It was established very early in the Nipomo versus Santa Ynez football game Friday night, that the Titans quarterback Josh Correia could still pass without his appendix.

An emergency appendectomy surgery had kept Correia, the Los Padres League's leading quarterback, on the sidelines for the last two weeks, but he looked far from rusty, tossing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns as Nipomo 5-3 (3-2) beat LPL opponents the Pirates 5-3 (2-2).

"I feel great. Healed up well, healed up a lot faster than everyone expected, better than I expected," Correia said after the 38-6 victory.

The offense came out fired up for the Nipomo homecoming crowd, taking only seven minutes to put 16 unanswered points on the board.

Santa Ynez had kicked to the Titans to start the game, and Correia led the charge. A clutch fourth and one dump pass to senior Cameron Epley kept the drive alive. And at the end of the 65-yard series Correia hit one of his favorite targets of the night, Kevin Britt, on a 31-yard pass for the first score. Junior Garrett Robinson ran in the two-point conversion.

On the other side of the ball, was Tyler Shean, who did not enjoy as smooth a start. Shean had entered the game as the number two quarterback in the LPL for total yardage, but Nipomo's blitzing packages did him no favors. Pressure forced an interception, and batted down another pass attempt, and the Pirates had to punt away their first possession without gaining a yard of offense.

"We got pressure on him all night," Nipomo head coach Russ Edwards said, "and even when we didn't get him, we had pressure, and we'd knock him down."

Shean had to scramble often, and many of his shots down field looked rushed. He ended the night 12-33 for 177 yards.

Also damaging for the Pirates offense was their multi-talented offensive threat Scott Arellano being injured on his team's first carry.

In contrast, Nipomo's lead rusher Eric Penningroth established his presence early on. On the Titan's second possession Penningroth capped off the 57-yard drive with a 16 yard touchdown run. He handled the extra point conversion himself as well.

The Pirates put up a fight in the second quarter, capitalizing on a bad Nipomo punt to threaten their end zone.

On a fourth and one on the four yard line Shean and the line faked to the right, before passing to senior Rowan Dimase, who was wide open on the left side for their first and only score.

"We came back in the second quarter and made a game of it. I just wish we could have held in there in the third, but I'm proud of how our boys played today," Santa Ynez coach Ken Gruendyke said.

At half-time Correia and Jenny Cardenas were announced Nipomo's Homecoming King and Queen.

In the third quarter Correia kept up the winning ways, with a swift 39-yard strike to receiver Akeem King.

King dropped a sure score later in the game, but quickly redeemed himself with a 41-yard reception a few plays later.

Correia credited his offensive line for giving him time to find the receivers

"They bring a back almost every down, and we practiced all week on picking that up."

The last score of the game came in the fourth quarter with an eight-yard run by Penningroth.

The Nipomo win puts both teams on the bubble for making the playoffs.

"If we can win the next two, we have a chance to move on," said Gruendyke.