The Cupertino Courier
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Orvick TD helps Matadors top Falcons to tighten division race
By Greg Lydon
For three quarters, the lights were dim on the dream of a Central Coast Section bid for the Monta Vista football team. But after scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, the spotlight is back on the Matadors' playoff chances, and the title race is wide open in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Monta Vista charged back and defeated Saratoga 21-14 Saturday night under the lights at Cupertino High School, giving the Matadors a huge league victory.
"Our defense picked it up in the second half to shut out a very good Saratoga offense," Monta Vista coach Jeff Mueller said after the dramatic victory. "We've been in some wild ones this year, but this game was won between the tackles. Our defensive line played outstanding tonight."
After three quarters without putting any points on the board, Monta Vista got the big play it needed. Saratoga was forced to punt from its own 4-yard line when Monta Vista got a huge play to spark the fourth quarter comeback.
Billy Guardino took the kick on a bounce and took off down the far sideline for an electric 40-yard punt return to put Monta Vista on the board with 10:26 left in the game.
"That's what got things going for us," Guardino said.
The Matadors sent two return men back on the punt as Guardino fielded the bouncing ball perfectly and received a key block from the other returner, Jay Voight, to help Guardino spring himself toward the sideline for the touchdown.
With the passing game non-existent, Monta Vista came within one point on a perfectly executed direct snap to quarterback Justin Rahn. Rahn slipped one tackle and outran the rest, going 42 yards to pull Monta Vista to within one point. The two-point conversion attempt failed, giving the Falcons a slim 14-13 lead with 5:04 left.
The next series continued the downward spiral of problems for Saratoga as a fumble was picked up by defensive lineman David Orvick and run in for a 10-yard touchdown, giving Monta Vista the lead for the first time with 4:52 left in the game. The two-point conversion was good, giving Monta Vista a 21-14 lead late in the contest.
"I wasn't feeling that well this week, and my coaching staff really prepared this team to do some great things," Mueller said. "This is such a huge team victory. The fumble was a huge break for us."
The wild fourth quarter continued on after the go-ahead score for Monta Vista as the Falcons took the ball deep into Matador territory.
With under a minute remaining, Saratoga hit a 20-yard deep pass to pull within four yards of the game-tying score.
After an incompletion on third-and-goal, the game came down to fourth-and-goal with 5.4 seconds left.
"On fourth down we wanted to go with an option play and try to sneak it in there for the score," said Saratoga coach Kurt Heinrich. "We liked what we had, we just didn't get it done."
On fourth-and-goal, Monta Vista linebackers Kosulin Peter and Sambyal Trevor stuffed the option run from the Saratoga signal-caller, ending the comeback attempt and giving Monta Vista the dramatic victory.
"This is the best second half I've been a part of in my time at Monta Vista," Trevor said. "Our CCS hopes are alive and it feels great. We just wanted to read our keys on defense, and when I saw the quarterback tuck the ball, I just went full speed right at him."
"Monta Vista has a very good, physical football team," Heinrich said after the tough defeat. "A couple of plays hurt us badly today. Specials teams and some fumbling issues cost us some points."
Saratoga is now 3-1 in division play (5-3 overall), while Monta Vista is 3-1-1 in league action (4-3-1 overall) with the CCS bid up for grabs in the wild and wacky El Camino Division.
Saratoga, Monta Vista, Homestead (2-1-1, 6-1-1) and Lynbrook (3-1, 5-3) are in a virtual tie for first place with two weeks remaining in the league season.
The Falcons will host Gunn (1-4, 3-5) on Nov. 2, 7 p.m., before finishing up league play at Lynbrook. The Matadors, who tied Homestead earlier this year (they won the tiebreaker that will break any tie in the league standings between the two teams), face Wilcox in a non-league game this week before finishing up the regular season against Fremont (2-2, 5-3).
Lynbrook will challenge Homestead before facing Saratoga, and the Mustangs wind up with Cupertino (0-4, 0-8).
Although Homestead had scored non-league victories against four "A" division teams this season, a 1-1-1 record in El Camino Division games had tarnished its resume a bit.
But the Mustangs kept their CCS playoff hopes alive and improved their division slate at the same time last Friday night in Palo Alto. Senior Kevin Rogers ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Mustangs to a 41-28 triumph at Gunn.
Homestead's post-season hopes were boosted when El Camino co-leaders Lynbrook and Saratoga suffered their first division losses (Fremont edged the Vikings 35-34).
Something has to give at Homestead, on Nov. 2, 2:45 p.m., when the Mustang host Lynbrook.
If not for a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter by Fremont junior Harrison Waid, Lynbrook would have kept its unbeaten division record intact.
Cupertino scored on the opening kickoff and battled Los Altos to a 14-14 standoff in the first quarter, but the Eagles exploded for 21 points in the second quarter and won the non-league game 42-20.
Junior Brandon Lum ran back the opening kick 88 yards to give the Pioneers an early lead. Junior Kyle Moyles ran six yards for another first-quarter touchdown and kicked two extra points.
In the fourth quarter, Cupertino scored on a 77-yard touchdown pass from junior Michael Duran to senior Josh Figueroa.
Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.
