St. Joseph had 14 points Friday night before Arroyo Grande had run its first play.

The teams' respective fortunes didn't change most of the rest of the way. Russell Perkins had three touchdowns by halftime, and the Knights rolled past the Eagles 35-6 in a non-league game at Arroyo Grande's Doug Hitchen Stadium,

St. Joseph squared its record at 1-1-0. Arroyo Grande is 0-3-0. Next Friday, the Knights play Bishop Diego at home and the Eagles host San Francisco Washington. Kickoff for both games is 7:30 p.m.

The Knights scored their first varsity football win over the Eagles since 1987. They also scored a big reversal from last week when they lost 31-13 at Ojai Nordhoff.

“A big jump,:” in quality said P.J. Cano, the Knights' 6'0”, 284-pound center. Cano helped anchor a line that consistently opened holes for St. Joseph's backs and didn't allow a quarterback sack.

“During the week the offense really worked on the timing, especially the timing on the snap,” said Cano.

That all that labor paid off became evident on the first series of the game.

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Scott Cathcart got the visitors rolling by returning the opening kickoff 51 yards to Arroyo Grande's 41. The Knights scored in seven plays, with Perkins doing the honors from a yard out behind tackle Evan Ferini's block.

Cameron Sewell wound up as the Knights' leading rusher with 61 yards on eight carries. He also set up St. Joseph's touchdown. Anthony Gallegos' kickoff following the Perkins score glanced off an Eagle, and Sewell recovered at the Arroyo Grande 22.

Perkins scored from the four six plays later, Gallegos kicked his second of five extra points and the rout was on.

“It's the old coaching cliche, the biggest improvement comes from week one to week two,” said Knights coach Mike Hartman. “That's what happened for us tonight.”

His line's marvelous blocking helped St. Joseph quarterback Gavin Kelly go 10-for-15 passing for 169 yards. He and Cathcart played pitch-and-catch for 119 yard in receptions for Cathcart.

Kelly used all of Cathcart's 6'4” several times. The pair's TD hookup came when Kelly lofted a timing pass which Cathcart caught over 5'6” Eagles defensive back Michael Garza at the five and then Cathcart ran in to make it 34-0 in the third quarter.

“He's 6'4”, my line was blocking really well and I knew if I got the ball to him he would catch it,” said Kelly.

Cathcart said, “We were getting a really good push off the ball on the line, and our defense did really good.

“(Kelly) was able to get the ball to me,” and Cathcart took it from there.

At linebacker, Cathcart helped the Knights' defense check the Eagles offense. Linemen Taylor Robb and Jonathan Thomas slowed Arroyo Grande's running game, and defensive back Travis English consistently came up fast to provide run support for the gang-tackling Knights.

The Eagles did stop their scoring drought at seven quarters. Bo Cabalar set up Arroyo Grande's touchdown with a 40-yard punt return to the Knights 20. Andrew Reza slashed in from the one with 11:20 to play. Sewell blocked the point-after kick.

After their two first-quarter scores - “We wanted to jump on top quickly,” said Hartman, and obviously his team did - the Knights went about salting the game away in the second quarter.

Kelly would have had a 92-yard touchdown run that quarter, but he was victimized by an early whistle after an 11-yard gain. The Knights scored on the series anyway, on Perkins' 10-yard run.

Right before halftime John Sua, the top sophomore shot putter in the state last year, did his best William “Refrigerator” Perry imitation.

The “Fridge” was a linemen who often lined up at fullback in goal-line situations during the Chicago Bears' Super Bowl year in 1985.

Sua did the same. From inside the one he took the handoff, was hit in the backfield but bounced off defenders, ran over another defender and scored.

The Eagles had a promising first-half drive, but a five-yard penalty on third down but Arroyo Grande back on St. Joseph's nine and crimped the march. Knights defensive back Dominic Brunello broke up Clark Goosen's fourth-down pass in the end zone for Travis Salas.

The Knights sacked Goosen three times.

St. Joseph had perfect offensive balance in the first half - 130 yards rushing, 130 yards passing.

Sept. 15, 2007