Special to the Town Crier
Prep Football Digest
MV comes up short
Mountain View (0-1) fell behind 20-0 at halftime and couldn't recover in a 27-12 season-opening loss to 15th-ranked Terra Nova (1-0) in a non-league game in Pacifica.
The Spartans trailed 27-0 before quarterback Ryan Malatesta raced 68 yards for a touchdown. That was followed by a 10-yard scoring run by Brian Johnson in the fourth quarter.
Senior Ricardo Lopez led the Spartans with 63 yards rushing on 16 carries.
The Spartans host Sequoia at 3:15 p.m., Friday.
Gunn romps
Gunn opened its season by beating up on a green Greenfield team 39-0 last Friday in Palo Alto.
Greenfield, playing its first year of varsity football, was no match for the Titans.
Halfback Curtis Walker scored on a 60-yard run on Gunn's second play for a quick lead. Walker wound up with 120 yards.
The Titan defense intercepted two passes, recovered a fumble and blocked a punt.
Gunn plays at Santa Teresa at 3:15 p.m., Friday.
Homestead falls
The St. Francis High football program never ceases to amaze fans or opponents with its uncanny knack for resiliency. Last Friday night, that Lancer magic continued in a 15-14 non-league win over Oak Grove at San Jose City College.
Top-ranked St. Francis and No. 2 Oak Grove know each other well, having played one another several times this decade. They've met in the past two Central Coast Section Division I championship games, with St. Francis winning last year and Oak Grove the year before.
A good portion of their regular season and postseason match-ups have been classics, including Friday night's thriller.
Trailing 14-7 with three minutes to play, the Lancers went on a 10-play, 55-yard drive that culminated with a Pat Dillingham to Chase Lyman 27-yard touchdown pass to cut the margin to 14-13 with 1:06 left. St. Francis coach Mike Mitchell wouldn't settle for a tie, as Dillingham found Lyman in the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion and the win.
"They seemed like they were in control of the game, but we stayed in it and gave our kids a chance to win it at the end," Mitchell said.
Senior running back Ronald Nunn paced the Lancers with 133 yards rushing on 13 carries and was a key component on the game-winning drive, picking up a pair of critical first downs.
St. Francis hosts Palo Alto at 7:30 p.m., Friday in a non-league contest.
Inexperienced Homestead learned a few hard lessons, yet played gutty football in a 20-12 setback to Del Mar last Thursday at Fremont High in Sunnyvale.
With only 12 returning players and a new head coach in Rob Ralph, the Mustangs trailed 14-6 at halftime. But they couldn't garner any continuity in the second half of their season opener.
David Tucker tallied Homestead's first points of the year on an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and was followed by quarterback Aaron Mansfield's 6-yard scoring run in the fourth.
Homestead will try to regroup against Monta Vista at 7:30 p.m., Friday at Fremont High.