SPORTS

Mustangs trample Silver Creek 38-0

Pioneer racks up 410 yards on offense, improves to 5-0 on the season

By Diego Abeloos
Sports writer

The Pioneer football team extended its’ winning streak to five games, shutting out Silver Creek 38-0 on the road on Oct. 7.

Pioneer’s Jerry Barnes reached up to make the catch during a 38-0 win over Silver Creek on Oct. 7. Barnes finished with 31 yards receiving and a touchdown, while also intercepting pass on defense for the Mustangs. Photo by Ron Reed

The Pioneer offense put together its best work in the second half of the game, scoring four touchdowns—two each in the third and fourth quarters—to come away with the 38-point victory and remain perfect on the season with a 5-0 overall record and a 2-0 record in the Mt. Hamilton Division.

“We kind of anticipated the game to unfold this way,” said Pioneer Head Coach Mark Krail. “They (Silver Creek) are a very well-coached team and they understand our offense as well as anybody. They defend us well. It was just a matter of persevering and keeping on and that’s exactly what we were able to do.”

Things remained close for both teams throughout the first half, which saw the Mustangs go up 7-0 with three seconds left in the first quarter on a 1-yard run by Nick D’Antonio. The score came on a 13-play, 81-yard drive that saw the Mustangs register 76 yards rushing, including 54 yards on four carries from Shaun Souza. Souza finished the game with 100 yards rushing on 17 carries, while D’Antonio racked up 89 yards rushing on eight carries and three touchdowns.

“He’s a great young man,” Krail said of D’Antonio. “Nick’s just kind of an unsung hero. He’s there every day, every snap at practice, he’s playing tough. We count on him and he’s having the senior year he’s hoped for.”

Meanwhile, the Pioneer defense held the Raiders at bay, but not without a pair of tense drives that saw Silver Creek move the ball well into Mustang territory.

Following the first Mustang scoring drive, the Raiders drove the ball from their own 20 to the Pioneer 18. On the drive, Raiders running back D.J. Martinez carried the ball four times for 21 yards, while quarterback Tony Barajas completed a 22-yard pass to tight end David Carranza.

But after a holding penalty moved the Raiders back to the Pioneer 30, Barajas tossed an interception into the hands of D’Antonio at the Pioneer 4, ending a potential scoring drive.

On the following offensive series for the Raiders, Barajas turned the ball over once again, fumbling at the Pioneer 29 after getting hit by Eddie Hsieh, with Pioneer’s Dan Alvord recovering the ball at the Mustang 43.

That play stalled a Raiders drive that began at the Silver Creek 45 and quickly moved downfield on two Barajas passes totaling 24 yards and two yards rushing from Martinez.

The fumble recovery allowed the Pioneer offense to move the ball 49 yards downfield, ending with a 25-yard field goal from kicker Kyle Burchfiel with 2 seconds left in the first half for a 10-0 lead.

The second half saw the Mustangs take control of the game with two touchdowns in both the third and fourth quarters.

On their first offensive series of the second half, the Mustangs drove the ball 50 yards on nine plays, ending with a 14-yard touchdown run from D’Antonio with 6:28 left in the third quarter for a 17-0 lead.

Less than four minutes later, the Mustangs were on the board again, moving the ball 82 yards on five plays for a 24-0 lead. On the drive, quarterback Chris Foley completed a 32-yard pass to Souza to put the Mustangs near midfield before D’Antonio completed the drive with a 41-yard touchdown run with 2:38 left in the third for a 24-0 lead.

Foley completed 7 of 12 passes on the day for 105 yards and a touchdown pass.

“We have so many offensive weapons. Our backs are so good,” D’Antonio said of the running attack against the Raiders. “We work hard and pick each other up. I block for you, you block for me. Our offensive line gave us some good blocking.”

On their next offensive series, the Mustangs again reached the end zone, putting together a 65-yard scoring drive that saw Dan Landucci carry the ball twice for 28 yards. Souza completed the drive with 9:48 left in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 6-yard run for a 31-0 lead.

“It’s good to help the team, especially on fourth-and-short and when we really need it to get into the end zone,” Landucci said of his role on the team.

Landucci complemented the Mustang running attack with 76 yards on 10 carries, adding to a team total of 305 rushing yards on the night.

“He put out a great effort, he really did,” Krail said of Landucci. “Danny always does. Between the tackles, there’s nobody better. He ran the ball extremely well.”

The Mustangs finished off the game with their fourth scoring drive of the second half, which was set up when Jerry Barnes intercepted a Barajas pass at the Pioneer 40 and returned it for a touchdown, which was called back on an illegal block downfield.

Still, the play set the Pioneer offense up at the Silver Creek 27, scoring on the seventh play of the series when Foley found Barnes on a screen pass, resulting in a 15-yard touchdown play that saw Barnes pull off a spin move, freeing him up to run in for a touchdown with 5:15 left for a 38-0 lead.

“Jerry’s been a great addition to our team,” Krail said. “He plays offense and defense and brings another element to our game. He’s another one that we count on pretty heavily.”

The Mustangs’ homecoming game is Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m., when the team will square off against Branham.

Sports Briefs

South Valley Lacrosse Chiefs offer free clinic Oct. 15;
spring league registration now open
South Valley Lacrosse Chiefs are offering a free clinic for kids in grades three through eight on Oct.15 from 10 a.m. to noon at Kirk Park in San Jose. 

The Chiefs are adding a seventh/eighth grade team in spring, 2005. The free clinic gives newcomers a chance to try the sport before they purchase equipment (loaner sticks available on first-come, first-served basis). So bring a friend and come have some fun with lacrosse.

For those children interested in learning more about lacrosse, SVLC will be offering an introductory course for school-age kids (second grade through eighth). Fee is $35 for all three dates, Oct 8, 22 and 29 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (equipment will be provided).

Go to www.svlax.com for all details.

All interested lacrosse players: online registration for our spring league continues through Nov. 30.  See www.svlax.com and contact joy.bender@prodigy.net with questions.

Almaden National Junior Basketball League sign-ups
Almaden National Junior Basketball League sign-ups are currently available online at www.almadennjb.homestead.com/ for boys and girls third through eighth grade. In-person sign-ups are Sept. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Amato’s Pizza, 6081 Meridian Ave. For more information call Ken Keiser at 592-4190 or e-mail: hoppekeiz@aol.com.

The Leland Spirit Squad invites you to Homecoming 2005
The Leland Spirit Squad and their families are hard at work planning this year’s homecoming events. In addition to celebrating Charger pride, the Leland homecoming is the Spirit Squad’s largest fund-raiser of the year.

This year’s theme is “Vegas Nights” and the girls along with their parents will transform the Leland cafeteria into the fabulous Las Vegas strip for the homecoming dance.

The celebrations kick off on Thursday Oct. 27 at 7 p.m., when the community and alumni are invited to attend the rally in the Leland gymnasium. The evening will be filled with music, appearances by the 2005 Homecoming royalty and skits performed by the Leland Spirit Squad and football players. Also, a special presentation will be given to this year’s seniors and their parents honoring their hard work and dedication in spirit, football and band.

The homecoming games will be at Pat Tillman Stadium on the Leland campus on Friday Oct. 28. The competition begins when the Leland Chargers JV team takes on the Silver Creek Raiders at 5 p.m. The varsity game follows at 7:30 p.m.

High School Sports Schedule

Leland High School
Friday – Varsity boys’ water polo at Live Oak Tournament, all day

Saturday – Varsity football vs. Independence, 1:15 p.m.
Saturday – Frosh/soph football vs. Independence, 10:30 a.m.
Saturday – Varsity boys’ water polo at Live Oak Tournament, all day
Saturday – Frosh/soph boys’ water polo at Monte Vista Tournament, all day

Tuesday – Varsity boys’ water polo at Lincoln, 3 p.m.
Tuesday – Girls’ tennis at Independence, 3:15 p.m.
Tuesday – Varsity field hockey at Westmont, 3 p.m.
Tuesday – JV field hockey at Westmont, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday – Varsity girls’ volleyball at Westmont, 6 p.m.
Tuesday – JV girls’ volleyball at Westmont, 5 p.m.
Tuesday – Varsity girls’ water polo vs. Pioneer at Independence, 5 p.m.
Tuesday – JV girls’ water polo vs. Pioneer at Independence, 4 p.m.

Thursday – Varsity boys’ water polo vs. Mt. Pleasant at Lincoln, 4 p.m.
Thursday – Frosh/soph boys’ water polo vs. Mt. Pleasant at Lincoln, 5 p.m.
Thursday – Girls’ tennis vs. Pioneer, 3:15 p.m.
Thursday – Varsity field hockey at Cupertino, 3 p.m.
Thursday – JV field hockey at Cupertino, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday – Varsity girls’ volleyball at Overfelt, 6 p.m.
Thursday – JV girls’ volleyball at Overfelt, 5 p.m.
Thursday – Cross country vs. Santa Teresa at Montgomery Hill, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday – Varsity girls’ water polo at Independence, 4 p.m.
Thursday – JV girls’ water polo at Independence, 3 p.m.

Pioneer High School
Saturday – Varsity football vs. Branham, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday – Frosh/soph football vs. Branham, 11 a.m.

Tuesday – Varsity girls’ volleyball vs. Prospect, 5 p.m.
Tuesday – JV girls’ volleyball vs. Prospect, 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday – Varsity boys’ water polo vs. Mt. Pleasant at Lincoln, 5 p.m.
Tuesday – Frosh/soph boys’ water polo vs. Mt. Pleasant at Lincoln, 4 p.m.
Tuesday – Varsity girls’ water polo vs. Leland at Independence, 5 p.m.
Tuesday – JV girls’ water polo vs. Leland at Independence, 4 p.m.

Thursday – Varsity girls’ water polo at Willow Glen, 3 p.m.
Thursday – Girls’ tennis at Leland, 3:15 p.m.
Thursday – Varsity girls’ volleyball vs. San Jose High, 5 p.m.
Thursday – JV girls’ volleyball vs. San Jose High, 3:30 p.m.

For more information about Leland and Pioneer sporting events, go to:

Pioneer Athletics: http://www.phsathletics.com
Leland Athletics: http://www.lelandathletics.com
Blossom Valley Athletic League: http://www.bval.org

Chargers lose 42-14 at Branham, even league record at 1-1

Bruins’ running game sinks Leland with six rushing TDs

By Diego Abeloos
Sports Writer

The Leland football squad snapped a modest two-game winning streak, dropping a 42-14 road loss to Branham on Oct. 7.

Leland quarterback Kyle Walker calls the signals at the line of scrimmage during a 42-14 loss to Branham on Oct. 7. Walker threw two touchdown passes on the day, including a fourth quarter touchdown pass to twin brother Brennan Walker. Photo by Kevin Jones of www.johub.com

The loss dropped the Chargers’ record to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in Mt. Hamilton Division play, while the Bruins improved to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Following the lopsided loss, Leland Head Coach Jason Tenner gave a simple explanation for his team’s woes against the Bruins.

“I just think that they started thinking they were better than they were,” Tenner said. “The beautiful thing about our team the last two weeks is we were going to grind it out, everybody played together and played hard, get aggressive and get after it. We didn’t get after it today and we’re not athletic enough to just to have a couple of guys show up, just to try to turn on at game time. We’ve got to be ready to go all week long.”

The Bruins’ running game was effective early and often, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter to go up 14-0.

“Leland’s been playing pretty good football, so we knew it would be a tremendous challenge for us,” said Bruins Head Coach Dave Cardoza. “They’re a good team. We just had some early breaks with turnovers and that seemed to be the difference.”

The first scoring run came when the Leland offense fumbled on its’ first offensive series, which was recovered by Branham’s Doug Shehan. The play set up a 35-yard touchdown run by Scotty DeStefano with 10:19 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 Branham lead.

With less than five minutes left in the first, the Bruins’ offense went to work again, driving the ball 52 yards on five running plays for another score. On the drive, the Bruins received two big runs from running back Craig Hertler, who ran the ball 23 yards on the second play of the offensive series to place the Bruins at the Leland 21, before scoring with 2:25 left on a 16-yard run for a 14-0 Bruins lead.

Leland responded with a scoring drive to cut the lead in half, putting together an 80-yard series. The drive ended when quarterback Kyle Walker’s pass was tipped by tight end Richard Wellington, only to find the outstretched arms of teammate Travis Delamore, who snagged the tip on a dive just before it hit the turf inside the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 5:33 left in the second quarter.

The Bruins then took advantage of a mistake by Leland’s special teams unit to go back up by two touchdowns just before the close of the first half.

“We’ve had a little bit of a problem in the past, not playing as focused as we’re capable of, and we finally just put it all together as a team,” said Cardoza. “We played together as a team. That’s probably the best way to put it.”

A high snap sailed over Leland punter Kevin Battipede’s head, with Branham recovering the ball at the Leland 25. That play set up a six-play, 25-yard scoring drive ending with a 4-yard run by Bruins quarterback Duce Ferrante with 18 seconds left in the second quarter for a 21-7 lead.

The Bruins carried their momentum into the second half, opening up the third quarter with a 75-yard kickoff return from Logan Jackson that set the offense at the Leland 7.

The Bruins found the end zone again two plays later, getting a 2-yard touchdown run from Ferrante with 11:06 left to expand the lead to 28-7.

Less than seven minutes later, the Bruins were on the board once more, capping off an 11-play, 60-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run from Ferrante, his third score of the day, with 4:23 left in the third quarter for a 35-7 lead.

“We had a pretty multi-dimensional running game,” Cardoza said of his offense. “With all of our running backs, it was clicking. Mostly, it was the offensive line, which played pretty well. We didn’t have to throw the ball. We had good command of the game early so we kept the ball on the ground and ran the clock.”

After a 67-yard touchdown run by Hertler put the score at 42-7 with 8:14 left in the fourth quarter, the Leland offense mustered one last scoring drive to end the game.

The Chargers drove the ball from their own 20 on 14 plays, ending with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Walker to twin brother Brennan Walker with 2:12 left.

On the drive, Battipede kept the offense moving downfield, carrying the ball six times for 36 yards. Battipede finished the game with 56 yards rushing on nine carries.

The Chargers will look to rebound from the loss when they take on Independence at home on Oct. 15 at 1:15 p.m.

Silver Creek creeps past Pioneer in Mt. Hamilton tennis action

Lady Mustangs drop to 3-6

By Ken Lotich
Staff Writer

On Oct. 6, the Pioneer girls’ tennis team lost 5-2 in its second contest against Silver Creek this year. Earlier this season, the Raiders topped the Mustangs 6-1.

Nadia Berdai and Karen Quigley, No. 1 doubles for Pioneer, touch rackets after gaining a point in their match on Oct. 6 against Silver Creek. The duo won 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

With the win, the Raiders improve to 2-7, while the Mustangs drop to 3-6.

No. 1 singles Diane LuTran, a sophomore for the Raiders, won easily, defeating senior Kameron Brown of Pioneer 6-1, 6-0.

No. 2 singles Andrea Kennedy beat the Mustangs’ Caroline Tran, 6-4, 6-0.

No. 3 Jennifer Lau, a freshman, came back after dropping the first set to win her match against junior Giana Flores, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

The only wins for the Mustangs came from No. 4 singles Justine Kirkeide and No. 2 doubles Caitlin Burnham and Shira Straus. Kirkeide defeated the Mustangs’ Lynn 6-2, 6-0.

The duo of Burnham and Straus won 6-0, 6-1 against Raiders Katie Tang and Dolly Ngo.

In other doubles’ action, No. 1 doubles Sandy Mach and Lorawn Dupree of Silver Creek won 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 against Karen Quigley and Nadia Berdai.

No. 3 doubles Thi Chung and Laura Nguyen of the Raiders defeated Kim Nguyen and Katrina Huynh 7-6, 6-4.

The Mustangs, who used compete at the B level, are in their second year as an A level team. Coach Julie Szarlacki, who is in her eighth year as girls’ tennis coach, hopes to help her players improve their games.
Szarlacki said Brown and Burnham are two players that help motivate the team.

“Kameron is a really good leader,” Szarlacki said. “She sticks it out until the end and fights hard.

“Caitlin has improved and has a positive attitude,” Szarlacki said about the senior. “She wants to learn and it’s important to have a good attitude in this sport.”

On the other side of the net, longtime coach Gary Zellner said this year’s Raider team is the youngest A-league team he’s coached in a while. Zellner, who has also coached boys’ tennis, said he enjoys instructing girls’ tennis more.

“Guys have more of an ego, as well as short tempers,” Zellner said. “These girls play as a team, and they win and lose as a team.”

Pioneer will play at 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Leland.

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