So they weren't playing for a league title.

So they weren't playing for a playoff spot.

So they were both 2-7 going in.

So it was a non-league game.

So what?

None of that seemed to matter to the Lompoc and Cabrillo football players Friday night. This Big Game was a typically spirited and hard-hitting one between these squads, before a typically overflow crowd. Lompoc scored the first 19 second-half points and won 32-13 at the Braves' Huyck Stadium.

Lompoc wound up this season 3-7. The Conquistadores finished 2-8. Uncharacteristically, the squads hooked up in a non-league game. The Braves moved from the Los Padres League to the PAC-7 League this season.

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So, Lucas Carpio, does this make your season?

“Yes, it does,” Lompoc's Big Game MVP said quietly with a smile after the Braves held the Big Game trophy aloft. The senior wide receiver-defensive back had five receptions for 132 yards. He caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Tim Ochoa for the first score of the game.

Defensive end Josh Sanders had a big game for the Conquistadores. He was Cabrillo's game MVP.

What luck the Braves had before Friday night had been mostly lousy. Lompoc went 0-5 in its inaugural PAC-7 League campaign, but four of those losses were by seven points or less.

Lompoc avenged a Cabrillo victory last year that put the teams in a tie for the LPL title. Encino Crespi defeated Cabrillo in the CIF Southern Section Division X playoff semifinals and then Lompoc to take the championship.

The breaks went mostly the Braves way Friday night - penalties scotched some big Cabrillo plays. They also scotched some big Lompoc plays, but the Braves were able to recover.

Carpio said he thought his team was due for some good fortune.

As for his future football plans, “Maybe I'll play at Hancock,” he said.

The Braves broke open a game that was 13-7 at halftime with those 19 unanswered points. Cabrillo quarterback C.J. Simmons finished the scoring with a four-yard run with 54 seconds left to play.

Lineman Ruben Garcia, linebacker Derrick Luken and defensive back Justin McComber led the Braves' second-half defensive charge as they checked Cabrillo's offense until the Conquistadores drove 68 yards for the last touchdown.

The Braves' passing attack helped them win. The Conquistadores had 35 yards passing. Ochoa had 148. Backup quarterback Daryl Aguilar had the Braves' second and last touchdown pass.

He connected with McComber at the Cabrillo eight. McComber got away from a defender and scored the Braves' last touchdown, completing a 27-yard scoring play.

As for Ochoa, “We thought the pass would be open, but it was because my line was protecting me,” he said.

“And number seven (Carpio) was open downfield all night long.”

Cabrillo was driving on the first possession of the second half when Simmons, who appeared to have a first down at the Lompoc 31, fumbled. Defensive back Ochoa picked the ball up and returned it 15 yards. A personal foul penalty put the ball on the Braves 39.

On third down, Ochoa hit Carpio for 32 yards to the Cabrillo three. Chris Mallory scored on the next play.

The Braves salted the game away in the fourth quarter. Ochoa and Carpio hooked up for 51 yards on a second-and-19 from the Lompoc 45. Alex Burrel scored from the one two plays later.

The teams went back-and-forth in the first half. The Conquistadores answered the Braves' first touchdown with a 78-yard drive that ended with Colby McKissack's three-yard scoring run on the 16th play of it.

The Braves went ahead for good when Ochoa swept left end for an eight-yard touchdown run 9:22 before halftime.

After a penalty nullified Mallory's halfback option pass for a TD, the Braves pulled off a hook-and-ladder play to set up Ochoa's score. Lucas Carpio caught Ochoa's pass inside the 20, then lateraled the ball to Daniel Carpio who took it 12 more yards to the eight. Ochoa scored on the next play.

The Braves made a big goal line stand on the Conquistadores' next drive. Luken, McComber and Gilberto Rios stopped Drew Davidson at the one on fourth-and-goal.

Adam Leach was one of those who protected Ochoa so well. “I'm only one guy,” he said. “I can't do it without the rest of the line.”

Ochoa said, “This was a good, hard-hitting game. We tried to keep the trash talking to a minimum,” which the players managed to do.

“This was the perfect way to end my high school career.”