Santa Maria senior Gilbert Arguijo knew Friday night's regular-season finale against St. Joseph would probably be the last football game he ever played in.

So the starting tailback held nothing back and gave it everything he had - putting a bit of a scare into the host Knights before falling 21-7 at Al Maguire Field.

"We had nothing to lose. We had to give it our all the last game. Us seniors, it's our last game ever probably so we just had to leave it all out on the field," said Arguijo. "That's what we did and we came pretty close tonight. We gave them a scare. We gave them a good scare."

They sure did.

What was supposed to be a one-sided blowout - a prelude to the post-season for St. Joseph - was anything but that.

The score was tied 7-7 at the end of the first quarter and Santa Maria even had two chances to jump ahead, but threatening drives ended with a missed field goal and an interception.

"What's their record? They have a pretty good record," said Arguijo, who finished with 134 yards on 34 carries and a touchdown. "9-1 and look how close we came. We almost stopped them. We almost went up, but we just came up a little bit short tonight."

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The Knights did what they needed to do - taking a 14-7 lead into halftime on sophomore Thomas Sua's 3-yard touchdown run. And then extending to a two-touchdown lead on their opening drive of the second half when senior Casey Cathcart scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

"I'd have to think - it's been a long year - coming off of back-to-back Lompoc and Cabrillo with the playoffs next week and this game wasn't going to determine anything, so I'm sure the kids were looking ahead," said St. Joseph coach Barney Eames. "They're human."

St. Joseph (5-1 in Los Padres League, 9-1 overall) - which will now await its seed in the CIF Division X Playoffs - shook off two first-quarter interceptions by Cathcart to eventually put away the Saints (1-5, 2-8).

"I thought Santa Maria played real well. They came out with a real basic game plan and they took it right at us. I have to give them credit. They played well," Eames said. "They didn't make many mistakes. They didn't turn the ball over very much. We had some key turnovers early on or maybe we could have put them away."

After holding Santa Maria to a quick three-and-out, the Knights used an impressive six-play, 74-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead with senior Brad Escobar (25 carries for 128 yards, TD) scoring from five yards out.

Another quick three-and-out by the Saints gave the ball right back to the Knights - who were forced to start on their own 2-yard line thanks to a booming kick from Santa Maria punter Jesus Saldana.

St. Joseph got a first down and was poised for another big drive when Cathcart's pass was intercepted by Saints' linebacker Ricardo Arias on the 23-yard line. On the play, Cathcart hit receiver Dominic Catayas with the pass that was a little behind him. Catayas - who later in the first quarter left with an ankle injury - could not gain control of the ball and Arias grabbed it before it hit the ground.

Three straight Arguijo runs and the score was tied up with 3:35 remaining in the opening quarter.

On the Knights' ensuing drive, Cathcart (11 of 19 for 157 yards) threw his second interception, as Santa Maria's Nolan Snowden picked it off and ran it back to the St. Joseph 38-yard line.

The Saints, looking to take the lead, moved the ball down to the 24-yard line, but quarterback Nestor Frausto returned the favor with an interception snagged by St. Joseph linebacker Brian McConkey.

But the Knights could not do anything with it and punted the ball back to Santa Maria - which handed the ball to Arguijo seven consecutive times.

"I'm used to it. That's what I just tell the coaches, 'Give me the ball and I'll do what I can do,' Most of the year, I've done great. My blocking has been there," Arguijo said. "I just run behind them, keep my legs moving, just cut back whenever I see a cutback and do whatever I have to do."

After failing to convert on a third-and-seven, the Saints sent out senior place-kicker Ernesto Velasco - whose 40-yard field goal attempt fell short.

With 2:10 remaining in the first half, St. Joseph started at its own 31-yard line and turned to Cathcart - who completed passes of 15, 37 and 14 yards to set up Sua's 3-yard touchdown run and a 14-7 halftime lead.

Coming out of the break, Santa Maria went to a bit of trickery, attempting an on-side kick. It failed and St. Joseph got great starting field position on the Santa Maria 48-yard line. Cathcart again completed passes of 24 and 22 yards before sneaking in for a touchdown from one yard out.

"That was pretty big. That kind of put us in control of the game right there," Eames said. "Our defense, they picked it up. They shut them out the second half."

In response, Santa Maria put together a bruising 17-play drive with Arguijo getting the call on each one. But fourth-and-seven from the St. Joseph 13-yard line, Arguijo could not find the first-down marker. It was the last time Santa Maria ventured into enemy territory.

"I had fun this year," Arguijo said. "My goal from the beginning, I told them I want to break a thousand yards and I did that against Morro Bay, so I broke my goal. The touchdowns, the extra stuff is a just a plus for me."

St. Joseph will find out its playoff seed Sunday afternoon, and Coach Eames anticipates a much stronger effort from his players.

"You know what? You've got to win ugly sometimes and tonight was that game. We had to just win ugly," the coach said. "It seemed like we were out of sync. ... We had some turnovers that didn't help early, but we did what we had to do."

Nov. 13, 2004