ENCINO - The strains of Ennio Morricone's theme song to the Clint Eastwood cowboy epic "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" wafted over the field at Crespi High before Friday night's CIF Southern Section Division X football game between St. Joseph High and Crespi.

The funny thing was, it pretty much summed everything up: a good result for the Knights, a bad one for the Celts, and a St. Joseph defensive effort that made it ugly for the hosts.

The Knights (9-3) held the Celts' spread offense attack to 282 yards of total offense and made big plays at the right time in a 21-10 Knights victory.

The win puts the Knights in the Division X semifinals against Morningside, an 26-7 winner over St. Bernard X But Friday night's effort will be tough to top.

"Well, it certainly wasn't pretty, but it got the job done," Knights coach Barney Eames said. "We beat a real fine football team tonight."

After a turnover to start the second half gave Crespi a cheap touchdown and the lead, the Knights thwarted the Celts - the Del Rey League champs who entered with a 10-1 record - by not allowing them past the St. Joseph 41-yard line the rest of the night.

"Coming out of the locker room, we knew we needed a big effort out of the defense in the second half," Knights linebacker Philip Adam said. "We came out, did our job and did it right, and came out with the win."

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One player in particular that stepped up in key situations was cornerback Dominic Catayas, who intercepted two Kevin Vollmer passes and recovered a fumble, all coming in situations where Crespi was driving for scores. The second one, coming with 2 1/2 minutes to go, effectively ended the game in the Knights' favor.

The Knights' offense, meanwhile, did just enough when it was needed, asserting itself in the second half after managing little in the first 24 minutes of action. Brad Escobar led the Knights on the ground with 80 yards, 78 of them after halftime.

Eames credited the move of Jacob Bychak to fullback with much of the Knights' improved rushing attack.

"They were crashing the outside to try to take away the counter play," Eames said. "So we put him in there, and we were able to find a lane and run right at them."

That was clearly evident, as Escobar's carry total escalated in the second half, including a 43-yard scamper in the third quarter that set up the Knights' second touchdown. In all, Escobar had five carries of six or more yards in the second half; in the first half, his longest carry was for three.

In the opening minutes, it didn't appear that the Knights' defense was going to be able to hold the Celts, and especially Vollmer, off the scoreboard.

Crespi drove from its own end deep into St. Joseph territory - thanks to a 26-yard Vollmer scamper and a 19-yard completion to Uche Anyanwu - before Sean Sehnem connected on a 40-yard field goal.

St. Joseph answered later in the quarter when, after the defense held Crespi to a three-and-out on the Celts' next possession, it used a 14-yard Greg Reynolds punt return to get into Crespi's half of the field. After a pass interference penalty by Chris Larsen on a Casey Cathcart incompletion to Jacob Boster added onto the Knights' drive, St. Joseph got a great break on an option play by Cathcart: As Cathcart was being hauled down for no gain, he flipped the ball to back Philip Adam, who raced around the left side for a 24-yard gain to the Crespi one. Three plays later, Brandon Merlo hammered over from one yard out to give the Knights a 7-3 lead.

That score held until halftime, thanks to another big defensive play in the final seconds the half when Crespi tailback Randle Harris fumbled at the Knights' three; Catayas fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchback, thwarting the Celts' best chance to take the lead before the break.

That lead wouldn't last long, however, for Merlo fumbled on the Knights' first play from scrimmage of the third quarter, handing Crespi the ball on the St. Joseph 23. After a Celts penalty and an incomplete pass, Vollmer floated a pass to receiver Will Muller for a 30-yard touchdown, giving Crespi a 10-7 lead right out of the box.

After a St. Joseph three-and-out, Crespi was setting up for another scoring drive when, on a third-and-15 at the St. Joseph 43, a fade pass from Vollmer to Muller was picked off by Catayas.

It became an important play, because the Knights drove deep into Crespi territory - using a 20-yard pass from Cathcart to Kevin Buchanan and Escobar's 43-yarder - to take the lead for good. St. Joseph scored on a third-and-goal bootleg pass from Cathcart to Merlo, with Cathcart flipping the ball sidearm while being forced out-of-bounds.

The teams traded punts for most of the fourth quarter, but Crespi appeared to be making a final charge for the winning touchdown, taking over possession at its own 25 with four minutes to go. However, Vollmer threw two incompletions, and Catayas made sure there was no third chance when he wrested the ball out of Anyanwu's hands on a crossing pattern.

The Knights tried to run out the clock, but instead ended up with a touchdown when an Escobar fumble rolled into the end zone and was recovered by Ryan San Juan.

November 29, 2003