Saints' opportunites for victory go bouncing away

Oh, what could have been.

For the Santa Maria Saints, Friday night's home game against the King City Mustangs was a night of missed opportunities and too many mistakes.

The Saints (1-2) were hoping for their second win of the season. Instead they picked up their second loss when King City (1-2) went home with its first win - a 27-6 non-league football victory at the Saints Dave Boyd Field.

The numbers are deceiving.

On paper, the teams were much closer than the final score.

King City picked had 273-yards of total offense - 208 on the ground and 65 through the air. Santa Maria had 198-yards overall - 165 on the ground and another 33 through the air.

Sebastian Pedraza and Josh Pipersburg led the ground attack for the Saints. Pedraza gained 47-yards on 15 carries. Pipersburg picked up 67-yards on 15 carries.

Peter Gludci, Rory Johnsen and James Barbree led the way for the Mustangs. Gludci ran for 86-yards on 18 carries, quarterback Johnsen picked up another 33 on 11 carries. Barbree - who played quarterback and wide receiver - ran for 33-yards on three carries from the quarterback position then scored on a 52-yard pass from Johnsen to put the Mustangs up 14-3 just before halftime.

King City fumbled the ball four times and lost three. Santa Maria fumbled the ball three times and lost all three. Both teams threw one interception - but Santa Maria's pick was returned for a touchdown that pretty much sealed the deal when the Mustangs' Cesar Soto picked off Saints quarterback Robert Rodriguez and ran straight into the endzone with a 36-yard interception return, giving King City a 20-6 lead as the third quarter was winding down.

The Mustangs opened the game using an old-fashioned wishbone offense with a fullback with two halfbacks behind him.

“We couldn't get anything going with the wishbone,” said King City head coach Norm Silva. “At the beginning of the game, their defense just shut us down.”

The Saints forced the Mustangs to punt the ball away on their first possession.

Santa Maria then marched 58-yards down the field only to fumble the ball away at the King City 1-yard line.

“We fumbled the ball about 6-inches from the goal line,” said Santa Maria head coach Raul Castillo. “The ball was wet but it was wet for both teams.”

The Mustangs returned the favor on the next play and Santa Maria had a first-and-goal at the Mustangs' 7. But King City's defense held, forcing the Saints to settle for a 27-yard Edson Martinez field goal and a 3-0 lead that held up through the end of the first quarter.

“We were a little sloppy there in the first quarter,” said Silva. “We did a good job holding them to the field goal then we changed from the wishbone to a spread offense and were able to get a little momentum going. The weather didn't help us any, either. When we left King City, it was in the 80's and sunny. We got here and it was rainy, damp and cold.”

Using the spread, the Mustangs were able to put together a 6-play, 55-yard scoring drive that ended with a 9-yard Nathan Roth touchdown run. James DeCarli's extra point put the Mustangs up 7-3 with 4:19 remaining in the half.

The Santa Maria defense stopped King City with the first half clock winding down but a personal foul against the Saints - on fourth-and-1 - gave the Mustangs new life. Johnsen came right back to throw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Barbree and, with the point after, a 14-3 halftime lead.

The Saints had the chance to get back in the game early in the third quarter when they recovered another King City fumble - this one at the Mustangs' 9-yard line. But Santa Maria couldn't cash in and had to settle for the second Martinez field goal, this time from 25-yards out, to cut the score to 14-6.

The Saints again shut down the Mustangs' offense and, after a punt, began a drive at their own 36-yard line. On the second play of that drive, King City's Soto intercepted Rodriguez and raced into the endzone (the point after failed) to up their lead to 20-6 and, with 1:38 left in the third quarter, time was rapidly running out on the Santa Maria squad.

“Our offensive line got its act together in the second half,” said Silva. “Then our defense picked up that TD, we got a couple sacks and we were in good shape the rest of the way.”

“This was a preseason game,” said Castillo. “Next week, when the league season begins, everybody is 0-0.”

Santa Maria heads up to Morro Bay next Friday night - kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. - to open its Los Padres League season.

Santa Barbara 34, Righetti 29

At Santa Barbara, the Warriors (3-1) outgained the Dons (3-0) 428-245, but were burned by big plays - most of them Roberto Nelson's.

Nelson ran one interception back 62 yards and another 60 for scores. He also caught 55 and 18-yard touchdown passes from John Uribe.

The Warriors, down 34-9, mounted a fourth-quarter comeback. Austin Sedin caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Justin Level, Level ran 11 yards for a score, then the quarterback tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Adam Wilson with 6:08 left. The comeback, though, stalled there.

Mike Alexander gained 131 yards for Righetti, which rushed for 218 yards.

Santa Ynez 26, Carpinteria 7

The Pirates (1-2) shut down the red hot quarterback of Carpinteria (1-2) to break into the win column.

The Pirates secondary, having not shown up in the 52-0 loss to Paso Robles, and occasionally suspect in the 10-6 loss last week to Nordhoff, successfully held off Carpinteria's sophomore slinger R.J. Rosborough, who came into the match averaging 232 passing yards a game.

Rosborough was hurried early and often, though never sacked, by Santa Ynez pass rushers, such as the 6'4” defensive lineman Allan Rasmussen, who earned defensive player of the game honors, for forcing Rosborough to toss the ball away on several downs.

Santa Ynez scored their first touchdown, a 4 yard quarterback keeper by Blake DuBois, before Rosborough had managed a completion for positive yardage.

Lead Pirate rusher Justin Iniguez scored touchdowns on a double-deflected 18 yard pass in the first quarter, and a 10 run in the third.

Parker Colvin scored Santa Ynez's last touchdown, breaking through the Warrior's middle for a 22 yard run.

Santa Ynez will begin Los Padres League competition, with a two game defense of their home field, beginning with the 3-0 Templeton Eagles, Friday at 7:30 p.m.

SLO 14, San Marcos 7

Brian Lewelling rushed for 152 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown early in the third quarter of the Tigers' non-league victory over the Royals at Valley Stadium.

Dave Schultz added 115 passing yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown for the Tigers, finding Sean Dubois with 6:01 to play for the winning score.

Sept. 22, 2007