Another week, another win.

The three-time Los Padres League champion Braves racked up their 19th straight LPL football victory Friday night by 41-0 over Morro Bay.

Coming on the heels of a 52-0 defeat of Nipomo, the Braves appeared to put themselves in the favorite's role for the league title despite ranking behind crosstown Cabrillo in the CIF-Southern Section Division IV rankings. Lompoc has never lost an LPL grid contest.

Besides their stifling defense the Braves featured their air game, a weapon for which they are not commonly known. Quarterback Tim Ochoa completed five of eight passes in the first half for 80 yards, and tailback Joseph Scott even lofted a 24-yard scoring pass to Johnathon Terrones for Lompoc's second TD.

The Braves were denied on their opening possession when they fumbled on the Pirates' 12-yard-line but the Pirates fumbled back seven plays later and tackle Joey Green returned it 10 yards to put Lompoc on the 18. Fullback Jakob Sims scored two plays later from the nine.

Scott's pass, coming after it was clear to all in the stadium that the Pirates were keying to stop his rushing yards, came on the first play of the second quarter.

Later in the period Lompoc drove 53 yards on eight plays for their third TD, Ochoa racing for the right corner of the end zone to score it himself. The biggest play of the drive was an Ochoa-to-Sam Ruiz pass good for 16 yards across midfield.

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At halftime the Braves led 21-0 and had held the Pirates to 98 total yards and three first downs.

Lompoc opened the second half with a 39-yard field goal from Brice Fabing, then Scott broke over right tackle and ran 45 yards for a TD. The fourth quarter included another Fabing field goal, this from 40 yards and a short 6-play drive ending in a Chris Mallory TD from four yards after Morro Bay fumbled on its own 22.

Meanwhile the swarming Lompoc defense held the Pirates in their own territory until the score was 41-0. Eight of 11 Pirate possessions consisted of three plays or less. They gave up two fumbles and two interceptions. Pirate quarterback Jake Crizer was held to 27 yards rushing on 12 carries and completed only 2 of 10 passes for 20 yards.

Lompoc's Scott led all rushers with 109 yards.

”Joey Green is playing really well, and Jakob Sims and Michael Linstead are playing playing well, and we've got Ruben Garcia as the alternate,“ said coach Robin Luken of his defensive line. ”They're starting to build up confidence now.“

San Ysidro 22, PVHS 15

Philip Hoy's 70-yard punt return gave the visiting Cougars their final touchdown, which held when the Panthers' final play from scrimmage fell short at the goal line.

The Panthers overcame a late interception and took possession with 13 seconds remaining. After a Cougar pass-interference penalty, Panther quarterback Brian Beyers threw a ball to tight end Aaron Hernandez on the game's final play. Hernandez tried to catch the ball, but ran into a gaggle of players and had the ball knocked away on the goal line for what would have been the tying touchdown.

Pioneer Valley (3-2) suffered through the air as Beyers was 6-for-20 for 64 yards and two interceptions. However, seven of his 14 incompletions were drops by receivers, including two that would have likely led to touchdowns.

Manny Padilla rushed for 80 yards in the victory for San Ysidro (4-1), while quarterback Sam Robinson was 3-for-10 for 100 yards and a score, coming on a 36-yard pass to Hoy.

Buddy Garcia rushed for 75 yards in the loss, scoring the Panthers' first touchdown on a 25-yard run.

After trailing for much of the game, Pioneer Valley took the lead on a 10-yard scoring pass from Beyers to Hernandez four minutes into the second half, a lead they held until Hoy's tightrope effort around the left side with 7:50 to go.

Atascadero 43, Cabrillo 35

The host Greyhounds were finally able to put away the relentless Conquistadores in a wild finish when Gunnar Jespersen ran in a successful two-point conversion with 33 ticks left.

Jespersen had just thrown a 10-yard touchdown pass to receiver Troy Tidwell to bring Atascadero within one - and then he capped it with the two-point play.

On Cabrillo's final possession, quarterback Brian Gregory was picked off by Greyhound defensive back Brandon Roberts - who returned it 38 yards for the final score.

But the Conquistadores provided plenty of their own highlights late in the second half.

Trailing by 28-14, tailback Vailala Tua led an unthinkable comeback bid - scoring three consecutive touchdowns on runs of four, 15 and 36 yards.

After Tua's second TD run to bring Cabrillo within one, the Conquistadores went for the two-point play and the lead - but failed on their pass attempt to remain one behind with 1:44 left.

On the ensuing kickoff, Cabrillo place-kicker Casey Belluz' on-side kick was successfully recovered by teammate Jeremy Pohlman - who ran the ball back to the Atascadero 46-yard line.

Two plays later, Tua found the back of the end zone for his final touchdown - and then fullback Steve De St. Jean ran in the two-point conversion to put the Conqs up 35-28.

But the Greyhounds scored two touchdowns in the final 1:14 to steal the victory and hand the Cabrillo its first loss of the season.

Mike McKean and Scott Forstner contributed to this roundup.

Oct. 8, 2005