SANTA YNEZ - Santa Ynez won the fourth quarter Friday night, so the Pirates won the football game.
The Pirates trailed Carpinteria by seven points as the fourth quarter began. But sophomore quarterback Billy Peters evaded a rush and then connected with Sean Trudgeon.
Trudgeon ran down the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown play and the winning score with 1:42 left as the Pirates prevailed 28-21 at Santa Ynez High's Pirates Field. The Santa Ynez-Carpinteria rivalry dates back to 1941. The teams have played every year since.
The Pirates squared their record at 1-1-1 with the non-league win. The Warriors are 1-2-0.
Peters appeared in trouble just before his winning pass as Carpinteria defenders closed in on him. But he got away, released the pass and all that was left for Trudgeon to do was to catch the ball and score. He did.
"...I saw Billy running, and I just ran with him," Trudgeon said. "Then came the pass and I just caught it."
"Great heart," Santa Ynez coach Ken Gruendyke, who is in his 16th and last season with the program, said of his squad's win.
"We'd been telling the kids since last week that they needed to put four quarters together, and tonight they went out and did it."
Last week Santa Ynez scored first, then watched Nordhoff of Ojai roll to a 38-7 win.
For three quarters, the Pirates had been unable to stop Carpinteria's running game (48 rushes, 270 yards on the night) in general, and Vinny Jimenez (15 carries, 110 yards) in particular.
However, the Pirates made all the big plays in the last quarter.
For starters Peters, running to his left, got off a pass on the run to Zach Steele who had worked his way free at the Carpinteria 19. Steele sprinted in untouched for a 35-yard scoring play with 7:22 left to play.
The Pirates still trailed 21-19. But Peters connected with Sean Misner for a tying two-point conversion pass.
Santa Ynez had been unable to stop Carpinteria on third-and-short yardage plays all evening, but the Pirates' defense delivered the goods after Misner caught the conversion pass.
Carpinteria quarterback Tim Riley ran for touchdowns from 8 and 5 yards out earlier, but after Santa Ynez's last touchdown cornerback Josh Hartman and linebacker Erik Brand stacked him up after a 1-yard gain to the Santa Ynez 43 on a third-and-five play.
Santa Ynez was hit with 11 penalties and Carpinteria just three. But a Warriors lineman made the biggest blunder of the game when he jumped offside. That made it fourth-and-nine from the 48.
Riley ran a keeper, and Brand brought him down at the 42. Peters found Steele for 20 yards and then hit Trudjeon for the winning score.
Peters passed for 201 yards Friday night. "Our sophomore quarterback, Billy Peters, really came through tonight," Gruendyke said.
In a post-game ceremony, Jimenez was named the Most Valuable Player for Carpinteria. Peters and Hartman, who had a big game at cornerback and scored on a 3-yard run, were honored for Santa Ynez.
Afterward, Gruendyke carried off the inaugural Warrior Pride Never Dies, Pirate Pride trophy.
Cabrillo 21, Dos Pueblos 14
GOLETA - Lydell Sargeant rushed for 197 yards and all three of Cabrillo's touchdowns, then intercepted a Kellen Moriarty pass in the end zone as time expired to secure the Conquistadores' non-league victory over the Chargers.
Moriarty, who didn't play in the first quarter due to possible disciplinary reasons, still threw for 190 yards on only 5 of 13 passing., including a 68-yard scoring strike to Marco Gomez in the second quarter. He also scored the other Dos Pueblos touchdown on a one-yard plunge.
Vai Taua added 59 yards on the ground for the Conqs (3-0).
Cabrillo's defense limited the Chargers (0-3) to 61 yards on the ground.
Lompoc 32, Arroyo Grande 16
LOMPOC - The Braves' defense limited the high-powered Eagle offense to three field goals through three quarters of play in a non-league win between longtime rivals.
Lompoc put the game away when Boo Jackson, after scampering 13 yards to start a running play, then flipped the ball to Joseph Scott, who took it the final 50 yards for a third-quarter touchdown, putting the Braves up for good.
Jackson later threw a fourth-quarter scoring pass to Sam Ruiz.
Joe Cozby kicked three field goals for the Eagles - from 36, 40 and 44 yards - in the first half. Arroyo Grande's other points came on a seven-yard Andrew Hirsch run in the fourth quarter.
St. Joseph 33, Bishop Diego 26
SANTA BARBARA - Kevin Buchanan caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Casey Cathcart as the Knights (3-0-0) rallied to win a non-league game at Santa Barbara City College's La Playa Stadium.
The Cardinals are 1-2-0.
Bishop Diego took an 18-13 lead in the third quarter on Kevin Kelly's 86-yard touchdown run. The point-after kick failed.
The Knights answered with a 12-yard run by Brad Escobar and a 5-yard run by T.J. Puerling. The subsequent two-point conversion pass and conversion kick both failed.
Bishop Diego pulled within 25-24 on a 10-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and went ahead with a two-point conversion pass.
Escobar racked up 129 yards on 25 carries. Kelly had 113 yards on 11 rushes. Dominic Catayas, St. Joseph's leading receiver, did not play because of an injury.
Atascadero 41, Santa Maria 0
ATASCADERO - The Saints (1-2-0) gave up 218 yards rushing and took a non-league drubbing at Atascadero High.
The Greyhounds are also 1-2-0.
Josh VanAlfen scored on two short runs, and Brandon Roberts ran an interception back 75 yards as the Greyhounds scored 27 points in the first quarter. Atascadero had all its points by halftime.
Jessie Walker was Santa Maria's leading rusher with 67 yards. Gilbert Arguijo had 46.
SLO 27, San Marcos 19
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Phil Garza racked up 177 yards on 25 carries as the Tigers ran their record to 3-0-0.
San Marcos is 0-3-0 after dropping the non-league game.
Garza had all but 11 of the Tigers' rushing yards. San Luis Obispo quarterback Quentin Cate was 8-for-14 for 124 yards. He connected with Brian Clarke for a 13-yard touchdown play and tossed a 26-yard coring pass to Cory Roush.
He did not throw an interception.
West Bakersfield 21, Paso Robles 14
PASO ROBLES - The visitors scored 21 first-quarter points, saw the home team put up 14 second-quarter points and then held off the Bearcats.
West Bakersfield is 2-1-0. Paso Robles is 1-2-1.
West Bakersfield was ahead 21-0 after Ryan Ybarra caught his second pass for a touchdown from Brandon Smith, this one a 48-yarder, and Dominique Howard kicked his third extra point.
Paso Robles responded with two 1-yard Mitch Monteiro scoring runs but was shut out the rest of the way.
El Diamante 49, Nipomo 33
VISALIA - The Visalia-based Miners dropped the Titans to 1-3-0 by taking this non-leaguer. No further details were available at press time.
Sept. 25, 2004