St. Joseph coach Barney Eames worked hard all week not letting his players look past Santa Ynez with a Los Padres League showdown against unbeaten Lompoc coming up in week-eight.

He succeeded.

On the first play from scrimmage in Friday night's contest at Al Maguire Field, senior Matt Ruiz recovered a fumble by Pirates tailback Nick Rwera. And two plays later, senior quarterback Casey Cathcart hit senior tight end Kevin Buchanon for an eight-yard touchdown.

"That got the momentum going and psychologically I think that helped us a lot," Eames said. "It put us on top and it kind of dictated the kind of game we played. When you're on top, you call plays a little differently and you play a little bit differently."

The Knights (3-0 in LPL, 7-0 overall) did not stop there - scoring the game's first 31 points en route to a 38-12 thrashing of Santa Ynez (1-3 in LPL, 2-4-1 overall).

"I think we just got after them," said Cathcart, who tossed three touchdowns. "They're secondary is real weak and I knew we would exploit that a little bit with Dominic (Catavas) and Kevin (Buchanon). They had a great game. I was able to get the ball to them and they did a good job."

The St. Joseph defense delivered as well, not allowing the Pirates to capitalize on a pair of first-quarter turnovers by tailback Philip Adam.

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"It set the tone early and that's what I said to the kids. Having that fumble, that shot us in the foot right there and they took it in real easy," said Santa Ynez coach Ken Gruendyke. "And then we had our opportunities, moving it down the field. We should have put it in the end zone. Then it would have been 14-7."

Instead, it was 17-0 St. Joseph at the half with Cathcart hooking up with Catavas for a 28-yard score and junior place-kicker Scott Chenoweth booting a 20-yard field goal.

"That was huge," said Eames. "Our defense stepped up and hit guys. If our defense wouldn't have held them up, that would have really been a tight game because they had the ball twice down in our territory."

Following a homecoming extravaganza - which included a fireworks show, floats, and queens in corvettes - the Knights picked up where they left off. Junior tailback TJ Perling (15 carries for 75 yards) scored from four yards out and then Cathcart found senior receiver Ryan Adelsh for an 18-yard touchdown.

"O-line did a great job, too. Everybody gave me some time and I was able to find those guys wide open over the middle," said Cathcart, who finished 6 of 13 for 109 yards in the air. "You don't want to lose at homecoming. That would hurt."

"Lompoc had the night off so we know they're all down here watching us. We sent a message down to them."

The message was look out for St. Joseph - which will travel to Lompoc next Friday night for a battle of the unbeatens.

"It's going to be a heck of a week next week," Eames said. "They've got a real winning tradition going right now. I think they've won 17, 18 straight. They haven't ever lost a league game."

St. Joseph hopes that will all change.

"It's going to be a real challenge for us," the coach added. "They'll be ready for us. They always play us very tough. Our kids will be ready. It ought to be a good football game."

The Pirates hoped to play a better game - but they did avoid the shutout with a pair of fourth-quarter scores. Second-half quarterback Billy Peters got Santa Ynez on the board with a two-yard scramble and then hit junior receiver Zach Steele on a 23-yard touchdown strike.

But after the Pirates' initial score, St. Joseph came right back with Adam rushing for a 37-yard touchdown to end his night at 182 yards on 24 carries.

"Good football team. Hats off to them. They're well-balanced. They have a lot of weapons. Very physical up front. I wish them the best," said Gruendyke, who hopes his team can rebound next week at Atascadero. "You always learn from losing and the sign of a true competitor and a winner is you go back and work that much harder."

Cabrillo 14, Morro Bay 7

LOMPOC - Defense, indeed.

At Huyck Stadium in Lompoc, Cabrillo got defensive to improve to 6-1 and 3-0 in the Los Padres League as Morro Bay fell to 4-3, 1-3.

The Conquistadores put together two first-half rushing touchdowns from junior fullback Vai Taua with that solid D to stay in contention for the LPL title.

"Wow!" said Cabrillo coach Don Cross. "I talked to the kids about a playoff-caliber game against a playoff caliber team. Well, this one was played with that kind of intensity."

It looked like the offenses were in control early.

Morro Bay's Corey Stollmeyer punctuated a three-play, game-opening drive with a 55-yard touchdown run.

Cabrillo responded with an 11-play, 76-yard scoring drive. Lydell Sargeant and Taua alternated, Taua scoring from the two.

Two series later, Taua bolted across from the 21 to finish a seven-play, 81-yard foray. Sean McGinty hooked up with Sargeant on a 23-yard pass play and with Taua on an 11-yarder to spark this offensive.

Later in the second quarter, Morro Bay drove to Cabrillo's one, only to fumble. C.J. Simmons covered it for Cabrillo.

That was it for end zone threats for either side.

Morro Bay, led by linebacker Hans Guy and lineman Kenny Vaughan, was ferocious and effective in bottling up the potent Conq running attack.

And Cabrillo, paced by backer John Pierce, had all the answers.

"Yeah, they were physical," Pierce said of Morro Bay. "But we stepped up."

Cabrillo is at Nipomo while Morro Bay hosts Santa Maria next Friday in another pair of LPL games.

AG 24, Paso Robles 18

PASO ROBLES - For the second straight year, the meeting between Arroyo Grande and Paso Robles was decided by a last-minute Arroyo Grande touchdown. Eagle running back Stacey Cannon ran into the end zone with 27 seconds left to give his team a 24-18 road victory.

"I found my fullback and I went as hard as I could," Cannon said. "I wasn't stopping for anything."

The win improved the Eagles to 5-2 and 2-0 in the PAC-5. The defending PAC-5 champs have won six straight league games dating back to last season. Paso Robles is 2-4-1 and 0-1.

Paso Robles pulled ahead, 18-17, when Darrell Duran ran into the end zone from one yard out with 3:42 left in the game.

Eagle quarterback Kyle Pollock threw for 224 yards and one touchdown, a 63-yard connection with wide receiver Deangelo Waller.

q Sportswriters Al Hunt and Sean Martin contributed to this report

Oct. 23, 2004