Righetti's defense set its offense up. The offense took care of the rest -and then some.

The Warriors forced four Glendora turnovers, and Righetti scored off all of them. Meanwhile Righetti quarterback Josh Thomas found Ryan Mole over the middle for a 63-yard scoring play on the Warriors' first play of the game. That started off Thomas' best passing game of the season in Righetti's 53-28 non-league rout of the Tartans at Warrior Stadium Friday night.

Righetti, which entered the game ranked fourth in Division IV, finished the season 9-1. The Warriors will know their first-round playoff assignment Sunday. Glendora finished 3-7.

San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles victories Friday night left the Warriors tri-PAC-5 League champions, at 3-1 each. This year marked Righetti's first league football championship of any kind since 1984.

Since the teams split their head-to-head games, a league draw held earlier determined the order of the league's playoff seed. San Luis Obispo is the top seed, Righetti is second and Paso Robles is third.

As for Righetti's game Friday night, the score was 33-0 at halftime. Thomas was 7-for-10 for 135 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on the night.

"I had all kinds of time to pass, thanks to the line's blocking, and when you have all kinds of time to pass, you're going to make the plays," Thomas said.

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After the big Thomas-to-Mole play, Thomas Clark intercepted Glendora quarterback Jacob Crook's pass at the Glendora 26; Will Grossi hit Tartans backup quarterback Jason Krutzch at the 20 and Righetti lineman Greg Shibata ran with the ball 12 yards to the 8; and linebacker A.J. Berry stripped the ball from Krutzch at the Glendora 14.

All that set up 16 first-quarter points. "We wanted to step it up in the last game before the playoffs," said Righetti safety Lafe Viker.

"They've been playing like that for us all season," said Thomas. Righetti's defense has been stingy all season. All of Glendora's points came against Righetti's reserves.

Viker made a big play himself on the last play of the third quarter. He intercepted a pass at Righetti's 25 and returned the ball to the Glendora 23. Thomas connected with Steven Smith for 22 yards to the 1, and then Thomas Clark ran the ball in for Righetti's last score.

Viker said he was playing center field when he intercepted the ball. "Then I just followed my blockers."

"The defense made the plays tonight," said Righetti coach Greg Dickinson. "They've done the job for us all season."

Dickinson was also pleased with Righetti's offense. Sandwiched around the big defensive plays, after the Thomas-to-Mole touchdown pass, were a 48-yard touchdown run by Mole in the second quarter and a 59-yard run by Mole in the third.

Was he winded after his big runs? "No," Mole said with a laugh. "They made good blocks and I got in."

"Our offense made some big plays early and put the game away," said Dickinson.

As for Thomas, "He needed to have a game like that," Dickinson said.

Defensive end Nathan Mitchell and defensive back Diaz helped Righetti keep Glendora from doing much against the Warriors' defense in the first half. At halftime, Glendora had more unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, six, than first downs, four.

The Warriors weren't exactly squeaky clean themselves. They had three unsportsmanlike conduct fouls in the first half and two more in the second.

"That's five yards out of bounds!," a Warriors assistant coach said in despair after one Righetti foul in the second half. "We've got to be smarter than that."

"It was just emotions taking over," Viker said of all the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

"Classless at the end," a Glendora fan grumbled to Dickinson after Righetti's third-team offense hustled to the ball, and reserve quarterback Jonathan Dally scored on a 1-yard sneak on the last play of the game. He then wished Dickinson a bad time in the playoffs.

The fan didn't mention that Glendora's first team offense played against Righetti's second-line defense most of the second half. "We wanted to get a lot of people playing time, keep some people from getting hurt," said Dickinson.

Lompoc 34, Cabrillo 13

LOMPOC -- Matt Winn rushed for 140 yards and Robert Adams had 93 more as the Braves (5-0, 7-3) capped off a perfect inaugural Los Padres League season. Cabrillo finished 1-4, 2-8.

The Braves outscored their LPL opponents by a combined 187-23. Only Santa Maria (13-0 Lompoc win) played the Braves closer than Cabrillo did.

Cabrillo scored first on Matt Hansen's 18-yard touchdown pass with 10:38 left in the first quarter. Lompoc answered with Joey Gastelo's 11-yard run, and then Winn's 8-yard run put Lompoc ahead for good.

San Luis Obispo 24, Arroyo Grande 0

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The defending Division IV champs (3-1, 6-3) gave themselves a share of the league title and the top PAC-5 League seed for the playoffs with a convincing win.

The Tigers kept the Eagles (1-3, 6-3) to 147 yards rushing and 152 yards of total offense. San Luis Obispo managed just 158 yards rushing itself, but got 92 yards passing from quarterback Dane Hodgson.

Paul Jordan, the second-leading rusher on the Central Coast, scored on runs of 5 and 78 yards. He racked up 145 yards on the night. Jimmy Ahern hauled in a 30-yard pass from Hodgson for the Tigers' other touchdown.

All perennial Central Coast powerhouse Arroyo Grande can hope for now is an at-large bid to the playoffs.

Paso Robles 22, Atascadero 17

ATASCADERO -- The Greyhounds (0-4, 4-6) had this win surrounded but could not quite grab it.

Atascadero clung to a 17-16 lead late in the game. Then Michael Krouse scored the winning touchdown from two yards out for the Bearcats (3-1, 7-3).

The 'Hounds led 10-7 going into the third quarter. In squeezing out the come-from-behind win, the Bearcats ground out 235 rushing yards and got 196 more yards through the air.

Krouse ran for 127 yards on 31 carries. Paso Robles quarterback Adrian Pennywell passed for 196 yards and ran for 76 more. Quarterback Harrison Higbee was 12-for-17 for 169 yards for the Greyhounds. He threw three interceptions.

Morro Bay 44, Santa Ynez 14

SANTA YNEZ -- Morro Bay (3-2, 5-5) grabbed the LPL's second seed and dealt a blow to Santa Ynez's playoff hopes. Santa Ynez finished the regular season 2-3, 3-7.

Morro Bay's Joe Garcia, the leading rusher on the Central Coast, had sub-par games the last three weeks, but he ran wild Friday night. Garcia racked up 267 yards on 29 carires and scored on runs of 33 and 24 yards. He also caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Danny Woodman.

Corey Stollmeyer helped Garcia out by rushing for 76 yards on 10 carries.

November 16, 2002