After a brutal schedule through five games that saw the Templeton High School varsity football team on the road for four contests, the Eagles returned home Friday night for a much-needed 42-7 win over the Santa Maria Saints.

The Eagles, who needed to win to keep their hope of a playoff berth alive, began the season 1-4, but were victorious in their only home game. Coach Don Crow said the first half of his team’s schedule wasn’t just tough because of all the road games, it was tough because of the quality of the opponents.

“Those four teams we played [on the road] are 16-4,” he said. “We played some pretty good teams. But it’s nice to come home, we play well at home.”

Of the four games remaining, the Eagles have three more at home, including back-to-back games against Santa Ynez and Cabrillo the next two weeks. In Friday’s win over an out-manned Saints team, which dropped to 0-6 overall, 0-3 in the Los Padres League, Crow said he saw a better effort from his team.

“We didn’t get real fancy, but they executed the plays,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to do tonight.”

Now, it’s just a matter of maintaining that effort through the rest of the LPL schedule.

“We’ve got to win all those games,” Crow said. “We’ve got to eliminate our mistakes, play consistently and keep getting better every week. If we do that, we’ll have a shot.”

The game started well for the Eagles. Santa Maria opened with the ball and, on second down, quarterback Devin Kahae fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Templeton’s Greyson Morain at the 17-yard line. Two plays later, Kris Dearie ran the ball in from 13 yards out to give his team a quick 7-0 lead.

On the next drive, the Eagles nearly got the ball again deep in Saints territory following a muffed punt, but a personal foul penalty for roughing the Saints’ snapper gave Santa Maria new life. The Saints eventually punted three plays later, but for the rest of the first quarter, neither team scored.

The Eagles finally mounted a drive that began at their own 15-yard-line with 2:09 left in the first quarter. Aided by a pair of penalties and a 24-yard run by Morain, the Eagles got into scoring position early in the second quarter. Finally, Garrett Baldwin pounded the ball in from four yards out to make it 14-0 with 11:26 to go in the half.

With 1:45 to go in the half the Eagles got the ball back at the Saints’ 40-yard line. After snapping off quick passes to Morain and Ricky Horn to move the sticks, Kaleb Sawdey connected with Dearie on a 28-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-0 Eagles with just 1:15 left in the half.

“I just ran my route, beat my defender and Kaleb threw it right to me,” Dearie said.

The Eagles received the ball to start the second half and wasted little time adding to their lead. After steadily moving the ball up the field with runs and short passes, Sawdey again hit the deep ball, connecting with Chase Schmidt on a 28-yard touchdown strike to make it 28-0.

“The line gave me time and we executed a lot of plays,” Sawdey said of his night.

Late in the third quarter, the Saints finally showed some signs of life. Pinned at their own four-yard line, Ryan Duran exploded for a 46-yard scamper to bring the ball to mid-field. Three plays later, quarterback Chris Valdez — one of three passers utilized by the Saints Friday night — connected with Joey Galavize on a 35-yard strike to set up first and goal at the two yard line. Three plays later, Josh Marzett carried the ball in from four yards out to cut the lead to 28-7.

In the fourth quarter, it was all Eagles again. Early in the period, Sawdey connected with Dearie on a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-7. Later in the period, Sawdey delivered a perfect pitch to Morain, who took it 33 yards down the left sideline for the score, making it 42-7, which is how the game ended.

For the Eagles players, it was nice to break into the win column again.

“It was fun; our team executed our passes really well,” Dearie said. “The line gave Kaleb protection and we were able to get our passes off and complete them for touchdowns.”

Sawdey finished 8-for-10 for 107 yards and three touchdowns. Dearie has seven carries for 46 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Baldwin had nine carries for 68 yards and a touchdown and Morain had four carries for 64 yards and a touchdown.

“I think this win will bring our morale up,” Sawdey said. “Hopefully we’ll keep winning games and playing good football.”

The Eagles, now 2-4 overall, 1-2 in the LPL host Santa Ynez on Friday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m.





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