconds to be a bit less dramatic.

Aside from Cap's three "big play" touchdowns, the home team found the going tough against Homestead's defense. Inside linebacker Robert Ricana (nine) and lineman Grant Martinez (six) were the Mustangs' leading tacklers. Nose guard Matt Diehl and Marc Robinson also helped shut down Capuchino's running game.