ARROYO GRANDE - From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, the Arroyo Grande football team took advantage of the injury-ravaged Lompoc Braves Friday night.

After 48 minutes of play, the Eagles left Hitchen Stadium with a 31-0 shutout of their former Northern League nemesis, improving their non-league record to 4-0.

Lompoc entered the game with a number of players out with injury, and the Eagles took advantage on their first possession.

"It was like D-day," said Lompoc coach Robin Luken. "I was thinking, 'Who can I put out in this barge to hit this beach?' But our barges were empty."

Arroyo Grande coach Jon Huss said he could tell his team was fired up before the game even started.

"It's interesting," he said. "I could really sense the kids were focused. We cut warmups short by about 10 minutes because I just felt they were on task and there's no sense running plays against air."

Arroyo Grande marched 68 yards in eight plays on its first possession, and capitalized on the drive on a 12-yard pass from Kyle Pollock to Cesar Mendoza.

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Sal Gutierrez converted the point-after to give Arroyo Grande a 7-0 lead with 8:01 remaining in the opening quarter.

On Lompoc's first play from scrimmage, the Braves fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Eagle Danny Rohr.

Just five plays later, the Eagles had a 14-0 lead when Pollock carried the ball in from 1-yard out and Gutierrez kicked the extra point.

Lompoc didn't register a first down until the second quarter when Armando Gutierrez ran the ball for 9 yards, but two plays later Lompoc quarterback Troy Lara had a pass picked off by Gil Buenrostro at the Lompoc 31.

The Eagles strung together a five-play drive in just over two minutes to go up 21-0 when Joey Renner ran in a 3-yard score.

"We were just trying to survive and not get anybody hurt more than we had," Luken said. "When the game started out, I thought we could play with them. They went up 14 and we settled down a bit. But then things fell apart."

Huss said the team changed up its offensive line a little bit.

"Using two tight ends helped us take some pressure off Arias and our other running backs," he said. "We had a lot of guys playing both ways in positions where they run a lot.

"Coach (Mel) Cozby came up with a real good package we used in the first half and it helped us move around a little bit, too."

In the second half, Arroyo Grande scored again when Gutierrez converted a 37-yard field goal with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter.

The Braves had great field position off the ensuing kickoff when Joseph Scott ran the ball back 40 yards, but the run was cut by 15 yards on a personal foul call on the Braves.

In the fourth quarter, Arroyo Grande capped the scoring when Renner scored his second touchdown on a run from the 4-yard line.

Gutierrez converted the extra point to put the Eagles up 31-0.

Arroyo Grande's defense held the Braves to 95 total yards (55 rushing, 40 passing).

"I was pleased with way our defense played," Huss said. "Our secondary flew around. We're trying to make progress and I think we did tonight."

Defensive lineman Alek Grietens said focus helped the Eagles keep the Braves off the scoreboard.

"This is a big rivalry, so we put a lot more preparation into it," he said. "They were three games in, so we knew what to expect. They're really good at special teams we worked on that all week. We were ready for them."

Luken said injuries in the secondary and on special teams hurt the Braves, adding Jon Cambron, Matthew Pascua, Joseph Gaspard, Jeremy Signorelli and Bryce Luken were all out with injuries.

"There's five guys that are all DB-type guys and they're all down," he said. "We were piecemealing it. We guys that hadn't worked at certain spots on special teams we had to insert in some spots."

After the loss, Luken said he was impressed with the play of Arroyo Grande.

"The Eagles are going to be a formidable opponent," he said. "If they get everything going, they'll give Righetti a run for their money. Righetti was the class because of (running back Ryan) mole, but because of his injury, that evens up the score a little bit."

Grietens said the team is improving every week, but there is still room for more.

"We're trying to hit that level, but we still need to go up some more," he said. "Then maybe we'll be playing into December."

Sept. 27, 2003