The Morro Bay Pirates have officially set sail for the post season, leaving in their wake 10 straight defeated opponents, including the other seven members of the Los Padres League,

The sweep was completed with the 34-14 win over their Pirate brethren from the south, Santa Ynez (3-4, 4-6 overall).

The 10-0 Pirates plot a course into the uncertain waters of the CIF playoffs having seized the undisputed LPL championship, and the number one ranking in the CIF divisional polls.

“Any time you can get a piece of it, you have to be happy with the accomplishment,” said Morro Bay head coach John Andree of the title.

The last time the northern Pirates held that distinction was in 1998, when they had to split it with Paso Robles and Santa Ynez.

The final win of the league season was far from a given however.

The visiting Santa Ynez Pirates won the opening toss, and came out effective on offense, moving the chains for a bit before quarterback Blake DuBois was stuffed on a fourth and one play by defensive tackle Jacob Feiguth.

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“Santa Ynez came with nothing to lose, and we had to get fired up too,” said Morro Bay's senior defensive end Jerome Long.

“We get fired up when we score,” he added.

For a team that has outscored their opponents by an average of over 31 points this season, Morro Bay has been fired up a lot this season,

The 64-yard drive ended with junior running back Duran Gonzalez rushing for the first of his two touchdowns.

A missed extra point, and a defensive stop of Morro Bay's next possession and Santa Ynez looked to be hanging tough in the first quarter still. The third drive by the black and orange buccaneers looked promising following a 31-yard gain by Justin Iniguez on a screen pass from DuBois. Driving at midfield however, bad timing on a pitch play turned a third and short into a turnover for Morro Bay.

Already at their opponent's 38, Budd and buds might have anticipated an easy score, but two plays later Santa Ynez senior cornerback Jeff Rosecrance grabbed an interception, Budd's first of the season.

“I'm proud of these guys,” said DuBois of his team. “We gave it everything we could.”

The southern Pirates made three first downs against the leagues leading defense, but the thick blue line of Morro Bay stiffened on the strength of their pass protection. Two incomplete passes by DuBois, was followed by a sack by Morro Bay senior Mike Neider, with credit due to the pressure of senior Chris Zotovich.

The home team offense kept it on the ground for their next drive, and thanks largely to Ronnie Cain breaking through the Santa Ynez line for 52 yards, Gonzalez put his team up 13-0 with a leap from the 2-yard line.

Santa Ynez tried for a two minute offense before the half, but the boys in blue were the ones to finish the half strong, with Budd grabbing his seventh interception of the season, the most in the league.

Another drive, and another two yard touchdown run, this time by Cain put the home team up by 20 at the half.

The versatile Budd enjoyed another stellar performance, in spite of feeling under the weather according to his coaches, passing for 202 yards on eight completed passes, and two touchdowns, in addition to 83 yards of rushing.

His first passing score of the game was a 52-yard bomb to the center of the field to Jonathan Coss. The second touchdown toss was to a wide open Ben Schrag from 28 yards out, for Morro Bay's final score of the game.

Backup quarterback Trevor Barkas checked in, as did some new jerseys for the defense.

Against the second tier, the Santa Ynez offense started to move the ball better, scoring first Iniguez, and then fullback Zach Andrews on consecutive drives late in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to finish like that. We couldn't get the win so we wanted to go out with that score,” said Santa Ynez head coach Josh Cunningham.

“They're a very good football team, and they're a great contender for the rest of the CIF run,” praised Cunningham.

Atascadero 24, PR 21

Nick Tenhaeff scored the winning touchdown for the Greyhounds on a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter of this PAC-7 League showdown.

Both teams finished the regular season 4-1 in the PAC-7 and 8-2-0 overall. The teams tied for first place, but the Greyhounds get the top league seed for the playoffs thanks to winning Friday night. Third-place San Luis Obispo earned the league's last automatic playoff bid.

The game was close throughout. Atascadero led 10-0 in the second quarter and 10-7 at halftime. Paso Robles went ahead 21-17 on Andy Bridge's one-yard run and Ryan Bedell's point-after kick in the third quarter.

Tenhaeff, the area's rushing leader, rushed for 128 yards on 25 carries. Atascadero bottled up Nathan Nelson, who's among the area rushing leaders. Nelson had minus 10 yards on four carries.

Josh Weferling picked up the slack for the Bearcats with 73 yards on 13 carries.

November 10, 2007