After squandering a 10-point fourth quarter lead, the St. Joseph Knights lined up from their own 20-yard line down by three with 2:51 remaining in Friday night's league battle against Cabrillo.

“We were going to score a touchdown and win the game,” said St. Joseph coach Mike Hartman following a hard-to-swallow 31-30 home loss. “That was our two-minute offense and we practice it every week and that's why we practice it for that type of situation.”

Senior quarterback Brian McConkey stood back in the shotgun and started to promptly move his team down the field with some precision passing.

“At that point, we had all the confidence in the world. You've got to give it up to the receivers. They made some great catches. David Wolfe made a great catch on that corner,” said McConkey. “We were just moving the ball great. Everybody was just catching the ball. That's what we needed. We had tons of momentum.”

Following a nine-yard hookup with Vincent Gibilisco, the Knights' slinger connected on four straight passes - the biggest being a 22-yard toss to Wolfe that put the ball on the Cabrillo 24-yard line.

But on the next play, McConkey was brought down by Cabrillo's Vai Taua for a nine-yard loss - forcing St. Joseph into a timeout with 1:29 left.

Still in the shotgun, McConkey remained perfect on the drive - hitting Wolfe again on a short slant. But that would be the last completion, as Wolfe fumbled the ball and Cabrillo's Greg Watson fell on it to clinch the victory.

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“I don't know if Wolfe caught the ball or not,” said Hartman of the fumble call. “They said he caught the ball and fumbled it, so I guess he caught the ball and fumbled it.”

Cabrillo then kneeled the ball on three plays while taking a pair of delay penalties to milk the clock down to three seconds before punter Casey Belluz ran out of the back of the end zone as time expired for a meaningless safety.

“It was a very emotional week with the scene in Lompoc this week, and the kids this has been their deal all year. We've had four or five comeback victories,” said Cabrillo coach Don Cross. “St. Joseph, a lot of respect for them, but we didn't quit. We got a break on the bad snap. We took advantage of it. That's football.”

Cabrillo, after cutting the deficit to 28-25 on quarterback C.J. Simmons 47-yard touchdown scamper, caught a big break when the Knights had a bad snap on a punt from their own 35-yard line. Punter Philip Adam tried to pick up the bouncing ball, but all he could do was kick it from the ground out of bounds before the Cabrillo defense got to it.

“That's a break for us that we were able to exploit a little bit,” said Cross.

Adam was flagged for an illegal kick and the ball wound up on the St. Joseph five-yard line. Two plays later, bruising back Vai Taua scored the game-winning touchdown from three yards out.

“That's high school football,” said Hartman. “Our kids played hard. We stuck together. We just didn't get the bounces. You've got to give credit to Coach Cross and the Conquistadores. They didn't give up because it would have been real easy for them to pitch the tent in there in the beginning of the fourth quarter. ... The credit goes to them.”

With the loss, St. Joseph drops to 2-3 in the Los Padres League and 4-5 overall.

“Right now, we've got to focus on Santa Maria. If we win that game, we'll be 3-3 in league and 5-5 overall,” said Hartman. “The Los Padres League is by far the best league in Division X, so we should be fourth place in league when we win and we'll go as a wild card team.”

Cabrillo, at 4-1 in the LPL, clinched a playoff berth with the come-from-behind victory.

Emotions ran deep on both sides. The Knights were playing their homecoming game before a packed house at Al Maguire Field trying to lock up a playoff spot.

“Our team, this was probably the best we've ever played, I think,” said McConkey, who threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns. “Everybody played hard and showed a lot of heart.”

The Conquistadores were coping with the tragic car accident that took two Lompoc High School football players lives and leaves another clinging to life in an area hospital.

“We were down. I know for a fact we weren't as down as Lompoc, but it hurt us,” said Simmons, who had three touchdowns with 126 rushing yards and 80 passing yards. “Some of us knew the guys and we played for them really. We preached that we were going to play for those guys. It's horrible you know. It's a scary thing.”

Cabrillo will play Lompoc next Friday with the Los Padres League Championship on the line.

“Especially what happened to those three kids on their team, I think the Lompoc-Cabrillo game will be good for our community,” said Simmons, “and, hopefully, win or lose, we can have a good ball game.”

It was a good ball game from wire to wire last night.

The Conqs got on the board first after a scoreless opening quarter with Simmons rambling in from 47 yards out. But the Knights - who shook off a pair of first-quarter fumbles in the red zone - claimed a 7-6 lead when McConkey found Daniel Rudolph for a 16-yard touchdown.

Cabrillo jumped back ahead on Simmons' second TD run, this one from five yards out, to go into the locker room holding on to a 12-7 advantage.

Then after not attempting a pass in the first half, the Conqs opened the third quarter with Simmons hitting Taua on long bomb for a 61-yard gain. Two plays later, Taua (173 yards on 21 carries) bashed his way into the end zone to extend Cabrillo's lead to 18-7.

That's when the Knights made their move behind McConkey's arm and the rushing of senior Thomas Sua - who finished the game with 232 yards on 34 carries.

Sua brought St. Joseph to within three after running in a short TD and then converting the two-point conversion. Then on the Knights' next possession, he exploded for a 35-yard touchdown run to give St. Joseph a 22-18 lead.

Three plays into the fourth quarter, McConkey hit a wide-open Scott Cathcart (six grabs for 102 yards) for a 75-yard touchdown to put the Knights ahead by 10 with 11:08 remaining.

After the St. Joseph defense forced a punt and the offense moved the ball into Conqs territory, Cabrillo came up with another big turnover when a McConkey pass bounced off Gibilisco's hands and into the arms of defensive back Troy Deleissegues.

It did not take long for Cabrillo to capitalize with Simmons sprinting through the St. Joseph defense for a 49-yard touchdown run to cut the Knights' lead to 28-25 with 5:38 left.

󈬊 down keep, I faked it and since the play, I've never seen a whole that big,” said Simmons, “and I just exploded and got the TD and brought us back.”

“He's been busting big plays all year,” added Cross. “It was good timing obviously and you've got to put a mark on him. You've got to have a guy on five or he's gonna burn you.”

St. Joseph will play at Santa Maria High in its finale.

Nov. 5, 2005