Knights pound out victory over Cabrillo

At least for the time being, the home field disadvantage at Al Maguire Field has disappeared.

St. Joseph had just enough offense Friday night to fight off Cabrillo's Lydell Sargeant attack and take a 35-27 homecoming win in a Los Padres League football game. The victory was the Knights' first home one after three defeats.

The game was the Knights' most important of the year. By winning, St. Joseph (2-1, 4-3) gained an inside track at a playoff berth.

"This was very big for us," St. Joseph coach Barney Eames said. "We got the home field jinx out of the way, we got that monkey off our backs."

The Knights also put the Conquistadores (2-2, 3-4) in a hole as far as getting third place and the league's last guaranteed playoff spot. Now Cabrillo needs some help.

Morro Bay and Lompoc were both unbeaten in LPL games before Friday night.

Sargeant, one of the top rushers in the area, had minus seven yards rushing. But he kept the Conquistadores in the game by scoring on a 56-yard halfback pass from Raphael McKinney; a 56-yard scamper with a blocked field goal attempt (he blocked the try himself); and a 58-yard pass from Cabrillo quarterback Matt Hansen.

"We'd work our fanny off, drive down the field and score and then they'd get a big play and get right back in it," Eames said.

"Those two guys (Sargeant and Hansen) are players."

The Knights won mainly because workhorse tailback Brad Escobar ran for 175 yards on 38 carries and bulled in for four touchdowns. Escobar scored on runs of 4, 6, 2 and 1 yards.

Sean Wolfe had 47 yards on eight carries, and Phillip Adam had 36 on five. St. Joseph ran a lot behind tackle Jake Rooney, but the entire Knights line, along with fullback Brandon Merlo, blocked consistently well.

"Our offensive line really blocked well. That was big for us," Eames said.

"Our rush defense has been kind of our achilles heel all year," said first-year Cabrillo coach Don Cross. "We did a decent job of it tonight, not a great job but a decent job."

Just not well enough to win.

Along with its ground game, St. Joseph also prevailed because place kicker Tim Schweigert was perfect on his extra point kicks and Cabrillo kicker Casey Belluz missed one of his.

After Sargeant scored on the blocked field goal try, Belluz's extra point kick went under the crossbar. That left Cabrillo behind 14-13 at halftime (the Conquistadores rallied from a 14-0 deficit) and forced the Conquistadores to go for two points twice after touchdowns instead of the almost automatic extra point kick.

The Knights' Ryan San Juan knocked down Hansen's first two-point conversion pass. Hansen clicked on the second one, to Steve DeSt.Jean.

That made the score 35-27 with a minute left. Cabrillo still had a chance when the ball squirted away from Merlo on the onside kick after Merlo had fallen on it, and Belluz recovered at Cabrillo's 38.

But Hansen's fourth-down pass with 21 seconds to play fell a yard in front of an open McKinney at St. Joseph's 43, and the Knights' win was sealed.

St. Joseph cemented its win with some big defensive plays. On one of them lineman Zachary Sternjacob creamed Ryan Herard as he was about to try a halfback option pass. Merlo recovered Herard's fumble at the Cabrillo 27.

"I just shot the hole and got him," Sternjacob said.

His play set up Escobar's last touchdown run, from a yard out on fourth down, with 2:34 to play. Cabrillo linemen Ross Ryder, who had a big game defensively, and Josh Jennings, hit Escobar at the line of scrimmage, but Escobar churned his way to the end zone.

After Escobar's two-yard run and Schweigert's extra point kick made it 27-19 with 1:10 left in the third quarter, Sargeant had an open lane down the middle on the ensuing kickoff. Jake Bychek, who tackled well in the open field all night, did it again and nailed Sargeant at his 36 after a 35-yard return.

"He saved our fanny on that kickoff," Eames said. "If Bychek doesn't make that tackle (Sargeant) scores."

Lompoc 57, SM 0

LOMPOC - The Saints (1-3, 1-6) had a miserable night as the Braves (3-0, 5-2) walloped them at Ralph Huyck Stadium in another LPL game.

Lompoc had 508 yards of total offense. The Braves never punted.

David Gaspar scored three times, on runs of 18 and 4 yards, and a 61-yard punt return. Joseph Scott scored on runs of 30 and 34 yards.

Billy Kennedy had 82 yards on 21 carries for the Saints, who had 12 penalties totaling 68 yards and lost four fumbles. The Braves were penalized nine times for 100 yards themselves.

Santa Ynez 45, Nipomo 6

ARROYO GRANDE - Clayton Barr scored three times as the Pirates (1-2, 2-5) finally broke through in the LPL.

Nipomo is 0-4, 1-6.

Barr scored on runs of 1 and 5 yards and caught a 58-yard touchdown pass from Sean Hemming. Hemming scored himself on a 4-yard run.

Tanner Belen ran for 112 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run, on nine carries for the Pirates. Thomas Delay led the Titans with 46 yards on 13 carries. He scored from two yards out.

SLO 43, Paso Robles 22

SAN LUIS OBISPO - The Tigers made it a night to forget for the Bearcats by scoring the first 36 points of the game.

San Luis Obispo is now 1-0 in the PAC-5 League and 5-1 overall. Paso Robles, off to an unfamiliar 0-2 start in league games, is 4-3 overall.

Phil Garza had 103 yards, including touchdown runs of 56 and 3 yards, for the Tigers. San Luis Obispo held standout Paso Robles back Vince Freitas to 18 yards on six carries.

Atascadero 28, Morro Bay 21

ATASCADERO - Greyhounds quarterback Kyle James hooked up with Sean Kennedy for four touchdown passes as Atascadero won a non-league game.

Kennedy had touchdown catches of 13, 48, 5 and 55 yards. He had nine receptions totaling 148 yards on the night.

Morro Bay's Joe Garcia ran for 218 yards on 27 carries and opened the scoring with an 85 yard run. Morro Bay is 5-2. Atascadero is 4-3.

October 25, 2003