The pass went off his teammate's hands, Pioneer Valley running back Josiah Morales dove in the end zone, and there the ball was - in his hands for the tying touchdown.

Gabriel Nunez kicked the extra point with 6:19 to play. The Panthers' defense held off Kilpatrick School's offense, and Pioneer Valley came away with a 21-20 win over the Malibu-based Mustangs at Pioneer Valley Friday night.

The second-year Panthers are 2-0-0 in their inaugural varsity season. The game was the Mustangs' season opener.

The Panthers were facing a third-down-and-goal from the Mustangs 5 when Morales made his big dive and catch on quarterback Bryan Beyers' pass.

"I don't think the pass was supposed to go to me," Morales said. "I just pushed up, ran a post and ran to the corner.

"I just saw the ball go up, and I dove," and caught it.

Kilpatrick could not quite overcome 16 penalties for a total of 95 yards. A five-yard procedure penalty took away Ricky Ceniceros' conversion kick for what would have been the Mustangs' 21st point.

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The ball went back five yards and Ceniceros kicked a line drive into the Panthers' rush on his next try. Two 5-yard offside penalties helped Pioneer Valley's 80-yard drive for the last touchdown along.

As the Mustangs were trying to drive for the potential winning score in the afterward, a holding call took away John Little's 19-yard run to the Panthers 30. Little did wind up with a total of 100 yards on 11 carries.

Pioneer Valley scored its inaugural varsity football win by beating Peter Knight High of Palmdale 13-0. The Panthers racked up another first Friday night - their first come from behind win. Kilpatrick led 20-7 at halftime.

"(Kilpatrick) was a dominant team," Pioneer Valley coach Greg Dickinson said. "I told the kids at halftime they were jumpin' on us a little bit. But we told the kids to just stick with it and maybe they would start panicking a little bit late, and I think they did."

Kilpatrick was winless last year, but Dickinson said that was a moot point.

"They're the type of school that changes players every year, so you can't ever really tell what they have," said Pioneer Valley's coach.

Kilpatrick drove 30 yards to the Panthers 27 after Pioneer Valley's last score. But Panthers lineman Kyle Muldoon sacked Mustangs quarterback Sean Taylor for a 5-yard loss on fourth down with 2:15 to play.

"I just shot the gap, and I saw the guy with the ball," Muldoon said. "I did an 'icepick' (maneuver), and I got to the quarterback."

The Mustangs had one last chance after stopping Pioneer Valley, but Panthers defensive back Frank Tovar ended that with an interception at his 36 with a tenth of a second left.

The Panthers' defense has allowed one touchdown thus far this season. The unit finally gave up a score on Taylor's 1-yard sneak with 6:45 left in the first half. Then came the penalty on Ceniceros' kick and the failed kick that followed.

"The defense has been carrying us," two-way Pioneer Valley lineman Cody Adams said.

"We won it in the fourth quarter with our conditioning. They were getting tired." The Mustangs led 20-14 as the fourth quarter began.

Besides fine conditioning, the Panthers may have benefited from manpower superiority. Kilpatrick's roster has 25 players. Pioneer Valley's roster has 40.

On their first series Friday night, the Panthers drove 52 yards for their first varsity score on offense. Pioneer Valley caught Kilpatrick flat on a quick snap its second play, and Buddy Garcia ran 41 yards to the Mustangs 9. Beyers threw to Aaron Hernandez for a 4-yard touchdown pass three plays later.

Then Kilpatrick's defense took over for a time. The blitzing Mustangs gave the Panthers fits most of the first half.

Linebacker Daniel Pittman batted Beyers' fourth down pass into the air, grabbed it at the Kilpatrick 35 and took the ball 65 yards to the house for the score with 3:56 left in the first quarter.

Lineman Keyron Stevenson put the Mustangs ahead when he picked off Beyers' short pass and rambled 55 yards for a score.

"They were just coming so hard," Dickinson said of the Mustangs. Pioneer Valley finally found a way to slow them down.

"We went to the shotgun, and that gave us a little more space. We caught them on some reverses."

Garcia took one of those reverses 46 yards to the Mustangs 4. Andrew Gonzales bulled in for a touchdown on the next play. Nunez's kick narrowed the Panthers' gap to 20-14.

Pioneer Valley's last touchdown drive started with 1:40 left in the third quarter. The Panthers' line kept opening holes, and Morales ran for 43 yards on the march. Tovar had a big 10-yard run on a reverse on third-and-10 from the Mustangs 43.

"We just did what the coaches told us to do," regarding blocking, Adams said.

"When they were blitzing, we just went to 'down' blocking, and it worked."

Dickinson said, "I think we out-formationed them." Defensive back Zev Olvera boosted the Panthers by knocking down several long passes.

The Panthers play at home at 7:30 p.m. next Friday night against West Ranch of Stevenson Ranch.

Sept. 10, 2005