LOMPOC - The Streak goes on.

Lompoc High School's football team racked up its 19th consecutive win by defeating St. Joseph 21-6 at Huyck Stadium Friday night. The Braves were easily the more steady team in a showdown between teams ranked first (Lompoc) and second (St. Joseph) in Division X.

The two-time defending CIF Southern Section Division X champions (4-0-0 Los Padres League, 8-0-0 overall) had just one turnover. The Knights (3-1-0, 7-1-0) had three. The Knights also took themselves out of a promising offensive drive in the first quarter with two five-yard penalties.

With the win, the Braves clinched a berth in next month's CIF Division X playoffs, putting them in search of a third straight division crown.

The Braves scored first on Tommy Hayes' 3-yard run late in the first quarter, and then quarterback Boo Jackson connected with Johnathan Terrones on the two-point conversion pass. The Braves were all set to kick for the extra point, but that changed when a Knights defensive lineman jumped offside.

The Knights drove 65 yards its second series afterward, with Philip Adam taking care of the last five yards on a sweep around left end. Sam Ruiz stepped in front of Dominic Catayas on Casey Cathcart's two-point conversion pass, intercepted the ball and that was about it for St. Joseph's talented offense the rest of the way.

The Braves' front line didn't allow St. Joseph's backs many holes, and Lompoc's linebackers closed quickly when runners did have daylight.

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"They had no game against us in the second half. They had no running game," said Lompoc linebacker Michael Linstead. "They didn't run anything we hadn't seen on film."

"They ran the blast, the power right at us," said Lompoc defensive back Hayes. "We knew they'd run the draw. They ran everything we saw on film. We watched a lot of film on them."

St. Joseph's initial first down in the second half came with 2:24 left in the game.

Both of the Knights' starting tailbacks, Adam and Brad Escobar, watched the game from the bench with icepacks much of the second half.

"Escobar's had a bad ankle, and Adam has a bad knee," St. Joseph coach Barney Eames said. "We'll just have to see what the doctor says." Both seemed to be walking normally afterward.

Starting defensive back Ryan Adlesh seemed in worse shape. He was walking with support from someone else during the post-game handshake.

Lompoc's last two touchdowns came thanks to St. Joseph gifts.

In the third quarter a high snap went off punter Adam's hands, and Matt Pascua tackled him at the St. Joseph 5. Jackson scored his first rushing touchdown of the season from the 1 on third down.

In the fourth quarter, Catayas tried to run a deep punt back instead of letting it go into the end zone. It went through his hands, Lompoc's Sam Ruiz picked the ball up and Catayas tackled him at the 9. Jackson hit Joseph Scott for a touchdown pass on the next play.

"I don't want to take anything away from these guys - they deserved to win the game," Eames said. "But we played about as bad as we can play.

"Our 1-2 being out didn't help. That, our mistakes, Jackson's athleticism and Lompoc playing well...."

Even without the miscues and with Adam and Escobar in the game, the Knights' attack couldn't do much. Clayton Greco and Brandon Price led a surge that plugged things up for the most part along the line of scrimmage, and linebackers Linstead and Tryrell Coleman and defensive backs Hayes and Jackson took care of most of the rest.

"I'll tell you, there were three or four times where it seemed we had 11 players around the ball," Lompoc coach Robin Luken said. "Our defense was awesome."

The Knights had some trouble containing Jackson (96 yards, 15 carries) and Scott (95 yards, also 15 carries), but its defense gamely kept St. Joseph in contention after Adam and Escobar went down.

Lineman Ryan San Juan led the Knights defensive charge then. Adam helped fellow linebacker Brandon Merlo and defensive back Escobar keep Lompoc's offense mainly in check beforehand.

But the Knights had all of nine first downs Friday night. Their biggest season impact players on offense, Adam (nine carries, 55 yards), Escobar (12 for 45) and Catayas (four catches, 86 yards) had decent stats but not enough of an impact.

"We wanted to take No. 30 (Escobar), No. 35 (Adam) and No. 2 (Catayas) out of the game," Luken said. The Braves' defense did the job.

"Take a look at that team," Eames said to his players afterward as he looked the retreating Braves. "You could very well see them again in the (division championship) game.

"And I guarantee you we won't play this badly."

Oct. 30, 2004