Schools
Football: Cougars Fall Short in First Pre-Season Game
Newark Memorial started off strong, but couldn't hold against Milpitas High on Sept. 16.
In their first pre-season game, the Newark Memorial High School Cougars fell short against the Milpitas High School Trojans.
On Friday, the Trojans triumphed over the Cougars 31-12 on the Newark Memorial High School football field.
It was the first pre-season game for Newark Memorial and the first in which the Trojans played full four quarters. Last week’s game against Castro Valley was canceled due to bad weather. Milpitas’ previous games ended early due to a fight and bad weather for Milpitas.
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The Trojans finally got to show off how dominating their team can be during four quarters of play fueled by their suffocating defense and punishing running game.
Three of the Trojans touchdowns came on the ground and defense had another stellar game with two interceptions and forced Newark to turn the ball over on downs on multiple occasions.
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The Cougars got on the board first with an early touchdown in the first quarter, but the Trojans responded a few minutes later with a five-yard run by senior running back Sammy Fanua.
Milpitas’ senior kicker and quarterback Tony Sauceda added a 29-yard field goal to put the Trojans up 10-6 later in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Milpitas Coach Kelly King used a mixture of his running backs Squally Canada, C.J. Reyes, Brandon Sualua and Fanua to move the ball down the field and keep the pressure on the Cougars defense.
The Trojans' hard work by the running unit paid off with two one-yard touchdowns by Canada and Sualua to put Milpitas up 24-6 heading into halftime.
Milpitas started off the second half with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Sauceda to senior wide receiver Jordan Lockett to give the Trojans a commanding 31-6 lead.
Newark tacked on a late touchdown in the third quarter to bring the score to 31-12, but Milpitas shut down the home team the rest of the way, forcing Newark to take a loss.
Editor's note: This report was updated 10 p.m. Sept. 19 to clarify that the match with Milpitas High was a pre-season game.
