The game was closer than the final score.

Unfortunately for the Santa Maria Saints, the final score was 37-13 in favor of the Cabrillo Conquistadores in Friday night's Los Padres League matchup at the Saints' Dave Boyd Field.

The game wasn't a blow out - it was just a lopsided score.

"Give Santa Maria a lot of credit, they played well," said Cabrillo coach Don Cross. "Every team in the league is a quality team. There are no easy games."

The Conqs came in with a big play attack, featuring running backs Lydell Sargeant and Via Taua.

The dynamic duo didn't disappoint - Sargeant ran for 267 yards on 22 carries and scored 3 touchdowns while Taua picked up 101 yards on just 9 carries with one TD.

"They have a powerful offense," said Santa Maria coach Shawn Ramirez. "We were making them work hard for every yard they got.

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The Saints had there own playmaker - running back Gilbert Arguijo picked up 176 yards on 31 carries and Santa Maria's only TD - but it wasn't enough to overcome the pair of horses Cabrillo road to victory.

"The offensive line - Dominic Arganda, Ricardo Arias, Jeff Koeller and Daniel Aguirre - they stepped it up tonight and that's why Gilbert had a big night," said Ramirez.

Santa Maria (0-1 LPL, 1-5 overall) played Cabrillo (2-0, 5-1) dead even through the first 21-minutes of the first half.

Cabrillo scored first on a Casey Belluz 34-yard field goal.

The Saints took the lead on the next drive with Arguijo capping a 7-play, 53-yard drive with a 22 yard scoring run. Ernesto Velasco added the extra point for a 7-3 lead.

Cabrillo marched 83 yards on 5 plays on their next possession, ending with Taua's 35-yard scoring run. Belluz's PAT made it 10-7.

The Saints responded with a 12-play scoring drive of their own - ending with Velasco's second field goal, this one a 23-yarder - to tie the score at 10-all.

The underdog Saints were answering the Conqs every challenge.

The roof caved in with 4:03 left before intermission when Saints quarterback Nestor Frausto fumbled the snap and the Conqs fell on it at the Santa Maria 16 yard line.

Three plays later, Sargeant ran it in from the four .

Cabrillo's defense stopped Santa Maria, and the Conq's took over from their own 41-yard line with just 1:03 on the clock.

After Sargeant got the Conq's a first down at the Santa Maria 48 with 40-seconds on the clock, quarterback Sean McGinty lofted a long pass to wide receiver Kristian Wise, who out-jumped Saints defensive back Nolan Snowden at the one, hauled it in and stepped into the endzone for the first half's final score.

The Saints held Cabrillo scoreless in the third quarter and pulled closer with Velasco's 29-yard field goal, cutting the Conqs' lead to 24-13 with 3:07 left in the quarter.

It stayed that way until there were just 3-minutes left in the game when Arguijo fumbled the ball while crossing the Santa Maria 35-yard line. It was recovered by Cabrillo at the Saints' 38.

Three plays later, Sargeant scored on a 13-yard run, putting the Conquistadores up 30-13. Belluz's PAT upped that to 31-13.

"We had just one too many mistakes," Said Ramirez. "If you take away a couple of plays, we were definitely in this game."

"Our defense led by Gabriel Rodriguez, Albert Garciaa and Ricky Iniguez kept us in the game," said Ramirez. "Angelo Harmon played his heart out - he plays both ways - and he never came off the field."

Again the Saints tried to come back. They had a first-and-ten on the Conq's 20 when Frausto's pass was intercepted at the two yard.

With 1:27 left on the clock, it looked like Cabrillo was content to just eat up the clock, but on second-and-eight, from their own four, McGinty handed the ball to Sargeant who cut to his right, headed to the sideline, then cut back to his left and was off to the races - ending with a 96 yard touchdown run and the games final score.

"They've got some fine guys, they did a good job," said Ramirez.

St. Joseph 58, Montclair Prep 18

"We played everybody," St. Joseph coach Barney Eames said, and that was no exaggeration.

Every Knight who suited up played as the Knights went to 6-0-0 by overwhelming the Van Nuys-based Mounties in a non-league game at Al Maguire Field.

It was evident from the beginning that the Mounties (4-2-0) were overmatched against the second-ranked team in Division X, who led 41-0 at halftime.

The Knights drove 60 yards on 10 plays on the first possession of the game. Philip Adam scored from a yard out behind lineman Josh Jaeckels' block.

Jaeckels and Matt Ruiz, 205 and 254 pounds respectively, did a nice job of blocking Montclair Prep's 6-5, 310-pound Berry Hollie and 6-3, 295-pound George Murphy.

At halftime, St. Joseph quarterback Casey Cathcart had 152 yards passing. He threw touchdown passes of 5 and 19 yards to Dominic Catayas, and 18 and 41 yards to Kevin Buchanan. Those two receptions were Buchanan's only two of the night.

Catayas returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown in the first half. Catayas, Cathcart and most of the Knights' starting offense played no more after halftime.

Lineman Zachary Sternjacob led a Knights defensive charge that kept Montclair Prep to 65 yards in the first half. The Mounties racked up 258 second-half yards against the Knights' defensive reserves.

Sean Wolfe scored on a 54-yard run for St. Joseph after intermission, and T.J. Puerling scored on a 30-yard run in the second half.

"It turned out just the way we wanted," Eames said. "We took care of business in the first half, and we got to play a lot of people." Brad Escobar, the Knights' leading rusher, was one of three Knights regulars who did not play because of minor injuries. Well, two. Lineman Ryan San Juan "played one or two downs," Eames said.

Eames said all three should be back next Friday night when St. Joseph takes on Santa Ynez at 7:30 p.m. in the Knights' Homecoming.

Lompoc 23, Santa Ynez 9

LOMPOC - Krys Cash's 10-yard run gave the Pirates (1-2-0, 2-3-1) a 9-8 halftime lead, but the two-time defending Division X champion Braves rallied for their 17th straight win, in their Homecoming.

Lompoc is now 3-0-0 in the Los Padres League and 7-0-0 overall.

Jacob Sims put the Braves ahead for good with a 6-yard run in the third quarter, and then Tommy Hayes caught a two-point conversion pass from Boo Jackson.

Joe Scott scored on a 15-yard pass from Jackson in the fourth quarter.

Four Lompoc guys threw the ball, but only Jackson completed any passes. Jackson was 3-for-5 for 15 yards. Every one else missed on their only pass.

Rushing-wise, however, Scott had 111 yards on 13 carries. Simes had 65 more on 12 carries as Lompoc gained 215 yards on the ground. Santa Ynez had 37 yards rushing.

Morro Bay 49, Nipomo 7

MORRO BAY - The Titans' defense collapsed as the Pirates (1-2-0, 4-2-0) grabbed their first LPL win.

Corey Stollmeyer racked up 167 yards on 16 carries for Morro Bay, and fullback Steve Dover carried nine times for 68 yards. Stollmeyer scored three touchdowns, and Dover went in on a 1-yard run.

Morro Bay quarterback Robert Ellithorpe went 8-for-12 passing for 132 yads. He threw touchdown passes of 46 and 10 yards to Pat Haugen and threw no interceptions.

The Pirates held Nipomo tailback Justin Robertson, one of the area's best rushers, to 32 yards on eight carries. Chris Lemus scored on a 14-yard run for Nipomo, which dropped to 0-3-0, 1-6-0.

Arroyo Grande 24, Atascadero 12

ARROYO GRANDE - Arroyo Grande and Atascadero opened the Pac-5 league season with a close fought battle which was not decided until the final three minutes of the contest, Arroyo Grande prevailing in the end, 24-12.

Atascadero, which has not won a Pac-5 league game in the previous two years of the leagues existence, gave Arroyo Grande a tougher contest than anyone might have expected, but Andrew Hirsch of the Eagles proved more than Atascadero could contain as he broke two long touchdown runs, and continually slipped through the initial tackles to gain extra yardage on most of his runs.

The game was 14-6 in Arroyo Grande's favor at halftime, but Atascadero took the second half kickoff, drive the length of the field in a drive which consume nearly six minutes, and scored on a draw play to Neil Tidwell on third and 8 from the Arroyo Grande 15.

After the Greyhounds' second missed extra point of the night, the score was 14-12, and Atascadero appeared to have some momentum.

Hirsch and Kyle Pollock then drove the Eagles down the field for a Joey Cozy field goal, and after repelling the Greyhounds on an Atascadero trip deep into Eagle territory, they sealed the contest with another long drive and a touchdown pass from Pollock to Blas Uzueta.

Cuyama 61, VCA 12

CUYAMA - The Lions dropped to 0-2 in Coast Valley League play (0-4 overall) with a mercy-rule loss to the Bears.

Andrew Kiger accounted for both Lions touchdowns, hitting Fernando Calderon for a 60-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. He also scrambled for a 50-yard score in the quarter.

Still, coach Steve McCoy did say that he was pleased with his team's effort, calling it "our best overall game this year."

VCA hosts Laton for Homecoming next Saturday at 1 p.m.

Sportswriters Kenny Cress and Dane Boysen contributed to this report.

Oct. 16, 2004