It was a good, old fashioned shootout Friday night at Santa Maria High School's Dave Boyd Field,

In the end, it came down to which team would be the last to have the ball.

And on this night, that would be the Santa Ynez Pirates - who pulled out a 35-26 Los Padres league victory.

In a see-saw battle, the lead changed hands four times before the Pirates came up with a crucial fourth-quarter interception. That ended the Saints' (0-1, 1-4) chances of making it five lead changes and a possible victory- sealing the Pirates' (1-1, 1-4) first win of the season.

”We put some points on the board. We played some pretty good defense,“ said Santa Maria coach Shawn Ramirez. ”We've just to learn how to finish the second half.“

”Santa Maria played really tough tonight,“ said Santa Ynez coach Josh Cunningham. ”I was pleased with the way they played tonight. I was pleased with the way our kids played tonight, too. They fought to the end.“

Along the way, Santa Ynez quarterback Billy Peters had a record setting night - passing for a school record 301 yards and three touchdowns, including strikes of 90 and 42 yards.

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”It was a tight game, very tight,“ said Peters. ”We had a couple of key injuries to Josh Hartman and Beau Armenta but the guys that replaced them really stepped it up when they came in.“

”Kyle McQuitty filled in for Josh and he caught the record breaker,“ said Peters. ”But I couldn't have done it without the offensive line - Matt Smithley, Johnny Perez, Quentin Johnson, T.J. Alvarado and Tyler Forshey.“

The Saints had their own big play man in tailback Gabriel Rodriguez - who picked up 207 yards on 32 carries.

”He's quite an athlete,“ said Ramirez. ”We really ran the ball well tonight. The kids all played hard. It was a tough loss but you've got to give credit to Santa Ynez - they did a good job, too.“

Santa Maria took the first lead of the night early in the first quarter.

The Saints' Angel Espinoza hauled in the opening kickoff at his own eight yard line, then raced up the far sideline - nearly breaking free for a touchdown - before being hauled down at midfield.

From there, the Saints ground attack went to work with quarterback David Gauna and Rodriguez taking turns pounding the ball at the Pirates' defense. The result - a six play, 50 yard drive that, with Marcos Sanchez's extra point, gave Santa Maria a 7-0 lead just 2:35 into the game.

Still trailing 7-0, the Pirates defense forced a Gauna fumble - at the Santa Maria 19 yard line - with 8:42 remaining in the second quarter.

From there, the Pirates used four plays to go those 19 yards - capping the short drive with a Nick Rivera one yard run.

Ruben Camacho's PAT tied the game with 7:37 on the clock.

The Saints came right back.

Keyed by Rodriguez's 70 yard run that moved the ball from the Santa Maria 15 yard line to the Santa Ynez 15 yard line - The Saints marched 85 yards on six plays to take a 14-7 lead with 5:53 to go in the half.

Santa Ynez fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Santa Maria got the ball back at the Santa Ynez 40.

Capitalizing on the momentum, the Saints used six play to reach the end zone when, on first and goal, Espinoza ran it in from the eight.

Sanchez's PAT attempt was partially blocked and sailed wide left - but the Saints were still ahead 20-7 with 3:32 remaining in the half.

The Pirates fought back.

They made sure they held onto the next kickoff - falling on Sanchez's pop fly at their own 47.

Working the clock, Peters mixed the pass with the run - keeping Santa Maria off balance - before hitting Mark Campos with a 42 yard TD pass just before the break.

Peters also tossed a two-point conversion pass to Nick Rivera to close the gap to 20-15 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

Peters came out firing in the third quarter.

On their second possession, Santa Ynez was buried deep in its own territory - the Saints having pinned the Pirates at their own 10 yard line after a deep punt.

Peters dropped back and found Zach Steele open on a crossing pattern. Steele caught the pass near the 30 yard line, turned up field and was never headed - racing to a 90 yard touchdown.

Another two-point conversion pass to Rivera put the Pirates on top 23-20.

As the fourth quarter began, the Saints completed a 12 play, 83 yard march.

Again the point after attempt was blocked, but the Saints were back on top 26-23 less than a minute into the final period.

Now it was the Pirates turn to mount as comeback - and they did.

Starting from their own 20 yard line, they used 6 plays - the big play a 44 yard pass to Kyle McQuitty - before Peters nailed Rivera with a 7 yard touchdown pass to put Santa Ynez back on top 29-26 - the PAT kick attempt failed.

There was still 8:33 on the clock and, at this point, it looked like the teams might just trade scores until the clock ran out.

But the Pirates defense stopped the Saints on the next play - Petersen, playing defensive back, picked off Gauna's pass at the Santa Maria 32.

Petersen ran it back to the Saints' 22 yard line and the Pirates were finally in position to put the game away.

Going away from the passing game, the Pirates used a ground attack, ate up more than three minutes on the clock and put the game out of reach when Petersen ran it in from the one yard line.

The two-point conversion attempt failed, but Santa Ynez was up 35-26 with the clock winding down.

The Saints mounted one final drive but could get no closer than the Pirates 18 yard line before turning the ball over on downs and time running out.

”We really thought we could win this game,“ said Ramirez. ”We'll rebound against Cabrillo next week.“

Santa Maria travels down to Lompoc to play the Cabrillo Conquistadores.

”For us, this was a real team effort,“ said Cunningham. ”You can't win with one or two superstars. We lost a couple guys and their backups stepped in and stepped up their game. Our hats are off to coach Ramirez and his team. They fought hard to the end. They deserve a lot of credit.“

The Lompoc Braves visit Santa Ynez next Friday night.

Sports Editor Elliott Stern can be reached at 739-2235 or by e-mail at elliottstern@santamariatimes.com.

Oct. 8, 2005