The Willow Glen Resident Photograph by George Sakkestad Behind the Lines: Pioneer sophomore Shane Esposito comes through with a quarterback sack in last Friday's clash with Yerba Buena. The Mustangs rolled to a 28-6 win over the Warriors. Mustangs roll to win over Yerba Buena By Dick Sparrer It took the Pioneer football team a little while to get rolling last Friday--about 12 minutes. But once the Mustangs started to move, there was no way the Yerba Buena Warriors were going to stop them from recording their first win of the 1998 season. Pioneer rolled to a 28-6 win over the Warriors, marking the first varsity win for new head coach Mark Krail. Don't confuse that, however, with Krail's first win ever at Pioneer. The former Willow Glen High quarterback won his share of games for the Mustangs when he served as the school's head varsity baseball coach and head frosh-soph football coach for many years. But Krail left Pioneer three years ago to become the athletic director at Lincoln. When veteran football coach Myron Zaccheo retired after last season, Krail returned to the school where he had taught and coached for more than a decade, this time as the head varsity football coach. And in that role, he claimed his first victory last Friday afternoon--thanks in no small part to the tandem of Greg Haskell and Kevin Gray. Haskell, Pioneer's talented senior quarterback, completed eight of 12 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown, and Gray pulled down three tosses for 54 yards and the one score. It was a 16-yard pass from Haskell to Gray on a crucial third down play that helped the Mustangs move in for their first touchdown of the day. But it was Sean Sarsfield who was the key player on the drive. The sophomore back caught a Haskell pass for 10 yards, broke a run 18 yards and finally scooted 14 yards for the touchdown with 11:02 left in the half. Nick Harrison kicked the first of his four extra points, and the Mustangs were up 7-0. That's how it remained until late in the half, when Haskell hit Gray for 33 yards and Sarsfield for 15 more to set up a five-yard toss to Gray for the score. Haskell lobbed a pass into the left corner of the end zone, and Gray leaped high in the air to come down the football. The Warriors couldn't stop Pioneer for the rest of the day. The Mustangs drove for touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half, then cleared the bench. Bryan Collins carried four times for 33 yards, including a nine-yard TD run, on Pioneer's first possession of the second half. A 19-yard pass from Haskell to Jeff Luu set up the final Pioneer touchdown, a 31-yard run by Mike Wiens. Wiens led a solid ground attack for the Mustangs with 61 yards on 10 carries. Collins supported with 59 yards on nine tries, and Sarsfield had 47 yards on 12 carries. In all, the Pioneer backs ran for 210 yards behind a solid offensive line of tight end Travis Murdock, tackles Jason Murdock and Kevin Sparrer, guards Grant Murdock and Tony Esposito and center Nick DaValle. The Pioneer defense held Yerba Buena to just 179 total yards, most of that coming late in the game when the Warriors drove 59 yards for their only touchdown. Linebacker Sal Baglione led the Mustangs defensively with eight tackles, and J. Murdock, Ted Lopez and Brian Davis were in on four tackles each. Davis intercepted a pass. Shane Esposito and Nelson Oliveira each sacked the Yerba Buena quarterback. Pioneer, now 1-1, will return home this week to host James Lick on Sept. 26, 1:30 p.m. The Comets are 0-2 in the young season. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, September 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.