Braves meet up with CIF semifinal berth

LOMPOC -- Friday night, Lompoc High said "goodbye," to Monrovia's unbeaten season and "hello" to a CIF Division X semifinal berth.

The No. 9 Braves were clinging to a six-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Then they owned the rest of the game for a convincing 43-23 victory over the second-ranked Wildcats at Huyck Stadium.

Monrovia finished 11-1. The 9-3 Braves take on top-ranked Culver City at Huyck Stadium in the semis Friday night. Culver City beat Crespi (Encino) 21-7 in another quarterfinal. Lompoc had already won a coin flip with Culver City earlier.

Lompoc led Monrovia 29-10 at halftime, but the Wildcats clawed back into contention with two touchdowns. Lompoc's offense, which had pretty much done what it wanted to when it wanted to in the first half, had done nothing in the third quarter.

On second-and-nine, quarterback Andrew Jones picked up nine yards and a first down at his 43 with 10:52 left in the game. That was Lompoc's initial first down of the second half.

"I knew we just needed some kind of little spark," Jones said.

His run gave it to his team. Matt Winn gained 14 yards on the next play, and then Jones found Derek Duran over the middle for a 41-yard touchdown pass two plays later.

Lompoc defensive tackle Michael Slaughter reached up and grabbed Monrovia quarterback Kenny Perry's pass at the Wildcats 25 on the first play after the kickoff.

He ran it back to the 17, the Braves went backwards on two plays, but then Jones found Brian Huyck at the 10. Huyck easily evaded Trevor Tarin's tackle and scored. Armando Gutierrez followed with his fifth extra point with 9:09 left to play.

"The two linemen (who lined up opposite for Monrovia) didn't even come off the ball," on the snap that preceded his interception, Slaughter said. "They just dropped back," so Slaughter knew it was going to be a pass.

"I just read it and put my hands up."

Using the five-receiver spread formation that had baffled Lompoc's secondary much of the game -Perry passed for 302 yards Friday night - the Wildcats moved quickly from their 20 to the Lompoc's 16. But on second down, Monrovia's center snapped the ball when Perry wasn't looking and Perry had to fall on the ball at Lompoc's 32.

On fourth down from the 24, Duran snuffed out Monrovia's last gasp when he batted down a pass intended for Jesse Canada in the end zone.

"I thought they would go that way," Duran said. "I could have intercepted it, but I thought we'd be better off if I knocked it down." The Braves were. An interception meant the ball at the 20.

"(Canada) had caught a touchdown pass before, so we thought the chances were good they'd try the same play," said Lompoc coach Robin Luken. "The guy's flat good. He's a player." Canada, who's only a sophomore, caught seven passes, including two for touchdowns, for 136 yards.

For all of Monrovia's offensive output however, the Wildcats came up well short. Part of the reason was Duran's 54-yard interception return in the second quarter. Gutierrez's point-after kick hiked the Braves' lead to 22-10.

"I just read (the pass)," Duran said of his big interception. "I saw the quarterback setting up that way and I just read it."

The Braves were in big trouble after Perry's 19-yard touchdown pass to Trevon Moore on a fourth-and-17 play cut the Wildcats' deficit to 29-23. But after seeing Monrovia smother Lompoc's attack in the third quarter, Braves center Francisco Gonzalez and Lompoc's other offensive linemen started opening the holes they had been creating in the first half after Jones' fourth-quarter first-down run.

"We knew we had to pick it up," said Gonzalez. "We knew they had a good offense and we had to keep them off the field. We knew we had to eat up some clock."

Monrovia had never scored less than 23 points before Friday night. The Wildcats rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat St. Bernard 52-35 in the first round.

However, the Braves' offense did a number on a Monrovia defense that had been giving up just 15 points a game. Matt Winn ran for 135 yards, including an 86-yard touchdown near the end of the first half. Robert Adams ran for 90 yards and scored once.

Jones was an efficient 6-for-9 and connected with the unheralded Huyck for two touchdowns. He threw four touchdown passes on the night.

As for Culver City, "They'll be the same type of team (as Monrovia)," Luken said. "They'll throw on almost every down. They'll see the film and I'm sure (the Centaurs) will want to throw a lot."

Lompoc did fine when it stayed out of its own way. Penalties kept alive drives that resulted in a Monrovia field goal the first possession of the game and a touchdown in the second half.

Westlake 36, Paso Robles 29

WESTLAKE -- Rob Daniel caught touchdown passes of 35 and 42 yards from Erik Vose as the Warriors ended the Bearcats' season in the Division IV quarterfinals.

After Daniel's two scores, Paso Robles rallied to tie the game. However, Westlake snapped a 22-22 tie with Erik Vose's 2-yard run and Michael Stuart's 77-yard touchdown reception.

Vose was the man who threw all those Westlake touchdown passes.

Adrian Pennywell scored on a 14-yard run, and Vince Freitas kicked the extra point to bring the Bearcats within 26-29. But they scored no more and wound up 8-4 for the season.

November 30, 2002