Sometimes, one play won't matter much in the course of a high school football game.

As Friday night's Los Padres League battle between Cabrillo and Santa Maria showed, one play can make all the difference in the world.

A 66-yard fumble return by sophomore linebacker Matt Rotondi midway through the fourth quarter swung momentum the visiting Conquistadores' way in a 34-21 victory over the Saints in front of a Homecoming crowd at Dave Boyd Field.

The win pushed the Conquistadores back into the race for an LPL playoff berth, improving their league record to 2-3 and jumping to 2-5 overall.

Rotondi's big play was a 13-point swing in a game that saw both teams put up big games on the ground. The Saints put together a 369-yard effort in rushing, only to have things fall apart on the play.

“As I saw the ball, I just thought, ‘Don't get tackled, don't trip, and don't cramp up,” said Rotondi of his fumble return, which extended the Conqs' lead to 34-21 with 5:46 to play.

The Saints were driving deep into Conqs territory, holding the ball on a third-and-four on Cabrillo's 28-yard line. On the play, Saints quarterback Daniel Gauna - who had played a solid game running the option to that point - tried to pitch the ball to sophomore running back Ryan Duran after being attacked by Cabrillo linebacker Brian Lane. However, Gauna's pitch was well behind Duran, setting up a free ball behind the line of scrimmage, where it was scooped up by Rotondi and returned the rest of the way.

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“All I was thinking about him was ‘Scoop and score, baby!'” quipped Cabrillo coach Don Cross about Rotondi's return. “We practice that, so he knew what to do with it.”

Up to that point, the ground attacks controlled the action: each team had scoring drives of nine plays or longer, with the Saints putting together a 10-play, 80-yad drive that tied the score at 21 early in the fourth quarter.

The Saints (0-4, 2-5) got an inspired rushing performance from senior halfback Julian Ortiz, who bulled, leaped, spun and danced his way to a game-high 156 yards and two touchdowns in the defeat. Gauna had a very good night as well with 107 yards, including a 47-yard scamper for Santa Maria's first score. Fullback Halston Chapman almost gave the Saints a third 100-yard rusher, totaling 83 yards on the ground.

Cabrillo countered with two 100-yard nights of its own, with fullback Colby McKissack grinding out 135 yards and a second-quarter touchdown, while option quarterback C.J. Simmons had 12 carries for 106 yards, and two touchdowns, including a 20-yard broken-play scamper with 9:02 to go that gave the Conqs the lead for good.

“I told (Saints coach Barney Eames) after the game that it was a great effort by his team,” Cross said. “That was an excellent exhibition of running the ball.”

The teams traded touchdowns for much of the first half, with Simmons' first score, a four-yard run four minutes in, countered by Gauna's 47-yard score in which he juked Simmons in the secondary and ran untouched for the score.

McKissack countered with an 18-yard run early in the second quarter, only to have that advantage evaporate on Ortiz's first score, a five-yard end-around. Josh Blair gave the Conqs a 21-14 halftime lead with a five-yard run with 3:15 to play in the second quarter.

After a scoreless third quarter that featured only two pass plays by either team (both by Cabrillo), Ortiz tied the game with his second score in the first minute of the fourth-quarter. Simmons then came right back, two minutes after Ortiz's touchdown, with his second on an option play that saw the senior reverse field in the background and run around the right side of the Saints' defense for a 20-yard score.

The game was slowed down by penalties, 17 in all. Santa Maria was flagged nine times for 65 yards, while Cabrillo was hit eight times for 60 yards.

Oct. 21, 2006