The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Everyone but Saratoga is rooting for Fremont

By Mike Barnhart

Most of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division will be rooting for Fremont to win its next football game this Saturday night.

The explosive Firebirds, who evened their division record at 1-1 with a 31-26 victory at Gunn last Friday night, likely will be everyone's choice except Saratoga.

After their 24-19 win over Homestead, the Falcons fly into the 7:30 p.m. contest at Diesner Field on Oct. 20 as division co-leaders with Lynbrook.

A win at Fremont would improve the Falcons' El Camino slate to 3-0, but the Firebirds can tighten the EC title race if they can knock off Saratoga for the first time in 17 years. After Fremont's 35-14 triumph in 1990, Saratoga has won eight meetings in a row between the schools, including a 41-21 decision last season.

Lynbrook (2-0, 4-2 overall) and Monta Vista (2-0-1, 3-2-1), who will collide at Cupertino on Oct. 19, 7 p.m., both are hoping for a Saratoga loss. The Lynbrook-Monta Vista survivor then would be the only El Camino team without a loss.

The weekend's division schedule will begin on Oct. 18 as Cupertino hosts Gunn in a match-up of teams looking to halt 0-3 division skids. Homestead (1-1-1, 4-1-1), scheduled to play its homecoming game against Mountain View at Diesner Field on Oct. 19, 6:15 p.m., will try for its fourth non-league win of the year against an "A" division team.

Fremont senior Daunte Mills ran for 126 yards and scored two touchdowns to pace the Firebirds' win at Gunn.

Mills' 26-yard TD romp with 7:05 left in the game proved to be the difference, as the Titans rallied for 14 points late. Earlier, Mills scored Fremont's only points of the first half on an 11-yard pass from quarterback Kevin Woods.

After a 6-6 first half, the Firebirds scored 18 points in the third quarter. Junior Harrison Waid's 26-yard field goal gave Fremont its first lead at 9-6.

Woods and Kenney Pope hooked up for a 46-yard TD pass with 7:41 to play in the third period quarter. Mills, the holder for place kicks, scored two points, after turning a high snap into a PAT run. He took a high snap, ran to his left, juked a defender and got over the line for two points.

Woods capped the third-period scoring with his third scoring toss of the night, a 24-yarder to sophomore Jordan Sever, who finished with four catches for 60 yards.

Junior fullback Patrick Washington rammed the ball inside 22 times for 94 yards, and junior Matt Alva intercepted two passes for Fremont.

Knights fall 37-33

Despite three touchdown passes by The King's Academy's Tim Mohnhaupt, Salesian of Richmond overcame a three-point deficit with a late, 80-yard touchdown march and won the early-season Bay Football League showdown 37-33 Saturday night in Sunnyvale.

Mohnhaupt completed 10 of 13 passes for 150 yards, including a 10-yarder to junior Ben Sussman that gave the Knights a 33-30 lead with 4:20 remaining. The junior quarterback and Sussman also connected on a four-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.