ARROYO GRANDE - Thousand Oaks wide receiver Matt Luft had 314 yards receiving Friday. His biggest catch, though, came from the hands of Arroyo Grande quarterback Kyle Pollock.

Luft intercepted Pollock's pass with 1 minute, 28 seconds left in the game to seal Thousand Oaks' 38-31 victory over Arroyo Grande on Friday at Doug Hitchen Stadium in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

"This is disappointing because we were just starting to get on a roll with the big win over San Luis Obispo (last week)," senior linebacker Danny Rohr said.

The Eagles entered the game on a five-game winning streak, but lost to the Marmonte League's third-place team in the first round of playoffs for the second consecutive year. Moorpark beat Arroyo Grande, 20-7, in 2003.

Pollock's final pass was a prime example of the risk a quarterback takes when throwing the ball over the middle of the field when under pressure.

It came on the first play of a potentially game-winning drive. Down by seven with 1:41 remaining, the Eagles started with the ball on the Thousand Oaks 48-yard line.

The pocket quickly collapsed on Pollock. He scrambled to his right and then threw across his body. No one was there to catch the ball except the 6-foot, 5-inch Luft.

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On the offensive side, Luft, a junior, caught 314 of sophomore quarterback Ryan Cloney's 493 yards passing.

"We knew we were going to have to throw a lot because (Arroyo Grande) is so physical," Thousand Oaks head coach Mike Sanders said.

But late in the first half it looked like the Eagles had figured out how to stop that strategy.

Luft completed his first eight passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. He only completed 3 of his last 11 passes of the first half for 29 yards.

Cloney crumbled under pressure as the Eagles started to blitz in the second quarter, sacking Cloney twice and forcing him to scramble many other times.

The Lancers could only manage a field goal in the second quarter. That score came after Cloney threw three straight incomplete balls after having first-and-goal on the Arroyo Grande 6-yard line.

But the Lancers adjusted to Arroyo Grande's defensive scheme and Cloney came out stronger than ever in the second half.

"Arroyo Grande did a great job pressuring him," Sanders said. "We had to change our formation and our personnel to give him more protection."

The Lancers' half-time adjustment just worked better than the Eagles'.

"We made a great change, but it just didn't work out," Rohr said. "They executed. They're a great football team."

Cloney entered the game averaging 220 yards per game, but threw for 298 yards in the second half alone. He had only surpassed the 300-yard mark in one other game this season.

Luft and senior wide receiver Jon Hall, who stands 6-feet, 3-inches, towered over the shorter Arroyo Grande cornerbacks, outleaping them for many balls.

Arroyo Grande and Thousand Oaks exchanged scores on each team's first two possessions of the second half to make it 31-24 Arroyo Grande with 3:06 left in the third quarter.

But only the Lancers could find the end zone in the fourth quarter.

They scored on running back Jack Boger's four-yard run with 7:13 left in the game. A failed two-point conversion left Arroyo Grande with a 1-point lead, 31-30.

But Luft caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Cloney five minutes later. The two-point conversion worked this time for the final score.

And for the second straight season, Arroyo Grande's season ended just one week after a perfect PAC-5 season.

Sean Martin is the Sports Editor of the Times Press-Recorder. He can be reached at (805) 4879-4206, ext. 5008, or at smartin@pulitzer.net.

Nov. 14, 2004