Barney Eames' first night on the sidelines in two years was a rough one.

His young St. Joseph Knights played defending Division IV champion San Luis Obispo to a scoreless draw in the first quarter. Then the Tigers got rolling and eventually racked up a 35-6 victory in the 2002 football opener for both schools at Al Maguire Field Friday night.

"I expected something like this," Eames, St. Joseph's first-year coach, said. "We've got five guys who have any experience playing varsity football. Hopefully we'll learn from this."

Eames last coached at Hancock College in 2000. He was a consultant for Hancock's football program last season, then took the job at St. Joseph.

"Obviously we've got some work to do," Eames said. "I saw some good things, but we've got a little work to do."

One good thing Eames saw was quarterback Matt Crist's 17-yard touchdown pass to Richard Kleinsmith - that came against the San Luis Obispo reserves with 5:31 left to play. Kleinsmith made a diving catch in the end zone.

The Tigers had all their points and three touchdown runs by Paul Jordan by then. St. Joseph's first downs, nine, equaled the number of punts by the Knights' Brandon Merlo. The Knights had 54 yards of total offense in the first half and trailed 21-0 at halftime.

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San Luis Obispo's defensive front linemen tied up St. Joseph's smaller line most of the time the Knights had the ball, and the Tigers' linebackers took care of the rest.

"Our linebackers, Cody Morris, Craig Daily, Ryan Roberts, Daniel Anderson - that's a pretty good group for us," said first-year Tigers coach Craig Winninghoff. "We count on a lot of leadership from them."

Winninghoff was a Tigers assistant last season. He took over for former head coach Vic Ecklund, who retired after leading San Luis Obispo to the Division IV title.

After the teams played to a standoff in the first quarter, the Tigers offense got untracked when Daniel Higgins got behind St. Joseph defensive back Michael Lopez, caught Dane Hodgson's pass inside the five and ran out of Lopez's tackle for a 51-yard scoring play with 9:44 left in the second quarter.

Shortly thereafter, Hodgson was hurt as Daily was turning his screen pass into a 38-yard gain.

"I think he might have suffered a slight separation," of his left shoulder, Winninghoff said.

After the Hodgson touchdown pass, Tiger left guard Mike Kaney and Mike Worrell and Brett Lowe, who alternated at left tackle, turned a lot of the game into the Jordan show. Jordan wound up with 159 yards on 20 carries.

Carpinteria 31, Morro Bay 7

CARPINTERIA -- The Pirates, 17-0 winners over Shafter last week, found the tables turned on them this time as the Warriors rolled in their season opener.

Morro Bay trailed just 3-0 at halftime. But the Warriors racked up 21 third-quarter points and by the time the fourth quarter started, they were well on their way to squaring Morro Bay's record.

Joe Garcia racked up 114 yards on 25 carries. Steve Dover gained 73 yards on 14 rushes and scored Morro Bay's touchdown on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Atascadero 41, Cabrillo 0

ATASCADERO -- Ryan Bugg caught four passes for 102 yards and three touchdowns as the Greyhounds rolled to an opening-game win.

Bugg added 71 rushing yards and another touchdown. Atascadero handed the Conquistadores their second consecutive lopsided loss. La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad beat them 57-7 last week.

Atascadero quarterback Harrison Higbee threw for 141 yards and four touchdowns.

September 14, 2002