That noise fans at Warrior Stadium kept hearing in the first half Friday night was that of visiting Cabrillo cashing in four Righetti turnovers for scores.

The home team's turnovers stopped coming after intermission. So did Cabrillo's points. Javon Davis scored the winning touchdown on a 24-yard run with 10:05 to play and the home team, after trailing since the second quarter, beat the Conquistadores 35-28.

Eric Aros returned a punt 36 yards. Davis bolted for the winning score on the next play.

Righetti squared its record at 1-1. Friday marked the Conqs' opening night under first-year head coach Craig Knowles. Righetti plays at Newhall Hart at 7:30 p.m. next Friday. The Conquistadores host Dos Pueblos the same night and time.

With star quarterback Justin Level gone for the year after undergoing season-ending knee surgery earlier in the week, the Warriors needed Davis to hold up. He held up just fine.

Davis racked up 171 yards on 26 carries. He burst through a hole tackle Harrison Reynolds opened up with a crunching block and raced untouched to the end zone with the game winner.

“My line was opening holes all night, and this guy opened a lot of them,” Davis said, smiling and nodding toward Reynolds as the latter passed by. Davis also did a lot of good running behind guard Tim Kelly, who plays on the same side as Reynolds.

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“The ‘O' line stepped up,” said Righetti middle linebacker Brandon Escobedo, who had a pretty good game himself after coming in for the injured Cody Berry. “Our quarterback's out. We wish him the best.”

Righetti coach Gary Wilson said the team has rallied around Level. After Level went out during the first series against Pioneer Valley and didn't return, “The original diagnosis was that he'd be out three-to-four weeks,” said the fourth-year coach.

“But then (doctors) opened it up, and he had a cracked kneecap. They had to put it back together. He'll be out three-to-four months. He'll be back. He's a tough kid.” Before the season started, Level signed a letter of intent to play at Idaho State on a full-ride scholarship.

Level's replacement behind center for Righetti, T.J. Jordan, rebounded after throwing three interceptions in the first half, all of which Cabrillo scored off of.

Jordan hit Sam Halop for a 10-yard touchdown pass, then brought Righetti within 28-27 on a dynamic 68-yard scoring run with 11:21 left to play. Jared Miller kicked the tying point.

Jordan evaded one would-be tackler at the Righetti 40, cut left past some more Cabrillo defenders at about the Conquistadores' 30 and was gone.

Cabrillo took over on the Warriors' 42 with 6:02 left after Jared Miller's short punt under a big rush. On fourth-and-five from the nine, Carlos Faumaina put a big rush on Allen, and Sam McDuff, who had a big game at defensive back along with fellow DB Matt Miller, broke up Allen's pass for Whittaker.

“We were able to put on more pressure in the second half,” said Faumaina, a 6-3, 295-pound tackle. “The crowd was pumping me up.”

The Conquistadores were pretty pumped up as their scoring cash register kept ringing after Righetti miscues.

Ka-ching! The Conquistadores tipped a Jordan pass. Vincent Marzullo grabbed it and ran the ball to the six. Whittaker scored from the two three plays later.

Ka-ching! The Conqs tipped another pass. Tony Elliott grabbed this one and took it to the 43. Allen found Matt Rotondi for 52 yards to the five. Rotondi scored the next play.

Ka-ching! The Conqs popped Davis, and linebacker Chris Zahuta recovered. Whittaker would have scored from the Righetti 44 the next play, but he fumbled himself. He did make it to the one. Allen scored the next play on a sneak.

Ka-ching! Elliott picked off Jordan at the Righetti 27 and took the ball to the house. Patrick Cook's conversion kick made it 28-14.

“We spotted them 28 points,” a relieved Wilson said. “That was hard.”

Righetti would have spotted the Conquistadores more but Cook missed a 30-yard field goal try 54 seconds before halftime after turnover number five. The Warriors were perched on Cabrillo's 13 after McDuff returned Whittaker's fumbled second half kickoff and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. But Jared Miller missed 26-yard field goal try.

The Warriors won partly because their defense solved Cabrillo's double-winged T in the second half. Back Rotondi carried the ball after a direct snap at times, but Righetti figured out the mis-direction consistently in the second half.

“We just started reading the guards and tackles, and that told us where the backs were going to go,” said Escobedo.

Cabrillo, which had just 34 players, hung in there. Whittaker and Rotondi persevered after battling cramps much of the second half. Whittaker ran for 96 yards and Rotondi rushed for 48. Everything else for Cabrillo went for a combined 33 yards.

“We got tired in the fourth quarter, and when you have seven or eight guys going both ways, like we did, you're going to get tired in the fourth quarter,” said Knowles.

“Once we've got all our guns in there, and we're able to keep them in the whole game, we'll be all right.”

Sept. 13, 2008