Nordhoff punter David Brown's kick rolled slowly toward the St. Joseph goal Friday night. “Let it go!,” the Knights' coaches yelled.

“I heard that, but no one was within 20 yards of me,” Daniel Rudolph said. So he scooped up the ball at his 8 and took off.

He cut left and broke a tackle. He cut right and broke another tackle. Then, accompanied by good downfield blocking, he was off near the St. Joseph sideline for a school record 92-yard punt return for a touchdown that sealed the Knights' 28-17 victory over the Ojai-based Rangers on opening night at St. Joseph's Al Maguire Field. For good measure, he kicked the extra point.

Rudolph's record return helped the Knights go into their second home non-league game, against Arroyo Grande at 7:30 p.m. next Friday. on a good note.

“I don't know what I was thinking,” when he decided to pick up the ball, Rudolph said with a chuckle. His mind was clear enough to sprint for St. Joseph's final touchdown with 8:21 left to play.

“The coaches tell us to have fun,” Rudolph said, laughing again. The senior had so much fun he broke a 26-year old school record.

Patrick Cusack Sr. held that record. His son, Knights senior wide receiver-defensive back Patrick Cusack Sr., stood next to Rudolph after the game.

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Cusack threw the last block that got Thomas Sua (117 yards on 25 carries, two touchdowns) into the end zone on a 13-yard touchdown run that gave St. Joseph the lead for good at 13-10 with 5:15 left in the third quarter. Guard Drew Salazar and tackle Clayton Adelhelm also threw big blocks on the play.

Sua is one of the area's premier backs. Linebacker Chad Gibson and defensive back Damian Kaiser led a surge that kept Sua to 21 yards on 10 first-half carries.

The only first-half score came on Brown's 30-yard field goal in the second quarter. Nordhoff started a drive from its 1 after stopping Sua on fourth down from the 3. The drive, which went 86 yards, began 11:54 before halftime and finally ended with Brown's field goal 44.6 seconds before half's end.

Salazar and the rest of the Knights' linemen were able to spring Sua more to the outside after intermission.

“We were just getting off the ball quicker in the second half,” Salazar said.

“I don't think we wore them down. I just think we wanted it more.”

The shorter Rangers' defensive backs could not slow down Scott Cathcart, the Knights' 6-4, 194-pound tight end. Cathcart caught eight passes from quarterback Chase Sanders for a total of 121 yards.

“(The Rangers) were stacked up in the box, trying to stop the run,” St. Joseph coach Mike Hartman said. “I think Chase showed them that you can't keep doing that and get away with it.”

Sanders, a junior making his first varsity start, was 13-for-18 for 173 yards on the night, with no interceptions. His 15-yard pass to Cathcart on St. Joseph's opening drive of the second half gave the Knights their first touchdown of 2006.

After Cusack tipped Garrett Graham's pass on the ensuing series and Joey Baldacchino made a diving interception at the Knights 40, Sanders and Cameron Sewell didn't make a clean exchange on a handoff two plays later. Austin Johnsen scooped up the ball and ran 39 yards for a score. Brown's PAT put Nordhoff ahead 10-7.

The Knights responded with a eight-play, 55-yard scoring drive. Sanders threw to Cathcart for 20 yards to the Nordhoff 13, and Sua ran in on the next play. After a Nordhoff put, the Knights went 61 yards on 13 plays, with Sua covering the last two. He scored behind blocks from Jimmy Friedlein and Brandon Ancheta. Rudolph's kick made it 21-10.

Graham's effective passing in the flat helped the Rangers to their big first-half drive.

Cusack and fellow defensive back Joey Baldacchino, along with a good St. Joseph pass rush, smothered the play after the break. Graham didn't hit a flat pass then, though he did complete three throws in Nordhoff's 63-yard drive for the last touchdown. Albert Mireles took Graham's pass at the 1, broke a tackle and went in with 3:16 to play.

Brown kicked the extra point, then Cusack caught Brown's line drive onside kick and fell to the ground with the ball, snuffing out the Rangers' last gasp.

“We knew they were going to throw that (flat) pass, and we knew we had to jump on it,” said Cusack.

“We went after it. I thought we had more heart than they did in the second half.”

Defensive end Cathcart, nose guard Salazar, linebacker Tyler Kirchof and lineman Sawn Winters led a charge that grounded the Rangers' ground game after halftime.

Nordhoff lost a lot of its key players from its 9-4-0 2005 team to graduation. Still, “That's a solid, well-coached football team,” Hartman said.

“Any time a high school team can go 86 yards without making a mistake, without making a fumble, that's the mark of good coaching.

“Maybe we'll see them in the playoffs.” Both teams are in Division X this year. Both lost in semifinals in different divisions last year.

Sept. 9, 2006