Despite entering Friday's game at Nipomo with a 1-7 record, the Santa Ynez High School football team still had a chance - albeit a slight one - of qualifying for postseason play.

The Pirates would need to beat the Titans, then knock off Morro Bay next week and get a lot of help from other teams.

Santa Ynez head coach Josh Cunningham knew that his team would feel a fair amount of pressure heading into Friday's must-win game against Nipomo, so he did the only thing he could to remove that pressure.

“I just told them we're going to win,” he said. “I wanted to take (the pressure) off them and put it onto me, in a way. All week long, that was our theme - we're going to win, we're going to win, we're going to win. It was like ‘The Little Red Caboose.' ”

Cunningham's techniques worked as the Pirates gutted out a 17-0 victory over an injury-depleted Titans squad.

“This gives us a lot of confidence,” said Santa Ynez quarterback Billy Peters. “(Making the playoffs) would mean a lot, especially to the seniors. All week we knew we were in a must-win situation, and this was our last chance to do something.”

The game certainly didn't please those who prefer to see a lot of offense - the teams combined for just 517 yards. But Santa Ynez (2-7, 2-3) was able to make just enough big plays to get the victory.

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On the first play of the second quarter, a fourth-and-8 situation from the 50-yard line, Nipomo's snap sailed over punter Mike Trujillo's head, and the Pirates' Kyle McQuitty muscled Trujillo aside, scooped up the ball and ran untouched into the end zone from 35 yards out to give Santa Ynez a 7-0 lead one minute into the second quarter.

“That play was huge,” said Santa Ynez wideout/linebacker Josh Hartman, who racked up 114 combined yards, including 81 receiving. “That really got us (fired) up and into the game. After that, Billy made some plays, and the defensive line stepped up big.”

After the Titans (1-8, 1-5) punted on their next possession, Santa Ynez scored again on a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Billy Peters to Hartman to give the Pirates a 14-0 advantage.

Kicker Ruben Camacho booted a 34-yard field goal with 19 seconds left in the first half, pushing the Pirates' lead to 17-0.

Nipomo made some defensive adjustments in the second half and shut down Santa Ynez's offense, forcing two punts and two turnovers.

The Titans put more defenders in the box and began to blitz with aggressive frequency. Nipomo sacked Peters three times in the second half.

Peters, the Los Padres League's leading passer, threw for 193 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and the Pirates ran for just 100 yards.

“We weren't sharp offensively, and that's why I'm not really happy with the game,” said Cunningham, who is also Santa Ynez's offensive coordinator. “You have to hand it to Nipomo. They stunted us like crazy in the second half and shut us down.”

Nipomo's offense, however, couldn't take advantage. The Titans struggled to move the ball in the first half, and things got much worse midway through the third quarter when quarterback Mason Sperakos left the game with a rib injury.

Backup quarterbacks Brent Seguine and Joey Romero struggled to hold on to the ball after the snap, which led to eight second-half fumbles. Santa Ynez recovered two, including a drop at its 8-yard line with a minute remaining when Nipomo - which has struggled mightily with turnovers all season - was threatening for its first score.

“We moved the ball a little bit in the first quarter, and then we went flat,” said Titans head coach Jon Hitchen. “In the third quarter we came out with a lot of emotion, but then Mason got hurt. He's taken all the reps in practice for the last three or four weeks, and after (he went out) we just tried to survive.”

Even though Nipomo clearly was handicapped on offense, the Pirates will gladly take the shutout, their first of the year. Santa Ynez entered the contest giving up an average of 37 points per game.

“That was huge,” Cunningham said. “My goal was to hold them scoreless in the first half, (but it was good we played well defensively) because they shut us down in the second half. That was my goal coming in, to have a real strong game on defense.”

Nov. 5, 2005