It was an all-out battle in the trenches between two PAC-7 football foes Friday night at Arroyo Grande's Doug Hitchen Stadium.

The game between the Lompoc Braves and Arroyo Grande Eagles was won - and lost - along the line of scrimmage.

Lompoc won this turf war 35-13 - for their first-ever PAC-7 League victory - but wasn't able to put away the feisty Arroyo Grande squad until the game was well into the fourth quarter.

“The key to winning this game was to control the line of scrimmage on offense - which we did,” said Lompoc head coach Robin Luken. “And we had to cut off their offense along the line of scrimmage - which we also did. The team did a good job controlling the line on both sides of the ball tonight.”

The Braves (1-1 PAC-7, 3-4 overall) pounded out 323 yards rushing - led by tailback Masson Blow, who ground out 72 yards and scored one touchdown on 15 carries; wingback Brandon Alonzo, who piled up 97 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries; fullback Favi Vargas, with 42 yards on eight carries; and quarterback Daryl Aguilar who ran for 83 yards and three TDs on eight carries.

On the other side of the ball, the Braves held the Eagles (0-2, 2-5) to 172 yards on the ground.

AG's leading rushers were fullback George Lopez with 65 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries; tailback Bo Cabalar with 72 yards and one touchdown on eight carries; and tailback Andrew Reza with 22 yards on eight carries.

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Neither team mounted a passing attack.

Arroyo Grande quarterback Clark Goosen managed just two completions - good for 19 yards - in five attempts. He was picked off once. Cabalar was also picked off in his one attempt at tossing a halfback-option pass.

Lompoc's Aguilar fared no better - going one-for-two for 37 yards with one interception.

“My guy was two-for-two,” said Luken. “He threw one to their guy and one to ours.”

The Braves were inexorable on their opening drive, marching downfield on 9-plays, going 54-yards for the score.

Alonzo ran through the line for 7-yards; Vargas went for four; Blow for four; Blow again for four; Vargas for 10; Blow for 2; Alonzo for 18; Blow for one; then, with the defense wondering which of the big three would hit them next, Aguilar ran it in, untouched, with a quarterback keeper from the 5-yard line.

“We ran more of an inside power game tonight,” said Luken. “Then when our inside game started working, we were able to go outside with our option.”

Jorge Hernandez's extra point gave Lompoc a 7-0 lead with 9-minutes left in the first quarter.

The defenses then dominated until early in the second quarter.

With 8-minutes to go before halftime, Arroyo Grande tried a trick play - a halfback option pass from Cabalar. Lompoc's Vargas - who doubles as a defensive back - picked it off near the goal line and ran it back to the AG 45.

Lompoc's offensive line went back to work - opening holes for Vargas (a 4-yard gain), Blow (12-yards) and Aguilar (21-yards) before Blow capped off the 4-play, 55-yard drive with a 19-yard touchdown run.

“The whole offensive line stepped up tonight. We had a number of new starters on the line but they all did a good job.” said Luken. “Seth Broadhead, Adam Leach, Bucky Martinez, Evan Bedford, Alan Julian and Steve Morehart - they were the key to this win.”

Hernandez's extra point gave Lompoc a 14-0 lead with 6:54 left in the first half.

Lompoc looked to put the game away early in the third quarter. The Braves marched downfield for a 7-play, 84-yard scoring drive - ending with an Aguilar 1-yard TD run - to go up 21-0 at the 8:49 mark.

Aguilar's score was set up by a perfectly executed fake double-reverse.

With a first-and-10 from their own 40, Aguilar handed off to Blow. Blow faked a second handoff to Alonzo and the defense bit on the fake. From there, Blow was off to the races, going 59-yards before being hauled down at the AG 1.

The Eagles, however, had a few tricks up their own sleeves.

After recovering a Lompoc fumble at mid-field, AG pulled off their own fake double-reverse.

Cabalar took a handoff from Goosen then faked a second handoff to wide receiver Santo Ricceri. The defense keyed on Ricceri and Cabalar raced all the way into the end zone. The point after attempt failed but AG was back in the game at 21-6 with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

Pulling out all the stops, the Eagles had a successful on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff.

They were back in business at the Lompoc 40 yard line.

The Eagles were back on the scoreboard four plays later when Lopez bulled his way 33-yards for the score. Colt McLaughlin's extra point cut Lompoc's lead to 21-13 with time running out in the third quarter.

But that was as close as the Eagles would get.

Lompoc came right back with an 8-play, 60-yard, time consuming scoring drive. Aguilar's third TD - on a 7-yard run - gave the Braves a cushion at 28-13 with 9:12 left in the game.

The Braves put it out of reach with a 9-play, 78-yard scoring drive that took exactly 5-minutes off the clock. When Alonzo scored on a 10-yard run and Hernandez kicked the extra point, Lompoc built its lead to 35-13 with just 2:30 remaining in the game.

“Our defense also came through for us tonight,” said Luken. “Especially our safeties. Gil Cornejo and Masson Blow made a lot of big plays on defense for us tonight.”

The PAC-7 battles continue next week when Arroyo Grande hosts Paso Robles and Lompoc hosts San Luis Obispo in the Braves' homecoming game.

Oct. 20, 2007