SAN LUIS OBISPO - The 2002 Los Padres League singles tennis champion, and the St. Joseph football team's new kicker, stood at the San Luis Obispo 36-yard line Friday night.

As he lined up for his 46-yard field goal try at Frank Hold Field, the evening was windless. Schweigert's kick with 1:25 left in the third quarter went high and smack between the goal posts. It also went beyond the crossbar with plenty to spare.

Schweigert's field goal gave the Knights their winning points in a 17-15 victory on opening night for both teams.

"I'd never kicked a ball in my life," Schweigert said afterward. Well actually he had, but it was a soccer ball "when I was little."

After his big tennis season, he decided to give football a go his senior year. "All my buddies were playing it, so I decided to come out and do my thing." Schweigert said he will play tennis in the spring.

His field goal came after the Tigers, in 18 seconds wrested away a lead St. Joseph had built with time consuming drives its first two possessions.

The Knights led 14-3 at halftime, but the Tigers drove 78 yards for a score after getting the second half kickoff. The last 30 came when Brian Clarke made a diving catch of quarterback Dane Hodgson's pass in the end zone after getting behind St. Joseph defensive back Sean Wolfe.

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On the Knights' first play from scrimmage, from their 22, after the ensuing kickoff, the ball was stripped from Brad Escobar. Quentin Cate picked up the ball at the 20 and ran in to give San Luis Obispo a 15-14 lead. Hodgson's two-point conversion pass failed.

The Knights, who had racked up 12 first downs on their two first-quarter scoring drives but none since, picked up four on their next drive after Cate's score. That was enough to set up Schweigert's winning kick.

San Luis Obispo beat the Knights 35-6 in the season opener last year. St. Joseph began this year ranked 10th out of 12 teams on the Central Coast in a recent poll.

"Maybe this will show other teams, other schools, that we're here to stick around," said St. Joseph center Shane Lim. "We're here to play some football."

"This was a great win for our kids," said second-year Knights coach Barney Eames. "Our quarterback (transfer Casey Cathcart) did a great job running the offense, and Brandon Merlo gave us some big yardage inside.

"That's a pretty good one-two offensive punch inside."

On St. Joseph's first two drives, Lim, guards Matt Matasci and John Normanly, tackles Jake Rooney and Matt Ruiz and tight end Kevin Buchanan kept knocking the Tigers linemen backward from the line of scrimmage.

Also, the Tigers could not react in time to the array of plays St. Joseph threw at them. The Knights alternated pounding Merlo between the tackles and springing their other backs outside, with Cathcart pitching the ball at just the right times.

St. Joseph marched 84 yards on 13 plays on the game's initial possession, with Merlo finishing the drive off by stretching the ball over the goal line on a 4-yard touchdown run.

Knights linebacker Phillip Adam had a huge night, and he helped the Knights force the Tigers to go three-and-out San Luis Obispo's first possession. Then the Knights drove 73 yards for their second score.

Schweigert threw a block that sprang Escobar for the last 19 yards and a touchdown. "That block (Schweigert threw) was just like scoring a touchdown," said Eames.

San Luis Obispo took over at its own 21 with 10:17 left to play for a last-ditch drive.

Hodgson is the Tigers' school record holder in the 400 meters and shares the 100 record with two others. With the exception of Adam, who placed sixth in the CIF Finals in the 300 hurdles, the Knights had had trouble all night keeping up with Hodgson.

However, Chris Furtado and Shawn Moore had been providing a good pass rush, and on fourth-and-two from the Knights 35 with 1:28 to play St. Joseph's rush flushed Hodgson out of the pocket.

Hodgson was forced out of bounds as Knights linebacker Justin Maretti closed in on him. He was just short of a first down and St. Joseph took over on its 33.

"I'd have to give that one to the line," said Adam. "They got good penetration."

AG 14, Hueneme 6

OXNARD - Kyle Pollock connected with Andy Northness for a 28-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, and Andrew Hirsch scored on a 3-yard run in the fourth as the Eagles improved to 2-0.

For the second straight game, Arroyo Grande's defense stood firm. Hueneme had just seven first downs, 38 rushing yards and 144 yards of total offense.

Lompoc 30, Dos Pueblos 14

GOLETA - At San Marcos High, the Braves opened defense of their CIF Division X championship with a victory.

David Gaspar helped the Braves to the win by scoring on a 72-yard punt return and an 8-yard run. Lompoc also got a 94-yard kick retrun for a score.

Lompoc won despite giving up 285 yards passing.

Morro Bay 28, Carpinteria 0

MORRO BAY - Joe Garcia, the leading rusher on the Central Coast last year, picked up where he left off as the Pirates rolled in their opener.

Garcia scored on runs of 34, 1 and 70 yards. Corey Stollmeyer scored Morro Bay's other touchdown on a 15-yard run.

Morro Bay outgained Carpintera 368-188. The Pirates had 357 rushing yards, with Garcia racking up 238 of those, on 21 carries.

Paso Robles 14, Santa Ynez 10

PASO ROBLES - At Framson Middle School's War Memorial Stadium, Brian Welty caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Casey Larson for Paso Robles' winning touchdown in another season opener.

The Pirates had gone ahead 10-7 when Adam Miller made a tackle in the Bearcats end zone for a safety earlier in the quarter.

Larson threw 5 yards to Matt Hawkins for the Bearcats' first touchdown. Tanner Belen caught a 15-yard pass from Sean Hemming, and then Belen ran in the two-point conversion to give Santa Ynez an 8-7 lead in the third quarter.

September 13, 2003