The most important answer that Cabrillo coach Don Cross had at the end of the Friday night's Los Padres League game against Morro Bay, was that he thought Greg Watson was okay.

Watson made a tackle on big Pirates tight end Jerome Long after he caught a pass from Logan Budd in the third quarter. After the violent collision, Watson did not get up.

After a 20 minute delay, Watson was taken away in an ambulance as a precaution, suffering what Cross believed to be a concussion.

“Greg looks to be okay,” Cross said. “He knew where he was and who we were playing. It was just a precaution to take him to the hospital.”

On the next play, Morro Bay running back Duran Gonzalez ran around the right end past a shell-shocked Cabrillo defense for a 70-yard touchdown.

The undefeated Pirates finished with a 54-0 LPL win over the Conquistadores and now have sole possession of first place after the St. Joseph loss to Santa Ynez.

“Big and physical,” Cross said about the Morro Bay defense. “Jerome Long had a hell of a game inside. He was probably in on the first 10-12 tackles of the game. Right away he showed his skills.”

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“And 88 (Jacob Feiguth) did a fine job also,” Cross continued. “Whenever we got Long blocked, 88 came in. Their D-line was tough man.”

Offensively, Morro Bay was again led by senior Logan Budd. He was 7-of-13 passing for 140 yards and a touchdown and also ran in for two scores, finishing with 89 yards on nine carries. The Pirates rushed for 347 yards in the game, led by Gonzalez with 135 on only six carries, while Mike Neider added 79 yards on three carries.

While the defense was dominate, allowing a net of 71 yards on the ground by Cabrillo. Bennie Garrett did rush for 103 yards on 21 carries.

“Bennie's a trooper, the kid wants to play,” explained Cross. “He wanted to play last week, but we just wanted to be smart with him so he will be okay after football.”

Garrett was held out of the Santa Maria game last week, although he probably felt he was ready.

It took over a quarter for the Morro Bay offense to finally awaken. The Conqs played a bend but not break defense in the first quarter, allowing the Pirates to take themselves out of drives. The Pirate offense did not score until the 6:15 mark of the second quarter when Budd hit Ben Schraq with a 29-yard touchdown pass.

It seemed to get the offense going and they scored twice more in the quarter for a 28-0 halftime lead.. Budd ran in from the ten and Gonzalez scored from six.

The first score came after the first Cabrillo drive that opened the game. After a three and out, the snap back to punter Justin Ellenbrook was low and bounced away. It was recovered in the end zone by Gage Wetzel for the score.

To start the second half, Morro Bay quickly got on the board with a three play drive taking 1:53. Budd ran in from 41-yards, making the score 35-0.

Cabrillo's best chance to score came on the next drive. The Conqs took the ball at their own 48, following a 43 yard kick off return by Brandon Whittaker. In nine plays, Cabrillo took the ball to the Pirate 16. On a pitch play, Watson got to the ten then fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Morro Bay.

The next drive by each team were four and out, but on the third play of the following Morro Bay drive, watson suffered his injury. The game was delayed just over 20 minutes while Watson was attended to.

Reserve running back Mike Neider scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, from 13 then 50 yards.

“John did it right,” Cross said about Morro Bay coach John Andrea. “He had his backups in there and they deserved to play. That's okay with me.”

The game ended with Morro Bay reserve quarterback Trevor Barkas taking a knee on four straight plays after a first and goal at the Cabrillo six.

Morro Bay travels to St. Joseph next week in the battle for first place in the LPL.

“I think St. Joe definately has a chance,” Cross weighed in, “but physically I think Morro Bay has the upper hand on both sides of the ball.”

The Conqs will host Templeton, another big and physical team.

“It doesn't get any easier,” sighed Cross, “then we get Lompoc.”

Oct. 27, 2007