By the time St. Joseph quarterback Shawn Winters scooped up his Santa Ynez counterpart's fumble, and ran it 50 yards for a touchdown it was clear that the league leading St. Joseph Knights were not about to be beaten. Undefeated in the Los Padres League, the Knights (6-2, 5-0) beat Santa Ynez 35-14 at home.

“It feels good to score on defense, but that was rough,” said the Knights senior who also plays on the defensive line.

“Don't get me wrong, but it's tiring and you're worried about being caught from behind,” he said of his run from midfield. The fumbled ball bounced right into Winter's hands following the fumble by the Pirates Billy Peters, courtesy of defensive linebacker Brandon Ancheta's sack.

The defensive touchdown would lift the Knights to 21-0 headed into the locker room at half-time.

Winters did not have to do very much running around Al Maguire Field however, as running backs Thomas Sua and Daniel Rudolph did more than enough of that. Sua carried 12 times for 146 yards before being rested for the fourth quarter. It was Rudolph however that drew first blood, beating the Pirate defense to the corner, and racing to a 38 yard score.

St. Joe would begin their second scoring drive on their own 23, move the chains five times with mostly alternate runs inside with Sua and outside runs with Rudolph. On a first down from the five yard line Sua would be denied once, as Chase Yost and Adam Johansen stuffed him at scrimmage, but on second down the notoriously hard-to-tackle Sua would find a hole score, 14-0.

The Pirates would threaten on their next possession, as Brad Petersen would snag a pass from Peters to move the ball 48 yards in the right direction. If not for a tackle in the secondary by Tyler Kirchhof to stop Petersen, the Pirates might of built some momentum. Instead Peters would try a bootleg pass two downs later when the Knight's Ancheta would force the fumble.

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“The kids did a great job tonight, but St. Joe is a very solid team,” said Pirates coach Josh Cunningham. “They played number one football.”

For the third week in a row Peters faced an aggressive pass rush. A mix of St. Joe blitzes and a determined four man attack effectively shut down the Santa Ynez air attack for three quarters, and putting the hurt on Peters who had to sit out one possession after taking a hit to his throwing arm.

The man coverage of the Knights secondary also helped keep the air attack from materializing, with corners Shawn Philips and Evan Domingues forcing a few incomplete passes with well timed tackles of receivers.

Winters, filling in for starting quarterback Chase Sanders who is recovering from cancer, faked run to buy all the time he needed to pass, earning a consistent 8-13 for 102 yard performance for the green Knights.

The Pirates ran a respectable 30 times for 127 yards, but struggled with consistency. Petersen led his team with 56 yards on the ground.

“It was good to get back out on the field,” said Petersen who had not seen much action prior to Friday.

Santa Ynez (4-3, 2-3) returns home, where they have yet to lose a game this season, and play Nipomo next week, followed by Morro Bay.

“We've got to stay strong and beat both if we want a chance at playoffs,” said Petersen.

“It was a great win for our kids and it kind of sets up a showdown next week up at Morro Bay,” said the Knights coach Greg Hartman.

The Morro Bay Pirates are coming off of a 41-7 league win against Cabrillo and will be playing for a portion of the LPL title Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 28, 2006