The Santa Ynez Pirates homecoming game against visiting Santa Maria was anything but saintly, as both sides fought for the lead. Barney Eames and his boys in red rushed often, and well, earning 312 yards of offense on 54 carries, outpacing the Pirates total yard number of 240.

The ground battle alone proved to not be enough, with the Pirates staying unbeaten at home, 35-18.

The small but speedy junior Kevin Crowell would receive a second half kickoff on the Pirates 10 yard line, and run both the width and length of the field to score in what Santa Ynez coach Josh Cunningham called the momentum shifting moment of the game.

“The kickoff return blockers did a great job, and Crowell had a great run,” said Cunningham.

The 90 yard score and extra point gave the Pirates a nine point lead.

The Saints would fight back, putting together a 58 yard campaign to score Ryan Duran on an 11 yard run through multiple pairs of Pirate hands. The two point conversion run would fail (0/3 on point after conversions), bringing the Saints within field-goal reach. However the fourth quarter went the way of Santa Ynez, which scored twice in the closing minutes to keep the game out of reach.

The Saints showed some cunning early, beginning the game with an onside kick which they recovered on the 48 of Santa Ynez.

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“It was a great kick, and a great call. It bounced right over my 6'5” kid,” said a bemused Cunningham.

A fourth down conversion and a well executed reversal run by Robert Rodriguez brought the Saints very close to the holy land, but a fake field goal run on fourth down and nine was stopped a mere three yards short of the line by the Pirates.

The Pirates did not hold onto the ball very long, coughing it up at the 23 yard line where linebacker Alberto Avilla recovered for the Saints.

Even with a second chance at the end zone, the Saints were stymied on a fourth-and-three dump pass slipped right through the fingers of a tight end.

The two teams would trade punts until the last four minutes of the half, when Santa Ynez's new starting running back Chase Yost would bust an inside run to the one yard line, scoring on the next play on a one yard run.

Austin Bartoo would boot the first of his perfect five extra point kicks to make the score 7-0.

Not to be outdone Rodriguez would help champion his own drive, breaking several Pirate tackles for a 13 yard rushing touchdown; 7-6.

Cunningham would exact a bit of cheeky revenge, running his own onside kick to start the second half. The Pirates gamble would also pay off, leading to Yost's second rushing touchdown. The Saints would once again answer the call with a 45 yard drive ending in a quarterback sneak across the one yard line for Daniel Gauna, who ran 10 times for 69 yards.

“We had some key injuries going into this game,” said Saints head coach Eames.

The injuries were added to, as a total of three backs had to come out of the game, including Rodriguez, who ended with 28 yards on 6 rushes.

“This is the best game we've played yet. We were into it up to the end,” said Eames who called his offensive line's performance the best he's seen.

The defense was not very shabby either, holding the Pirates quarterback Billy Peters to only five complete passes, and sacking him five times for negative 54 yards.

“We put the heat on him,” said Eames.

The Saints (2-3, 0-3) welcome Los Padres League opponents Cabrillo next Friday.

The Pirates (4-2, 2-1) seek their second road win of the season, as they play a league game against Pioneer Valley.

Morro Bay 12, Pioneer Valley 10

Logan Budd's 26-yard field goal in the second half spurred the Pirates to an LPL victory over the Panthers, avenging a loss to the second-year varsity program from last year.

The game was played in a sloppy quagmire, limiting the offenses for both teams.

Pioneer Valley's scores came on a 36-yard Andres Montiel field goal in the third quarter, followed by a 48-yard scoring strike from Brian Beyers to Diego DeMiranda.

Templeton 15, Nipomo 6

Ben Terry's 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter salted away the Eagles' second striaght LPL victory, coming against the Titans.

Billy Chambers rushed for 152 yards and one touchdown in the loss for the Titans (1-2, 3-3), while quarterback Mason Sperakos managed only four completions for 25 yards in the loss.

Tyler Bogart caught two touchdown passes from Jake Fitzgerald for Templeton (2-1, 5-1), a 26-yarder in the first quarter and a 24-yarder in the second quarter. Bogart finished with three catches for 84 yards.

Paso Robles 40, Lompoc 6

PASO ROBLES - Bearcats quarterback Greg Draper, returning from injury, threw for three touchdowns in a PAC-7 victory over the visiting Braves.

Paso Robles (1-0, 4-2) scored 40 unanswered points after giving up a second-quarter touchdown. Draper threw two of his touchowns in a four-minute stretch just before halftime.

Lompoc opened the scoring with a three-yard Bobby Collins touchdown run three minutes into the second half. However, the PAT attempt was missed by Jorge Hernandez, keeping the Braves' lead at 6-0.

Brett Wise hauled in two touchdown catches, both in the second quarter off Draper passes, the first a 44-yarder with 3:50 to go, while the second was a six-yard strike with 12 seconds to go in the half.

Josh Weferling had 10 carries for 127 yards and two second-half touchdowns for the Bearcats.

Collins led the Braves (0-2, 2-4) with 30 yards on 11 carries.

Oct. 14, 2006