Falcons prepare for rivals at home

Even if they lose tonight at Milpitas, the Falcons are guaranteed to have a winning record going into the annual rivalry game against rival Los Gatos at home on Nov. 9.

“Los Gatos is our biggest rival and there is nothing I like about their school,” senior co-captain Henry Wei said. “There would be nothing better than to end my senior year with beating Los Gatos.”

Last year, the Falcons suffered a devastating 41-7 loss and were able to squeeze in their only touchdown in the fourth quarter. The 34 major injuries that swamped the 36 members of last year’s squad hurt the team’s offensive depth and ability to score.

“The seniors last year were the backbone of the team and the motivation to win went low after the many injuries,” senior co-captain Zachary Hansen said. “We lost all of our key running backs so we did very poorly on the offense.”

According to football coach Tim Lugo, the Falcons are treating the Los Gatos game as another vital league game, which could determine whether they clinch a spot in CCS.

“Our kids know who we are playing and that is important, but we treat the game as another league game and that has helped us in the last few years to play better,” Lugo said.

After watching the Falcons’ film of previous games a couple times, Lugo is confident with the matchup against Los Gatos.

“I think our speed is definitely an advantage over [Los Gatos], but they are going to have a size advantage,” Lugo said. “So as long as our kids can protect [junior quarterback Jonathan Walters] and throw the ball, I think we are going to be fine.”

Wei feels that this year’s game will also be heavily reliant on offense.

“Their offense is not that great this year, so we can stop it,” Wei said. “Offensively, I don’t believe that they can stop us, so I feel that we have a really good chance of beating Los Gatos this year.” 

On Oct. 19, the Falcons’ spread offense was clicking when they beat Mountain View 50-28. The team only needs one more win to make CCS.

The team’s last three opponents—Palo Alto on Oct. 26, Milpitas tonight and Los Gatos next Friday—are league powerhouses. Alternatively, if 5-2 Monta Vista wins the El Camino Lower Division League, the Falcons will automatically advance to CCS. (For results of the Palo Alto game, see saratogafalcon.org.)

“While it won’t be easy [to make CCS], I like our chances,” Lugo said. “If we can get in [to CCS], I think we can make a run in this thing.”