Speeds kills.

It's an old saying and it proved true again Friday night when Lompoc High School's speed killed any hopes Santa Maria High had of an upset victory in Lompoc's 42-14 Los Padres League victory at Santa Maria High's Dave Boyd Field.

"Defensively I think we were a lot quicker than they were and offensively we ran away from them," said Lompoc coach Robin Luken. "That's the name of the game - the game is speed. If you've got speed there's lot of things you can do."

Well, speed and turnovers.

Altogether, the teams fumbled the ball nine times - five by Lompoc, four by Santa Maria - with the Braves recovering the first eight including all four of the Saints dropped balls.

The Braves mistakes didn't hurt them, but the Saints fumbles killed any chance of staying with the Braves' high-powered offense.

"They put the ball on the ground, we just couldn't jump on it," said Santa Maria coach Shawn Ramirez. "But us, it was turnover, turnover, turnover - It got out of hand."

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"We practice the turnover game," said Luken "We don't practice our running backs fumbling the ball the way they did tonight but we do practice those turnover situations. And when the ball is on the ground we make a valiant effort to go get it and I think that's what happened tonight."

The victory keeps Lompoc a perfect 9-0 on the season - 6-0 in the LPL - and keeps them in first place in the league and will also keep them as the top ranked team in Division X of the CIF's Southern section heading into the upcoming playoffs.

The loss drops the Saints to 2-7 on the season - 1-4 in the LPL.

The game looked like it was going to be close at the start.

Lompoc marched 48 yards on eight plays for a touchdown on their first possession.

The Braves stayed on the ground the whole way with the running duties shared evenly between quarterback Boo Jackson and running backs Jakob Sims, Tommy Hayes and Joseph Scott.

The Braves survived a fumble by Scott in the middle of the drive - wide receiver Johnathan Terrones fell on the ball to keep the drive alive. Three plays later Scott ran it in from five yards out - the first of his three touchdowns on the night - and the Braves were up 7-0.

The Saints came right back.

On their first play of the ensuing drive, quarterback Nolan Snowden lofted a pass deep, over the head of Jackson - who was in as a defensive back - and into the arms of tight end Angelo Harmon, who rumbled down to the Lompoc nine yard line before Jackson collared him.

On second-and-goal from the five yard line, running back Gilbert Arguijo had the Saints' first fumble. The Braves recovered at their own 11 yard line - killing the Saints' chance to tie the score.

The Braves turned back up field and produced a seven play, 89-yard drive - surviving Scott's second fumble along the way - capped off with Scott's second TD run, this one from 15 yards out.

The Braves shut down the Saints on their next possession.

Sam Ruiz received the Saints' punt and returned it from the Lompoc 45 down to the Santa Maria 29 yard line - setting up a quick four-play, 29-yard drive.

Scott ended it with his third TD - a 14-yard run - that put the Braves ahead 21-0 just over a minute into the second quarter.

Three quick Santa Maria fumbles ended then ended any hope for the Saints.

On Santa Maria's next drive, Snowden fumbled deep in the Saints' territory.

Lompoc recovered at the Saints' 14. Jackson scored for Lompoc on the next play.

On the Saints next play, Arguijo dropped the ball and Lompoc again recovered.

Lompoc was forced to punt but the Saints' Carlos Limon fumbled the catch - Lompoc again recovered, keeping their drive alive and two plays later Tyrell Coleman scored on a 10-yard run.

By then it was 35-0 with 6:55 remaining in the first half.

"They jumped on us - If anything could go wrong, it went wrong in the first half," said Ramirez.

"They're just a hard nosed group of kids," said Luken. "They are tough kids and we knew that. They play hard all the time. They just don't have a lot of speed and these days it's a game of speed."

Lompoc coach Luken then began to remove his starters. Boo Jackson was gone. Joseph Scott sat down - and so it went until the second string was all over the field.

The Saints did manage two good scoring drives late in the game.

With 20-second remaining in the third quarter, Arguijo busted loose for a 47-yard scoring run to get the Saints on the board.

Arguijo scored again - this one on a seven-yard run - with just over five minutes remaining in the game for the game's final score.

In all, Arguijo, the teams workhorse, carried the ball 31 times - piling up 166 yards along the way.

Santa Maria closes its season next Friday night at St. Joseph High School.

It doesn't get any easier," said Ramirez. "They're physical and they've got speed all around."

Lompoc ends the regular season next Friday night against their cross-town rival Cabrillo.

"We have an opportunity to win the Los Padres League outright (next Friday night)," said Luken. "We have a chance to stay unbeaten in the LPL. Next week we have a chance to send a message and to earn the top seed (in Division X) in the playoffs."

Arroyo Grande 14, Morro Bay 0

MORRO BAY - Muddy field conditions are not conducive to offense, so it is important to take advantage of turnovers and good field condition when it gets sloppy.

Arroyo Grande (3-0 PAC-5, 7-2 overall) did just that in beating Morro Bay, 14-0, in a non-league game Friday at Morro Bay (2-3 Los Padres League, 5-4). It was the schools' first meeting in 20 years.

The Eagles scored their first touchdown on Andrew Hirsch's 3-yard run with 7:05 left in the first quarter. Arroyo Grande started with the ball on Morro Bay's 5-yard line after Pirate punter Hans Guy was tackled while recovering a poor snap.

The Eagles' other touchdown came on Stacey Cannon's 17-yard run with 6:02 left in the third quarter. Arroyo Grande started that drive on Morro Bay's 30-yard line thanks to an interception by Eagle linebacker Chris L.Esperace.

The conditions limited two of the county's top runners, Arroyo Grande's Andrew Hirsch and Morro Bay's Corey Stollmeyer. Hirsch only gained 50 yards, while Stollmeyer collected 53.

Santa Ynez 31, Nipomo 0

SANTA YNEZ - Nick Rivera ran for 134 yards and a touchdown, while Josh Hartman added 97 yards and one score of his own in the Pirates' LPL victory over the Titans.

Krys Catch ran for one touchdown and threw for another for the Pirates (2-3, 3-5-1), while Brendan Baca added a 39-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Justin Robertson led the Titans (0-6, 1-9) with 65 yards on the ground.

SLO 35, Atascadero 13

ATASCADERO - The Tigers (3-0-0 PAC-5 League, 8-0-0 overall) kept their unbeaten streak, and almost certainly their top Division IV ranking, alive.

Once again, San Luis Obispo and Arroyo Grande will play for the PAC-5 championship. Kickoff time is 7 p.m. Friday at San Luis Obispo High School's Frank Holt Field.

Area rushing leader Phil Garza ran for 123 yards on 14 carries. He scored three touchdowns. San Luis Obispo quarterback Quentin Cate connected on all seven of his passes. He threw for 208 yards.

JV Football

Pioneer Valley 35, Morro Bay 12

MORRO BAY - Shange Vogt ran for 138 yards and Frank Tovar racked up 129 more as the Panthers (7-2) rolled up 390 yards rushing.

Kevin Rucker had 53 yards on just four carries for the victors. Pioneer Valley quarterback Chris Etheridge ran six times for 42 yards.

Pioneer Valley's freshmen defeated Morro Bay 12-0. The Panthers (8-1) play at Nipomo at 4:30 p.m. Thursday for the Los Padres League championship.

Sportswriter Sean Martin contributed to this report.

Nov. 6, 2004