The St. Joseph crowd met running back Russell Perkins for the first time on Friday.

So did the Bishop Diego Cardinals, who probably hope it will be the last time.

No, it wasn't a program misprint on Friday - a sophomore Knight was, in fact, the one who ran through the visiting Cardinals like a freight train, becoming a one-man wrecking crew in just his third varsity game.

Perkins' monster game on the ground gave the Knights just enough offense to support a swarming defense in a 14-0 upset over the Bishop Diego Cardinals. It was the Knights' opening home game at Al Maguire Field, as they moved to 2-1 overall.

Perkins finished with 181 yards on 34 carries, scoring the game's only two touchdowns.

“He was just running people over,” St. Joseph standout Scott Cathcart said of Perkins. “And he's just a sophomore. He's going to be something else.”

Perkins did another very “un-sophomore-like” thing after the win, giving most of the credit to his offensive line.

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“I got some great pushes from the linemen,” he said, pointing out John Sua, Evan Ferini and PJ Cano by name before adding, “every one of them.”

Sua was to credit for Perkins' first touchdown, which came with 2:16 left in the first quarter. Sua's block led a path to the score up the middle. Previously, Perkins accounted for 56-of-80 yards on St. Joseph's opening drive, the final yard going up the middle for a one-yard punch-in.

“He's a big strong kid,” St. Joseph coach Mike Hartman said. “He's acclimating himself to the varsity game.”

Perkins - a 5-foot, 11-inch, 202-pound youngster - was on the freshman team last year while former Knights' running back Thomas Sua - John Sua's older brother - made a mockery of opposing defenses. With Thomas Sua graduated, the Knights have been searching for a stable backfield.

Before Friday's effort, Perkins had gained 101 yards with three touchdowns, second to teammate Camron Sewell's 103 yards from the ground.

But as surprising as Perkins' performance was, St. Joseph's shutout over the No. 1 ranked team in the Mid-valley Division was just as impressive.

“Bishop Diego does a lot of things on offense,” Hartman said. “They motion and shift a lot of formations. But our defense did a lot of work, prepping with film and getting ready to play.”

A week after the Cardinals did their own ground damage to Santa Maria - compiling 393 rushing yards in a 48-7 win - they only mustered 47 yards on Friday. Quarterback Christian Winnewisser finished 17-for-28 with 180 yards.

It looked as if the Cardinals - who came into Friday with a record of 3-0 after wins over Nipomo, Santiago and Santa Maria - would get on the board first Friday. Yet, a 10-play drive ended in only a punt. The Knights responded with their own 11-play drive, opened with a 21-yard Perkins' run and encored with his 1-yard score.

On Bishop Diego's second offensive possession, the Cardinals advanced 14 yards before St. Joseph's Sewell recovered a Cardinals' fumble with 6.3 seconds left in the opening quarter.

However, neither team could mount much of a drive in the second quarter - that is, until Perkins took over. Perkins brushed off two straight carries for no gain, and made his third chance a 26-yard scamper on third-and-10.

It was his fourth carry of the short drive that turned heads.

Perkins got the ball and went up the middle, meeting a mob of Cardinals. The mob never got him down, moving slowly toward the goalline.

“I drove my legs and just wanted to get through,” Perkins said. “I knew we needed that touchdown.”

He was hit at the 5-yard line by the mob, and still made it into the endzone, scoring on a 12-yard strike to give the Knights a 14-0 advantage.

“We talk about finishing runs, and keep driving,” Hartman said. “It was just a great effort. The first guy can't be the guy to tackle you.”

Neither was the second, third or fourth. The score came with 1:31 left in the quarter.

“That was the way to attack,” Hartman said. “We knew that a lot of guys go both ways, so we knew we could wear them down.”

The Cardinals fielded just 23 players from a 26-man roster on Friday.

The defense did all the work from there, led by Cathcart, Ryan McKellar, Ryan Killgore and Travis English. Bishop Diego did St. Joseph a favor on its opening drive of the third, pushing itself back to a third down-and-31 after two straight penalties. It was two St. Joseph drives that ate up most of the clock before the Cardinals got a second shot at scoring in the third, only to fail on another fumble.

In the fourth, Cathcart teamed with English and Zach Perron on an important sack to leave the Cardinals dry on fourth down late in the game. Cathcart came up big again on Bishop Diego's final effort, stripping the ball and recovering it from Winnewisser.

St. Joseph quarterback Gavin Kelly had another solid game, connecting on 7-of-11 tosses for 84 yards. Wide receiver Travis Biegel finished with three catches for 41 yards.

Sept. 22, 2007