The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Spartans run over Fremont in 40-14 win

By Greg Lydon

Overpowered and seemingly overmatched in the trenches, Fremont was run over by Mountain View 40-14 on Friday night at Diesner Field.

The Firebirds opened the season with a win over Jefferson last week 31-14 in Daly City, but didn't receive the offensive production they got in week one on Friday against an upstart Spartans.

Mountain View was shut out against Gilroy in its home opener but quickly showed a packed stadium that the offense would put some points on the board against the Firebirds.

Junior tailback Dijon Hall led the way for the Spartans with 22 carries for 170 yards and three touchdowns. Shane Cooley also chipped in with six carries for 50 yards as Mountain View gashed the Firebirds up the middle all evening with big runs.

Fremont's top running back, Patrick Washington, was held in check by the Mountain View defense as he carried the ball 14 times for only 39 yards. Dual running and receiving threat Kenney Pope had three carries for 33 yards to go along with his six catches for 69 yards and a touchdown to open the second quarter for Fremont. Mobile quarterback Kevin Woods was 9 of 18 for 111 yards on the night for Fremont with two touchdown passes.

Quarterback Jeff Jalaba was 7 of 12 throwing for 99 yards and three touchdown passes, as the Spartans received a solid effort from their senior signal-caller.

Jalaba opened the scoring on the opening drive for the Spartans, finding Hall on a eight-yard swing pass for a touchdown early in the first quarter.

Hall continued to slip through the cracks of the Firebird defense as Mountain View made it two-for-two on touchdown drives in the first quarter, opening up a 14-0 lead after one quarter of play.

"We missed about 10,000 tackles tonight," Fremont coach Ron DeMonner said after the defeat. "It's a good lesson for us that if we don't play better in the trenches, this is what will happen for us. Our young kids will keep battling and getting better, but clearly the better club won tonight."

The Fremont offense woke up the home crowd on the first play of the second quarter when Woods hit speedy Pope on a 43-yard touchdown to slice the Mountain View lead to 14-7.

"My coach had confidence in me when I told him that play would work and he let me call it," Woods said. "It was a stop and go route but the corner was too far off so I just tried to get a lot on the throw and Kenney ran under it for the big play."

Two Mountain View defenders collided attempting to deflect the pass as Pope glided underneath the ball before breaking away for the big touchdown play.

"I wanted to get more on the throw than I did," Woods said. "But when I saw the guys run into each other, it felt really good to get that big play. The first quarter was tough--we needed that."

The Fremont defense forced three fumbles on the evening. Daunte Mills and Robbie Weir each punched the ball loose from Mountain View running backs, but the ball didn't bounce Fremont's way none of the fumbles were recovered by the Firebirds.

The defense kept fighting for the home team as it stopped more damage late in the second quarter as Fremont safety Adam Staton intercepted a Jalaba pass on the 2-yard line to prevent Mountain View from extending its 27-7 lead.

Woods had another big play left in him on the opening drive of the fourth quarter. After finding wide out Jordan Sever on back-to-back pass plays, Woods rolled out and hit a streaking Robert Ramirez, who rumbled 33 yards for a touchdown down the far sideline to give Fremont its final score of the game.

"I want to be a leader on this team," Woods said. "Tonight was rough, but I think every game left on our schedule is a game we can win. We just need to be more consistent up front and make sure everyone is calm going into the game."

Bad news came late in the fourth quarter for Fremont as Pope took a direct snap blazing down the right sideline for a 10-yard gain, but twisted his ankle on the play.

"When I brought him in to try out the package we worked on and saw him get the first down, I looked like a genius, then he got hurt and I got very concerned," DeMonner said. "We need him to be healthy to be successful."

Fremont will take its 1-1 season record on the road this week to visit San Jose Academy on Sept. 22, 1:30 p.m.