In what’s sure to be the most hyped regular season football game of the year, the St. Joseph Knights and the Pioneer Valley Panthers will take the field at Jay Will Stadium on Oct. 23. No matter the outcome, one thing is for certain: Only one of them will leave undefeated and positioned in the driver’s seat for the Los Padres league crown.
Both teams come into the contest boasting 6-0 records. The Panthers are third in the Southern Section Division standings, while the Knights are right on their heels at fourth.
The storyline is a familiar one for Pioneer Valley. Almost one year ago to the day, the Panthers went into the annual game against their cross-town rivals undefeated at 6-0. St Joe’s was 5-1 at the time, and pulled out a 29-21 victory. The Knights went on to fashion a nine-game winning streak and finished the season by capturing the league title.
With the Panthers coming off a 9-3 season of their own and a roster full of returning starters, head coach Greg Dickinson is hoping history doesn’t repeat itself.
“It’s no secret that the road to the league championship goes through St. Joe’s,” Dickinson said. “They’re an outstanding football team that doesn’t really have any weaknesses. We’ll have to play our best football game—near perfect.”
By making few mistakes, the Panthers were able to pull out nail-biters against Arroyo Grande and Nipomo earlier in the year, Dickinson said. And it’s a trend he said has to continue if they want to keep their winning streak alive.
“You can’t go into St. Joe, turn the ball over, and expect to win,” he said. “It’s just not going to happen.”
St. Joseph hasn’t had to sweat its victories thus far. Keyed by a staunch defense led by linebacker Taylor Sanders, they’re outscoring their opponents by an average of 44 to 8.
“We preach turnovers,” said St. Joseph head coach Mike Hartman. “We preach getting multiple guys to the ball and having fun and making the most of your opportunities.”
Hartman said his Knights, playing to defend their league title, are more experienced and explosive on the offensive side of the ball than they were last year. Faced with an equally adept ground attack, Pioneer Valley presents a major test.
“They have some dangerous runners,” Hartman said. “They’re always going to be physical. They’re going to run around and hit you on defense, and they always have a little surprise for us somewhere. It’s going to take us [playing] a great game and [limiting] our mistakes.”
The key cog in the Knights’ offensive machine is senior running back K.J. Cusack, who’s averaging 170 rushing yards per game going into the contest.
The league leader in scoring—with 18 total touchdowns—Cusack credited his early season success to his offensive linemen and said there’s no reason why the Knights won’t repeat as league champs.
“Last year, we were more of a physical team,” Cusack said. “This year, we’re smart and physical. If we play to our full potential, I don’t see anybody standing in our way.”
According to senior lineman Keith Bendixen, when it comes to the Knights’ hot start, size matters.
“We’re really big up front,” Bendixen said. “We really put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and make them have to throw difficult passes. Our [defensive backs] are very good and put a lot of pressure on their wide receivers to make big catches and they haven’t been able to.”
The Knights had just one blemish on their regular season record last year, an early 28-21 loss to Paso Robles. Bendixen said the team still hasn’t forgotten it.
“I think everybody on this team wants to go undefeated,” Bendixen said. “We want to go far in the playoffs. We have a great opportunity to go for a long run, and that’s what we want to do.”
While players are taught to take it one game at a time, lineman Zach Perron said the matchup against their nemesis has been on everybody’s mind.
“Since last year, Pioneer’s been circled on the calendar,” Perron said. “You can’t help but look forward to it. The whole city is going to be there.
“We have to come out fast, come out on fire, and on defense shut down their weapons,” Perron added.
One of the big guns in the Panthers’ arsenal is senior running back Dan Ando, averaging 132 yards per game on the ground. Ando is third in the league in rushing yardage and has scored eight touchdowns.
“Our M.O. is we’re a running football team,” Ando said. “We pound the ball, run as much as we can, and then once we’ve got that, we go play-action pass and go deep. That’s how we score points.”
The Panthers favor the run over the pass by about a 60-40 margin, according to their head coach.
“We’re definitely not as balanced as we would hope if we had a big, tall drop-back passer,” Dickinson said. “But we’ve got a shifty, little quarterback [senior Nick Rucobo], so a lot of our stuff comes out of play-action and roll-outs.”
Dickinson said his team is as skilled as any he’s ever coached, but struggling with a lack of depth. Taking a load off of Ando is senior backup running back Shawn Tucker, managing a healthy six-plus yards per carry. Tucker ran the ball 22 times for 216 yards and four touchdowns during a 42-13 victory over Cabrillo High School on Oct. 16.
“I think it’s going to be a good game,” Tucker said of facing St. Joseph. “The offensive line just has to block and open the holes for us to run the ball.”
The Panthers’ line is stacked with seniors, including lineman Noe Contreras.
“As an offensive line, we set a goal that we were going to try our best to dominate the line of scrimmage,” Contreras said. “We never take a day off, and we take every play like it’s the last we’re going to play.”
Akin to last season’s close contest, Contreras said he anticipates the St. Joe’s game to come down to the wire.
“Last year’s game only adds fuel to the fire,” Contreras said. “That just gives us that extra edge to push harder and practice harder.”
Knights’ quarterback Jacob Cano and the Panthers’ Rucobo should have all they can handle with their opposing secondaries. Pioneer’s free safety Chris Cardenas and St. Joseph’s Kohl Bashline are lurking there, tied for the area lead in interceptions going into the game: four apiece.
Dickinson said while his Panthers have played well in spurts, he’s focused on getting his team to stave off its defensive lapses.
“I think we’re mature offensively, but defensively we’ve got some holes that we need to shore up,” Dickinson said. “We haven’t found that exact combination yet, but we’ve got to find it by [the St. Joe’s game], that’s for sure.”
Another foregone conclusion: Come game time, the stars for both teams will be ready to shine.
“We know St. Joe’s is a great football team, and we know we’re a great football team,” Pioneer’s Ando said. “So we just have to be prepared out there.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas is looking for a rival. Challenge him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 22-29, 2009.