St. Joseph snows over SM

There was a snowball fight at Santa Maria High School Friday night.

It began as a football game between the St. Joseph Knights and the Santa Maria Saints but quickly snowballed out of the Saints' control.

It was like one of those small snowballs you see in cartoons that's rolled down the side of a hill. It grows and grows until it crushes everything in its path.

That's what happened to the Saints on Senior Night as they fell in their final regular season game, 51-7, to the Knights.

"This was a big win for us," said St. Joseph coach Barney Eames. "Our kids played well, we threw the ball well, we ran it well."

"You just hope you can go out there and put it all together for that one game," said Santa Maria coach Jim Doyle. "We just couldn't do that. But that's not to say we didn't try."

The Knights (5-1 in the Los Padres League, 7-1 overall) took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards for the game's first score.

Brad Escobar's 37 yard run was the key play of the drive. Quarterback Casey Cathcart threw a perfect strike to wide receiver Jacob Boster for a 15-yard touchdown pass and the game's first score.

Tim Schweigert's extra point made it 7-0 St. Joe's with 8:50 remaining in the first quarter.

The Saints (1-5, 1-9) came right back, or they started to, when the snowball began to grow.

They marched from their own 21 yard line to the Knights' 48. On third-down-and-eight, quarterback Billy Kennedy tried to pitch the ball to running back Juan Alcantar. The ball hit the ground and the Knights's Jacob Bychak pounced on it.

Nine plays later, kicker Tim Schweigert banged home a 39-yard field goal for a 10-0 St. Joseph lead.

The snowball was growing.

The Saints got the ball back but on their second play St. Joe's Greg Reynolds picked of a Kennedy pass and returned it for a 47-yard touchdown. Schweigert's kick made it 17-0 St. Joseph with 58-seconds left in the first quarter.

Again the Saints refused to quit. But their next drive stalled when a fourth-and-four play was stopped at the Knights' 37.

St. Joseph came right back with a 12-play, 63-yard drive capped by a one-yard Brad Escobar run. Schweigert's PAT made it 24-0.

The snowball was picking up momentum.

Kennedy fumbled at the Santa Maria 10 yard line on the Saints' next drive. Two plays later St. Joe's Philip Adam ran it in from the one. Schweigert's PAT made it 31-0.

Two plays later, Adam intercepted Kennedy and ran it back for a 36-yard touchdown. Schweigert's PAT made it 38-0.

The snowball was huge and getting bigger.

Alcantar fumbled the kickoff. St. Joseph recovered at the Saints' 24.

Three plays later Escobar scored on a one-yard run. Schweigert missed the extra point, but it was now 44-0 and the Saints were all but buried as the halftime horn sounded.

"Our offense really exploded in the first half," said Eames.

Santa Maria refused to quit.

They came out and scored on their first possession of the second half, a six-play, 65-yard march down the field. It was the Saints' first touchdown in their last four games.

"They played hard," Eames said of the Saints. "They've got some good looking players over there."

Philip Adam scored again for St. Joseph to end the scoring with 7:13 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"Our kids come out and play hard every week," Doyle said. "They keep playing for four quarters. They played with a lot of heart but it's a tough way to end the season."

The Saints season is now over.

The Knights finished second in the LPL and will move on to the CIF Division X playoffs. They'll find out their opening round opponent over the weekend.

"We needed this win," Eames said. "We needed the momentum heading into the playoffs."

Morro Bay 13, Santa Ynez 7

MORRO BAY - Morro Bay quarterback Josh Neider has thrown 16 interceptions and two touchdown passes this season.

TD pass number two helped put the Pirates from the north (4-2, 6-4) into the playoffs. Both teams needed to win this regular season finale to get third place in the Los Padres League and the league's last guaranteed playoff spot for Division X.

Santa Ynez (3-3, 4-6) can only hope for the division's lone wild card berth.

After Cory Stollmeyer had beaten up the Pirates from the south with his running, Neider burned them with a 43-yard pass to Garret Sites that put Morro Bay ahead 13-0 early in the second quarter.

Santa Ynez responded with a no-huddle offense and scored when Evan Secca caught a 19-yard pass from Sean Hemming in the back of the end zone. Brett Miller's extra point kick was the last point of the game.

Stollmeyer had 190 yards rushing at halftime, and he scored Morro Bay's first touchdown on a 4-yard run. The score finished a 10-play, 89-yard drive, all on the ground with either Stollmeyer or fullback Steve Dover lugging the ball.

Stollmeyer's diving interception at his 9 killed a Santa Ynez threat late in the first half. Santa Ynez recovered a Morro Bay fumble at the Morro Bay 29 in the second half, but Morro Bay smeared a fourth-and-one play for a yard loss on the subsequent series.

Stollmeyer did nearly all his rushing damage in the first half and wound up with a total of 180 yards on 20 carries. Joe Garcia, the leading rusher on the Central Coast, played despite a broken collarbone he suffered two weeks ago and ran for 101 yards on 21 carries.

Lompoc 35, Cabrillo 3

LOMPOC - Armando Gutierrez scored the Braves' first two touchdowns and Joseph Scott scored the last two as Lompoc (6-0, 8-2) overpowered the Conquistadores (2-4, 3-7) at Huyck Stadium .

The Braves completed their second consecutive perfect LPL campaign. They are the defending Division X champions.

Though the game was played at Lompoc's home field, Cabrillo was the designated home team. Cabrillo's facility has no lights.

Gutierrez caught a 22-yard pass from Boo Jackson for his first score and ran 9 yards for his next.

Scott scored on a 7-yard run, then caught a 4-yard pass from Troy Lara for the last touchdown of the game.

Lompoc outrushed Cabrillo 266-53. The Braves' defense allowed Lydell Sargeant, one of the top rushers on the Central Coast, just 19 total yards on 13 carries.

Paso Robles 41, Atascadero 14

PASO ROBLES - Vince Freitas scored on runs of 2 and 60 yards and caught a 10-yard pass for another score as the Bearcats (1-3, 6-4) put themselves in position for a possible wild card berth into the Division IV playoffs..

Paso Robles finished the regular season in fourth place in the PAC-5 League. Atascadero wound up 0-4, 4-6.

Freitas wound up with 156 yards on 14 carries. He also kicked five extra points.

November 15, 2003