Quick strike scores from its defense and offense allowed St. Mary's to overtake Seton late in the first half and late in the third period and the Knights turned it on in the final period in dealing the Sentinels a 32-7 defeat at Seton in an inter-division battle of Catholic schools.

St. Mary's, a member of Division II, moved to 2-0 in the young season under first-year head coach Marcel Lopez. Lopez took over just more than a month ago replacing Todd Williamson. Seton, which moved up to Division III this season, dropped to 1-1 under new coach Gary Galante.

Lopez was fired up about the play of his defense, which was outstanding from start to finish. St. Mary's surrendered just 14 points in its season-opening win over Gilbert.

"We got after it after we made some mistakes early on," Lopez said. "We like to play a fast tempo on offense. Our defense was lights out. We expect that from them and expect them to make big plays."

The first big play was for six points by the defense. Defensive end Darion Stewart pounced on a Seton fumble and picked it up and returned it 55 yards to pull the Knights withing 7-6 with 57 seconds left in the first half. Seton had taken a 7-0 lead in the first period after an interception by Michael Romero set the Sentinels up at the St. Mary's 31. A 21-yard  pass from Garrett Boyd to Jonah Stoll was the scoring play.

St. Mary's limited Seton to 49 yards of offense in the third period and took the lead for good after stopping Seton at the Knights 33. On the second to the last play of the third period, quarterback Erik Espinoza, using a nice pump fake, flipped a 48-yard TD pass to Paul Dozeman with one second left in the quarter. With the two-point conversion St. Mary's was up for good, 14-7. Dozeman caught three passes for 62 yards -- all in the third period.

After a poor kickoff return by Seton left the Sentinels to begin the fourth period from its 9-yard line, St. Mary's forced a punt and took over at Seton's, who rushed for 83 yards on 11 carries, scored on the next play to make it 20-7.

St. Mary's defense produced a signature series on Seton's next possession. The Knights sacked Boyd three times in four plays with two sacks going to Stewart and one to Odua Isibor. Isibor finished with two sacks.

After Seton punted again, Espinoza pulled off another big play with a 29-yard pass to Gino Caperon. That set up a 2-yard TD run by Abel Navarrette pushing the lead to 26-7 with 4:50 left. Espinzoa had one more long play up his sleeve taking another keeper 35 yards into Seton territory. Jorden Blake capped the scoring on the next play with a 42-yard run.

Espinoza struggled in the first half completing just 3 of 13 passes for 27 yards and one pick. In the second half he was in a groove. He completed 8-of 10 passes for 110 yards and one TD plus his two long runs on the option.

Seton had opportunities slip away in the first half that could have netted it as much as a 17-0 lead. The Sentinels turned the ball over on downs at St. Mary's 6 early in thesecond period. With 2:16 left in the second quarter, Seton missed a 35-yard field goal. The fumble that led to St. Mary's scoop and score took place as Seton was driving. Those missed opportunites and the relentlessness of St. Mary's defense in the second half were just too much.

"We just ran out of gas at the end," Galante said.