A pair of costly first-half turnovers and the inability to move the ball on stingy Crespi defense prevented the Lompoc High football team from completing a dream season as the Braves fell 24-14 at Huyck Stadium in Friday night's CIF Div. X championship game.

“We talked about it - turnovers were going to be the turning point of the game. We knew that,” said Lompoc coach Robin Luken. “We had those two and they got 10 points off of them and that's the 10-point difference.”

It was the second straight year that the Braves' playoff run ended at the hands of the Celts - who defeated Lompoc in last year's semifinals 25-8 also at Huyck Stadium on their way to the first of two straight CIF titles.

“You go back to last year we had three interceptions, three scores that they had off of those,” said Luken. “The game would have been 8-8 last year.”

With the score knotted at 7-7 early in the second quarter, Lompoc made its first mistake when punt-returner Sean Carpio-Webb could not field the ball cleanly and Crespi's Matt Scioscia fell on the ball at the Lompoc 43-yard line. Carpio-Webb did field the initial punt, but Lompoc decided to have Crespi re-kick after a holding infraction.

The Celts took advantage - although having to settle for a 28-yard field goal by place-kicker Brandon Ibarra that gave them a 10-7 edge.

After the teams exchanged three-and-outs, the Braves were poised to strike back before the half as they moved the ball down to the Crespi 30-yard line. But the second Lompoc turnover ended the threat on a strange play involving Braves' tailback Joseph Scott.

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On the third-and-12, quarterback Tim Ochoa just got a shovel pass over the defense and into the hands of Scott - who carried the ball about five yards before getting swarmed by a gang of Crespi tacklers. At first, it looked like the play was over with Scott's forward momentum stopped. But before a referee's whistle sounded, the Celts' D.J. Holt stripped the ball from Scott and ran it back to the Lompoc 45-yard line.

“We don't know. We asked our guys up top what they thought and they couldn't tell either,” said Luken of the strip play. “All of a sudden the ball was going the other way. That's just the way it is.”

Four plays later, Crespi quarterback Matt Wabby hit receiver Matt Gray for a 17-yard touchdown strike to extend their lead to a 17-7 advantage with a minute left in the opening half.

The Braves could not get anything going on offense after that drive - held to four three-and-outs in five second-half possessions.

“We sort of stymied tonight. I think we were a little tight. We weren't relaxed and playing our normal selves,” said Luken, whose offense could only muster 148 yards compared to 224 yards for Crespi. “It's hard to say. In a big game like this when you're in front of a big crowd, you know that all the eyes are watching you and it's pretty hard sometimes for young guys to come up and make the big play.”

With Crespi taking a 24-7 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter on Josh Morgan's 9-yard touchdown run, the Braves finally came up with a big play. Crespi fumbled the snap from center and Sean Carpio-Webb swooped into the backfield, picked up the ball, and carried it to the Crespi 3-yard line.

That set up senior fullback Jakob Sims' 1-yard touchdown run to bring Lompoc to within 10 points with still 7:20 remaining. But on the ensuing kick-off, the Braves' on-side kick squibbed out of bounds.

“I thought our kids played with a whole lot of courage, a lot of heart. They never quit. We were in it 'til the fourth quarter,” said Luken. “Had we made that on-side kick, we had the momentum going on our side, maybe something could have happened out there. It just wasn't to be.”

Crespi was able to silence the Lompoc faithful early when junior Garret Roverud ran back the opening kickoff 53 yards to the Braves' 35-yard line. The Celts then mounted a six-play scoring drive capped by Morgan's 3-yard TD run just over three minutes into the game.

“The opening kickoff didn't help. That really hurt,” said Luken. “Had we kept them down there and done some things right. ... They got off to a fast start. Had we not let them get off to a fast start it might have been a little different.”

Lompoc did respond with Carpio-Webb running back a punt to the Crespi 34-yard line, setting up a 25-yard touchdown pass from Ochoa to a wide-open Sam Ruiz that tied the score up at 7-7 with 3:08 left in the first quarter.

But the Braves could do little on offense after that.

“Our offense couldn't get anything started and they had a pretty good offense. It was a tough game all around,” said senior Joey Green, who was all over the field from his defensive lineman position. “ We all came together and got a lot farther than a lot of people expected us to go. It was a great year for all of us.”

The Braves shared the Los Padres League title with neighboring Cabrillo High and then won three straight playoff games to reach the finals. After a 22-3 home victory over Cathedral in the first round, Lompoc won a pair of tough road games - a 35-7 romp of Temple City and a 31-7 win over St. Joseph.

“Being here was just unbelievable for what we had to go through this year. It was just a really incredible season. We were on a roller coaster,” said Luken, whose squad persevered through the tragic deaths of two teammates in a Halloween night car accident that also has a third player still in recovery. “To do what we did was a testament to the courage that these guys have and the heart and the character and who we are from Lompoc.”

December 10, 2005