NIPOMO - The Nipomo defense held Cabrillo tailback Lydell Sargeant to just 48 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries in Friday night's Los Padres League matchup.

The only problem was the Conquistadors' senior slasher also had three other carries, all going for touchdowns of 78, 63, and 92 yards. In total, Sargeant finished with 281 yards on the ground.

Add a key 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half, and Sargeant tallied five scores to lead Cabrillo to a 39-14 victory over the host Titans.

"He is so dangerous," said Conquistadors coach Don Cross of Sargeant. "He returned the opening kickoff of the season against Taft and since then he has gotten very, very few opportunities, and that's why."

The Titans (0-5, 1-8) wish they never gave him the chance, especially since they cut the deficit to 17-7 before the half when senior receiver Daniel Hong hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryce Seguine.

"For whatever reason - we're going to have to figure it out - the third quarter is killing us," said Nipomo coach Jon Hitchen, citing second-half collapses against Lompoc, Santa Maria and Morro Bay. "We had momentum. He took it away. He's a great player."

On the runback, Sargeant slipped several tackles and changed fields three different times before finding the back of the end zone to give Cabrillo a much-needed boost and a 17-point lead.

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"I saw my blocks. My blockers know to go down field. I saw them making blocks down field, so I just followed them," said Sargeant. "They surprised us. They came out to play. ... Coach said just come out and play Cabrillo football (in the second half), and that's what we did."

And with their 22 third-quarter points, the Conquistadors (4-0, 7-1) put away Nipomo and clinched a CIF playoff berth.

"It's a lot different for Cabrillo football, but we have St. Joe and Lompoc coming up," said Sargeant, looking ahead to Cabrillo's next two games. "It's going to be for the league championship so we've just got to come to play in the next two weeks."

Nipomo tried its best to respond on its opening drive of the third quarter. But after the drive stalled at the Cabrillo 27-yard line, junior place-kicker Mike Neal missed a 44-yard field goal attempt.

Sargeant made them pay with a 63-yard touchdown scamper and then again with a 92-yard TD run to close out the scoring for Cabrillo.

"It's great to have a weapon like that. You can't explain the value to your team," Cross said. "It's unbelievable."

To make matters worse, the Conquistadors mixed things up with a triple-threat backfield. When it wasn't Sargeant running wild, it was senior RJ Davis (7 carries for 62 yards) or junior Vai Taua (5 carries for 36 yards).

"Vi, he's had a great season. He's over 600 yards rushing. I don't think he's a secret to our league. He's on the edge of being in the top 5 rushing and last week he scored the two touchdowns against Morro Bay," Cross said. "And RJ earlier in the season against Santa Ynez and some other guys, he broke loose. It helps keep everybody on their heals."

Nipomo, which had its first class of seniors playing in their final home game, never stopped competing. Senior tailback Justin Robertson rushed for a team-high 84 yards on 17 carries, while senior Billy Jones ran for 42 yards and a touchdown.

"For our seniors, it was the first year that they got to play here and the last time around," Hitchen said. "We work as hard as anybody else. We just haven't had the success in wins and losses."

The Titans want to close out their season with some success up against Santa Ynez on the road next week.

"If we can just relax and make plays, we'll be all right. We've done that with lots and lots of teams," said Hitchen. "It's just a matter of being consistent and making plays and playing four quarters."

The Conquistadors are in the title hunt, hosting St. Joseph next week and Lompoc in their league finale.

"It was important for us to get that berth locked up," Cross said. "Now we can kind of play these last two for positioning and maybe play for the league championship."

Oct. 30, 2004