No, there were not two scoreless ties. There were no games at all!

Power outages at both Cupertino High and Diesner Field left four teams in the dark. Fremont, amped up to kick off El Camino Division play against Lynbrook, and Homestead, set to meet Gunn in its De Anza opener, left both teams in the dark. Without lights, both games were postponed.

Neither Fremont nor Homestead lost power overnight, however. Led by powerful running attacks, both teams captured their league openers on Oct. 2.

The Firebirds, who had managed one touchdown in three non-league games, scored one in every quarter against Lynbrook en route to a 30-6 triumph. Meanwhile, Homestead senior Chris Morris ran for four touchdowns to lead a 32-14 win.

Both teams resume league play against Santa Clara schools that will be seeking their first league win this week. In its homecoming game, Homestead hosts Wilcox at Diesner Field on Oct. 8, 6:15 p.m. Fremont travels to Santa Clara the next day for a 2:30 p.m. contest. Last week, Wilcox lost 21-0 to Los Gatos and Santa Clara lost 29-0 to Mountain View.

Fremont coach Andy Walczak hopes his Firebirds have the same offensive firepower against Santa Clara that it did against Lynbrook.

Fremont scored on its first drive after junior Nathan Cathcart returned the opening kick-off to midfield. Another junior, quarterback Cookie Mills, capped the drive with a 2-yard run.

Mills connected with Kevin Jullian on a 51-yard pass for a touchdown in the second quarter. Jason Custer kicked the extra point for a 13-0 Fremont lead.

Lynbrook cut the lead to 13-6 when senior quarterback Mike Thurman passed 25 yards to Daniel Kim late in the first half. Thurman had engineered a nice Lynbrook drive in the first quarter, but it stalled at Fremont's 8-yard line and ended when Cathcart blocked a 25-yard field goal attempt.

It was all Fremont in the second half, as the bigger Firebirds stretched their lead on a 61-yard sweep by speedy senior Shawn Church in the third quarter and a 9-yard bolt by rugged junior Joe Maes in the fourth. Custer, who tacked on PAT kicks after both second-half touchdowns, added a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Church's run around left end was made possible by the blocking of slotback Juan Arce, tight end Harold Su, tackle Emil Frazier and lead back Cathcart.

Su, Frazier, left guard Ruben Chagoya, center Mark Pariaszevski, right guard Sean Garrett and right tackle Alex Tucker opened holes all afternoon for the Fremont backs. In fact, Fremont attempted just four passes and punted just once, while racking up more than 300 yards in total offense.

Frazier paced the defense with a pair of quarterback sacks and Mills intercepted a pass.

Homestead romps

Homestead's running game also was in high gear. The Mustangs jumped all over Gunn from the outset, opening up a 26-7 halftime lead. Morris, who finished the afternoon with 196 rushing yards, scored on runs of 20, 40 and seven yards in the first half.

Homestead took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for its first score, a 19-yard pass play from Jake Mecchi to Aaron Hickson. Tyler Dailey's PAT kick made it 7-0. On the Mustangs' next drive, Morris turned a fourth-and-one play at the Titans' 20 into another score. Morris burst through a hole on the left side by guard Grant Martinez and tackle John Paul Lopez and sprinted into the end zone. Dailey's kick made it 14-0.

Gunn trimmed the score to 14-7, but the Mustangs picked up two more Morris scoring runs before the intermission. Morris tagged on his final scoring romp, a 53-yarder, midway through the fourth quarter.

Homestead's offense had a sloppy third quarter, fumbling the ball away three times, but the Mustangs' hard-working defense hung tough and allowed just one touchdown in the entire second half.

Tom Andrews, who led the Mustangs with 11 tackles, was part of a fierce pass rush that helped keep Gunn's offense in check. Andrews, Lopez, Shawn Goldberg, Greg Jackson and Marc Robinson worked together to apply pressure on the Titan quarterback.

Meanwhile, defensive backs Dailey, Tim Kimball, Jay Atkins, Brian Backo and Craig Moberg were providing good coverage downfield on Gunn's receivers.

Homestead received a scare in the first quarter when Atkins, who provides the Mustangs with a quality complimentary back to Morris, was injured and had to leave the game. He did return to play defense in the second half.

Ahead just 14-7, the Mustangs gained good field position on a 44-yard punt return by Hickson to midfield. Soon thereafter, from Gunn's 40, Morris took a toss around left end, then cut back against the grain and rambled up the right sideline for his second touchdown of the day and a 20-7 lead.

Kings pulls out tie

Backup quarterback Steve Lim's 27-yard scoring pitch to Sammy Sussman as time expired and the ensuing two-point run by David Norris enabled The Kings Academy to salvage a 22-22 tie against visiting Albany on Oct. 2.

The Knights' last-second heroics in the non-league game against the East Bay Athletic League school preserved their unbeaten status. The Knights now are 3-0-1 heading into Friday night's 7:30 p.m. clash against Tomales, a North Coast Section small-school power.

Lim, who entered the game earlier in the fourth quarter when Tim Liu was sidelined with an injury, barely had enough time to get off the final play. Out of timeouts, the Knights gained a few seconds by picking up first downs on each of the previous two plays.

After Norris ran for 10 yards and Sussman—on a double-reverse pass—connected with Kyle Tompane for 33 yards, the officials stopped the clock to reset the chains.

On a first-and-10 from Albany's 27, trailing 22-14, Lim dropped back and found Sussman open for the Knights' first points of the second half. Norris, who had kicked PATs following two Kings touchdowns in the first half, ran for the two-point conversion and a tie.

Kings and Albany traded touchdowns in the first two periods. Norris' 30-yard run and PAT kick put the Knights ahead 7-0, but Albany answered with a 15-yard run and a two-point PAT for an 8-7 lead.

In the second quarter Kings regained the lead on Paul Montoro's 1-yard run. Norris' kick made it 14-8. Again Albany responded with a touchdown run and a two-point conversion for a 16-14 halftime lead.

Cross country

Kevin Schneider ran like the wind last Thursday. And because of it, he breezed to an easy victory in the Central Park Invitational 2.3-mile run.

Schneider, a Fremont junior, ran 11:43.1 to finish a full seven seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Herrel Siller Jr. (11:50.1), a senior from Palo Alto.

Siller helped Paly to a third-place berth in the team standings, but it was Los Gatos taking home the title.

Sophomore Matthew Petrillo (12:06.4), who was coming off of a Firebird Invitational win, was fourth to lead the Wildcats.

Also finishing in the top 20 in the boys race were Luis Jensen of Lynbrook, seventh in 12:15.7; Xi-Lin Yeh of Cupertino, 12th in 12:30.8; and Elijah Carrillo of Fremont, 14th in 12:33.1.

Kevin Sparrer contributed to this story.