The Mustangs ran up 489 yards on the ground on the way to a lopsided 38-6 victory over the Saints at Pioneer.

"We made it our mission to run the ball this week," said Krail, "and the kids did a good job of responding."

Sophomore speedster Shaun Souza raced for 166 yards on 19 carries to lead the assault as the Mustangs dominated the Saints from the opening kick-off to the final buzzer.

"That's what we wanted," said Krail of his club's 489 yards on the turf. "We challenged them."

And the Mustangs rose to the challenge. Along with Souza, Pioneer got 96 yards from quarterback Jarod Koblis, 77 yards from Andrew Schulz, 48 yards from Tino Hardy in a reserve role and 95 yards from a cast of other backs--all of them working behind an offensive front of tackles Jeff Terry and Armando Apolinar, guards Jory Wilson and Steve Matos, center Pat Walsh and tight end Rolando Gomez.

The win helped the Mustangs improve to 6-2 for the year and 3-2 in the Blossom Valley Athletic League's Mt. Hamilton Division with two tough games coming up against Independence and Silver Creek.

"They're both ahead of us in the standings," said Krail of his club's last two regular season opponents.

The Mustangs will host Independence on Nov. 8, 1:30 p.m., in a key Mt. Hamilton Division game.

"Independence looks like they'll be the most physical team we've played," said Krail of the 76ers, who will come into the game with a 3-2 league mark and 4-4 record overall after losing 20-10 to Oak Grove last Friday.

"We have five teams close in the standings, all fighting for four playoff spots," added Krail.

Oak Grove (7-1, 4-0) tops the pack with Silver Creek (7-1, 4-1) alone in second place after beating Piedmont Hills (4-4, 3-2) 27-0 last week. That leaves Pioneer, Independence and Piedmont Hills tied for third place with Leigh (3-5, 2-3) close behind after its 46-0 win over Gunderson (1-7, 0-5) last Saturday.

"Today's win was a big step," said Krail of the 38-6 win over Santa Teresa (1-7, 0-5) that snapped a two-game Pioneer losing streak.

The Mustangs took that step--489 of them to be exact--because of its vaunted running game, and despite five major penalties.

"It's so frustrating," said Krail of the penalties--penalties that were actually more costly a week earlier in a 24-21 loss to Piedmont Hills. "Against the good teams, you just can't recover. But it's frustrating because it's competitive guys just going a little too far."

"All in all, it was a good effort and a hard-fought game, though," said the coach.

And it wasn't just a good offensive day for the Mustangs. Pioneer's defense effectively shutout the Saints. Santa Teresa's only touchdown came on a kick-off return.

Senior linebacker Collin McCarthy led the Pioneer defense with six tackles, two of them for losses. Hardy, Ray Marcil, Sinan Dumlugol and Alex Pagen got in on four tackles each in the win and Paul Bocanegra, Gomez and Tron Hardy had three each. Bocanegra sacked the ST quarterback and Gomez recovered a fumble.

Bryson Teixeira, Richard Guerrero, Terry, Robbie Steinberg, Jose Lopez, Justin Kaufmann, Morgan Simmons and Anthony Alise were also in on tackles and Eric Myatt batted away a pass late in the game.

Pioneer scored on three of its first four possessions to take a 21-0 halftime lead against the Saints on Saturday.

Quarterback Nolan Rak engineered a 16-play, 86-yard march to open the game. Souza, Schulz, Dumlugol and Jimmy Worrell all had carries on the drive that Schulz capped with a 2-yard TD run behind a big block by Wilson. Ernesto Torales kicked the first of his five extra points.

Thanks to a sack by Bocanegra, the Mustangs stopped the Saints on three plays and a punt, and the offense went back to work.

A 24-yard punt return by Schulz got Pioneer started, then an 11-yard run by Schulz and a 23-yard dash by Souza set up a 16-yard touchdown run by Schulz.

The clubs traded the football before Pioneer went back to work again. This time Koblis led the Mustangs on a 12-play, 88-yard touchdown drive.

The defense got it started when Dumlugol forced a fumble that Guerrero recovered at the Pioneer 12-yard line.

Danny Ventura carried three times for 31 yards, including a 15-yard run, and Koblis tossed to Souza for 22 yards before the junior quarterback hit Jeremy Landucci out of the backfield for 19 yards and a score.

Pioneer scored on its first two possessions of the second half. Torales drilled a 25-yard field goal, thanks to a good hold by Rak after a high snap, and Koblis ran 74 yards for a score on the last play of the third quarter.

A 14-yard run by Schulz and a 28-yard run by Souza set up Pioneer's final touchdown of the day, a 12-yard run by Souza with 8:04 left in the game.

Pioneer actually moved into position for one last score. A couple of Souza runs for 22 yards, a 5-yard pass from Rak to Albert Gonzalez and three runs by Tino Hardy for 48 yards--one of them a 24-yarder thanks to a big block by Rak--took the Mustangs to the Santa Teresa 10. The Mustangs scored, but a penalty nullified the play, then Pioneer just took a knee to run out the clock.

Pioneer added 79 yards through the air in the win. Koblis hit on 5 of 6 passes for 74 yards and Rak had the one completion.