Chambers makes a splash in his return

Two big defensive plays and the solid rushing of a now healthy star running back led the Nipomo Titans (2-2, 1-0 Los Padres League) to a 24-14 victory over the Cabrillo Conquistadores (1-3, 0-2 LPL) at Huyck Stadium in Lompoc on Friday night.

Senior Billy Chambers ran the ball 22 times for 115 yards, scoring a clinching 12-yard touchdown with 1:08 remaining in the fourth quarter and putting the game out of reach.

‘He's a heck of a player and this is the first game the entire season where he's really felt healthy,” said Nipomo coach Russ Edwards.

“He had a shoulder injury and did not play against Bishop Diego or Lompoc,” Edwards explained. “He ran the ball about 10 carries against Carpinteria and then we had that bye week last week, so we had two weeks to prepare.”

Edwards was happy to see last year's all-league running back come back strong. Chambers also caught four passes for 34 yards.

“He really felt he was up to about 100 percent now,” Edwards said. “This is really the first game he has shown what he can do.”

Cabrillo scored the first touchdown of the game early in the second quarter. The Conquistadores took possession of the ball with 4:57 remaining in the first and started the drive on their own 34.

Eleven plays and 66 yards later, Bennie Garrett ran into the end zone on a nice run from the 13. Garrett ran the ball five times for 34 yards on the drive, but it was quarterback Sean Allen who kept it alive.

Allen completed a 16-yard pass to Chris Zahuta on a third -and -three to the Nipomo 34, then hit Brandon Whittaker for 11 yards after two short runs.

Nipomo struck quickly on the next Cabrillo possession. After The Conqs took over on their own 15 following a punt, a pitch to Garrett was fumbled.

Nathan Mendoza picked up the ball at the 1 and ran in for the defensive touchdown. After the extra point by Eryk Fernandez, the Titans led 7-6.

Cabrillo got the ball back and had a fourth and 14 on its 34. Korben Boaz broke through the offensive line and blocked the punt by Jeff Esparza. Esparza fell on the ball at the Cabrillo five and on first down, Chambers scored up the middle.

“All around our defense played an excellent game,” Edwards said. “Defensively they scored that touchdown to get us going. And that blocked punt was big and got us another score.”

On the next possession, the Titans held the ball for over five minutes and drove down to the Conquistadore 11. Fernandez hit a 29-yard field goal to extend Nipomo's halftime lead to 17-6.

“First half, like I told the squad, we kept putting ourselves in a hole,” said Cabrillo coach Don Cross. “It's the third game in a row that we made a turnover and they've scored on it - that's terrible.”

Cabrillo took the opening kick off of the second half, drove from its own 33 on a nine-play drive that culminated in a one-yard Allen quarterback sneak for a TD. A two-point conversion on a run by Garrett made the score 17-14, and the Conqs were right back in the game.

Sperakos almost got the Titans to answer right back by completing three passes for 59 yards during the next drive, but a fumble by Chambers on the Cabrillo 15 ended the threat.

Two plays later Allen's pass to Jeff Gonzales was tipped and then intercepted by Kyle Webb.

The teams traded possessions and went into the fourth quarter. A pivotal play happened with just under eight minutes to go.

The Titans had the ball on the Conqs 48 with a fourth-and-two. Sperakos lined up and attempted to draw the defense offside. When that failed he stepped out from under center, ready to accept the delay of game penalty.

The umpire thought Nipomo called a time out and blew an inadvertent whistle. After a long delay when Cross argued that a delay penalty should of been called, the Nipomo punt team took the field and Fernandez lined up in punt formation.

On the ensuing play a Cabrillo defender ran into the kicker for a five-yard penalty, giving Nipomo a first down on the 43. The Titans were able to take three more minutes off the clock before turning the ball over on downs.

“Either way, we should of got the ball back,” lamented Cross, “then we turn around and run into the punter, so opportunity lost.”

The inadvertent whistle wasn't the only time the officiating crew made a mistake. There were at least five penalty flags that were waved off after some discussion. The inconsistency hurt both teams at times.

With just over three minutes left in the game, Cabrillo was forced to go for it on a fourth and 13 on its own 39. A screen pass completed from Allen to Whitaker lost a yard and Nipomo took over at the Cabrillo 38.

Chambers ran the ball all five plays of the drive, finally scoring on a twisting and turning run from the 12.

Nipomo plays Pioneer Valley next Friday, while Cabrillo travels to Santa Ynez.

Morro Bay 68, Santa Maria 0

At Morro Bay, the Pirates (1-0, 4-0) overwhelmed the Saints (0-1, 1-3) with a 34-point second quarter in this Los Padres League game.

Logan Budd threw touchdown passes of 12 yards to Ryan Lugo, 60 yards to Jonathan Coss and 20 yards to Wyatt Gerbacht that quarter.

Budd also kicked three second-quarter extra points and ran in a two-point conversion. Sandwiched in between all that, C.J. Moss scored on a 43-yard inteception return. Area rushing leader Duran Gonzales closed the first half scoring on a five-yard run.

Budd passed for 144 yards and ran for 62.

Templeton 34, Santa Ynez 0

The Eagles have officially landed in the Los Padres League, with Templeton winning 36-0 at the expense of the Santa Ynez Pirates.

After dropping a whopping 131 combined points on their first three opponents this season, Templeton (4-0) made their 2007 league debut on the road against a Santa Ynez team (1-3) which beat them by a field goal last year.

The game got ugly quick for the Pirates with a backfield fumble on their own 9-yard-line.

Eagle linebacker Tanner Robinson swooped in on the ball for an easy six. On the extra point defensive lineman Justin Butz came off the end and caught the ball for the two-point conversion.

The Templeton defense, under the direction of coach Garrett Harker, denied the struggling Pirates any momentum, holding them to only 90 yards of total offense.

The Templeton line seemed to have no trouble pursuing the speedy Jeff Rosecrance and Justin Iniguez to the sides, and had the advantage on inside blocking.

Pirates quarterback Blake DuBois, after a 13-18 for 166 yard performance last week in a 26-7 win over Carpinteria, tossed only four complete passes in 14 tries against Templeton.

West 31, Paso Robles 27

BAKERSFIELD - The Vikings shut down Bearcats quarterback Brandon Ladley's high-powered passing and gave the visitors (4-1-0) their first loss in this non-leaguer.

Ladley was just 5-for-15 for 72 yards, with two interceptions. He did run for three and 20-yard scores and throw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Brett Wise.

The Vikings snapped a 21-all tie with 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Ladley scored on his 20-yarder late, but West eventually salted the win away.

Sept. 29, 2007