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Saints 35, Steele Canyon 21

The underdog Saints took on Steele Canyon Friday night in what many feared may be the final game of the season.  However, on a chilly night in the east county, Saints put together a complete game.  Both the offense and defense were dominating.  Saints took an early 7 - 0 lead on a great one handed catch in the end zone by Leighland Koonce.  Later in the quarter Popkins connected with Erik Johnson to make it 14 - 0.  On the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars returned the ball 99 yards to cut Saints lead to seven.  Trying to keep the pressure up, Coach Ralph called for a reverse on the Cougar kickoff.  The handoff to Tim McGarry was fumbled and Steele Canyon came up with the ball.  Two plays later the score was tied 14 - 14.  The teams went to the locker room with Saints leading 28 - 21.  In the second half the Saints defense seemed to have found their second wind and shut Steele Canyon down.  Cougars running back Jamie Dale, fifth in the county averaging over 150 yards per game, was limited to 77 yards total.  Saints offense started to pound the ball up the middle.  Behind the running of Daniel Butler (126 yards on 19 carries) , the Cougar D-line was beginning to wear down.  Butler was able to gain large chunks of yardage and ended the night with three TD's and an interception.  When Butler wasn't punishing the defensive line, David Popkins was keeping them on their heels. Popkins ended the night with 203 yards passing and 89 yards rushing. Despite some questionable calls by the officials that were going the Cougars way, Saints was able to cruse to a 35 - 21 victory.