The third down is undoubtedly important in football, and Saint Joseph knows just how important that number three can be, following a 41-21 league road win over the Santa Ynez Pirates.

For one thing St. Joe (4-1, 2-1) now moves into a tie with Cabrillo for third place in the Los Padres League, a good place to be to make the post season.

Coach Mike Hartman's squad started the game with a big sack by Sheldon Lechuga on Pirate quarterback Billy Peters on third down to force a Bucs punt on their first possession.

“It was a great game. Always well played and hard hitting,” said Hartman.

The Knights followed that up with a drive containing a long third-down pass from Brian McConkey to Vincent Gibilisco (jersey number three of course) to move the chains.

The drive's third first down took the hard-running Knights to the Pirate's three yard line, where, on the third try, Tom Sua ran it up the middle for the first score of the game.

Santa Ynez would battle back with Peters burning the man-to-man coverage of St. Joe for a 75-yard strike to Adam Johansen to tie it.

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St. Joe would keep the high flying Pirates grounded on their next possession by pinning them with a perfect punt by Philip Adam to their own five-yard line.

The green and white would get the ball back at Santa Ynez's own 31. Sua would stiff-arm down one blocker on a 28-yard rumble to set up another first and goal situation. He finished with 130 yards on 26 carries.

Once again, third time was the charm when McConkey would notch his fifth rushing touchdown of the season on a quarterback sneak.

Later in the second quarter, another Peters sack on third down would crate a turnover,

A stripped ball would give Santa Ynez the ball back at their 32-yard line. Peters would go for another long bomb on first down, and connected with receiver Zach Steele over 40 yards down the field. The coverage team managed to bring Steele down, and luckily forced a fumble at the same time. St. Joe would recover, ensuring the Knights kept their 14-7 lead into the locker room at half-time

“Sometimes in man coverage the reward outweighs the risk,” said coach Hartman, who credited the pass rush with hurting the Pirate offense.

The third quarter saw the Knights take control of the game, scoring on the opening drive in under a minute with a 64-yard pass to Daniel Rudolph.

Josh Hartman, off the Pirates injured list, but still not 100 percent according to head coach Josh Cunningham, did his best to keep the Bucs in the fight. He broke a 65-yard run along the left sideline, less than a minute later to keep the Pirates within one score.

Back-to-back touchdowns by the Knights would dampen the home crowd spirits faster than the thick fog that descended on Pirate field.

Philip Adam would score on a 12-yard yard lob from back-up quarterback David Wolfe, as well as a seven yard run for the Knights in the fourth quarter.

Hartman would cap off the Pirates last effort with a four-yard run.

“I'm proud of the boys tonight, playing till the end,” said Steele after the game.

St. Joe will host defending league champion Lompoc (5-2, 3-0) next week, fresh off their bye week.

Oct. 22, 2005