SUNNYVALE, CA -- Any doubts that Fremont belongs among the top teams in CCS were erased Friday night when the Firebirds took down Wilcox at home, 35-19.
Fremont (9-0, 5-0) got five touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Phillip Tran to defeat SCVAL-De Anza heavyweight Wilcox (6-3, 4-1) in this non-league game.
Bothered by suggestions it had played a middling-at-best schedule, it was Fremont's chance to score a signature win, which it did and then some. Fremont has won all five of its SCVAL-El Camino games by an average of 38.8 points, and Wilcox was a markedly tougher challenge considering it beat Fremont 40-0 when the teams met last season.
Fremont coach Jake Messina, who believes the win “proves [Fremont] is for real,” could hardly contain his excitement after the game.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I’m so proud of these kids and what they’ve been able to do. Nobody gave us a chance tonight – publications, newspapers – but we just stuck to the game plan and played hard. Our conditioning kicked in and we just got it done. It was just amazing.”
And it was Tran who led the way, the underclassman slinging passes down the field, leading his team like a veteran.
“It sets higher expectations for me,” Train said on starting as just a sophomore. “But when I go on the field, I’m just a varsity quarterback.”
He sure played like a varsity quarterback, that's for sure.
Late in the third, with the game even at 13-13 after Wilcox had just scored on a short run by Manu Turituri to tie it, Tran drove Fremont 80 yards on a 14-play drive to reclaim the lead. On first-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Tran found Alejandro Morales in the left corner of the end zone, and then Jordan Hendy ran in a two-point conversion to give Fremont a 21-13 advantage. Holding that one-possession lead in the fourth quarter, Tran threw two more late touchdown passes to conclude matters – the first a 21-yard pass to Mike Valles and the second a 19-yard strike to Sam Kanongata’a Jr. – extending the advantage to 35-19.
“Everybody doubted us,” said Tran. “We knew we had to come out here and execute. We struggled in the beginning, but at the end of the day we pulled off a win.”
Added Tran: "I’ve spent two weeks preparing for these guys – watching their film, breaking their defense down, taking what they give me. We were a little off in the beginning but we came out and synced together.”
Fremont turned the ball over on downs twice to start the game, as both team started off rather sluggish in a scoreless first quarter. The Firebirds broke through early in the second quarter when an Austin Smith interception led to a 60-yard drive that ended with a 21-yard touchdown pass by Tran to Kanongata’a Jr.
Wilcox responded two drives later with a five-yard rushing touchdown by Matt Alquetra, but a botched two-point conversion attempt kept the score at 7-6 in favor of Fremont. On the ensuing drive, Tran found Valles for a touchdown with a 20-yard strike, but a muffed snap on the extra point returned the favor right back to Wilcox. Fremont led 13-6 at halftime.
Messina praised not just Tran, but the team as a whole.
“Our receivers played an amazing game, and our backs – when we called on them to grind it out, they did it," he said. "It was just team football. It was just amazing team football,” he said.
Wilcox coach Dan Brown was impressed by Fremont, which finished 2-8 last season.
“I’ll tip my hat to them,” said Brown. “They’re a real good football team, on the move.”
Both teams finish up their regular season at home next week with league games – Wilcox against Los Gatos and Fremont facing Homestead.
