It was a big week in the CIF football playoffs as three Los Padres League teams won first round games last Friday.

Two of those teams, Pioneer Valley and St. Joseph attended the Northern Santa Barbara County Athletic Roundtable luncheon Monday afternoon at Giavanni’s Pizza in Orcutt.

A pair of teams that had terrific seasons saw them come to a close over the weekend. Both Righetti High and Hancock College were in attendance, as well as the entire girls cross country from St. Joseph.

In Pioneer Valley’s 59-0 whitewashing of Lawndale, Anthony Jackson was buzzing everywhere. On defense he led the Panthers in tackles, making several for losses, including three sacks as PV held Lawndale to 27 yards in total offense.

He also recovered a fumble that set up the first scoring drive for the Panthers and then caught a nine yard touchdown pass from Nick Rucobo to give Pioneer a 21-0 lead.

For his success, Jackson was named the male athlete of the week.

Jackson’s coach Greg Dickinson accepted the award on his behalf.

“On defense he was just all over the field,” Dickinson said about Jackson.

The St. Joseph girls cross country team had plenty to celebrate. One of their own, Quetta Peinado ran the course in 18:41 at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut to finish eighth in the Division IV race and earned a spot in the state championships that will be ran this Saturday in Fresno.

Peinado was the only female from the area to qualify for the prestigious race held at Woodard Park.

Peinado was named the recipient of the female athlete of the week award.

She thanked the Roundtable, her coaches and her teammates.

Hancock

Cross country coach Louie Quintana made an appearance at the luncheon with two of his female runners. Manna Cardoso was one his most consistent runners all season and Monica Maldonado qualified for the state meet which was ran last Saturday in Fresno.

In the race featuring over 190 runners, Maldonado finished 76th, just missing her goal of a sub-twenty minute time (20:16).

Football coach Kris Dutra was excited about how his team played, going 9-2 with their only losses to Bakersfield.

“It was the second year in a row that we made the playoffs and we feel good about that,” Dutra said.

It was a disappointing loss Saturday, 24-21 to the Renegades. A missed field goal and a couple big Bakersfield punt returns helped Bakersfield come from behind.

“It was a really tough one to swallow,” Dutra explained. “Basically we had the game put away, but we let them climb back in it.

“Special teams are important people, I’m telling you right now, and that came back to haunt us.”

Dutra was also looking forward to this Friday with two teams still in the CIF hunt, hosting games.

“I’m fired up this weekend to watch some of these playoff games and see how far the local high schools can go,” he said. “I’m playing with a lot of these local players that are outstanding kids - we plug them in and they work out for us real well.”

Pioneer Valley

With athletic director Rhett Carter in attendance, Greg Dickinson recapped the Panthers convincing win over Lawndale.

“I think we kind of surprised them with how physical we were and we got up early,” Dickinson said. “We knew these guys had a lot of speed and we made them go sideways instead of North and South.”

He presented Joaquin Osuna and Jamie Camarena who made significant contributions to the team.

“Mr. Osuna is a senior and he’s been in the program pretty much his entire high school career,” Dickinson explained. “Talking about special teams being important, he is one of those guys who contributes and he does a great number of things for us during the week.”

Camarena is only a sophomore and has played fullback and linebacker.

“He has a great work ethic and also gets it done in the classroom as well,” said Dickinson.

Righetti

Football coach Gary Wilson said his team was already looking forward to next season after losing to a tough Newbury Park on Friday.

Like Hancock, Righetti was defeated by a late field goal.

“We played well in the second half, but came up a little bit short,” Wilson said. “We are real excited about the kids that will be here next year, we are already looking ahead and putting this behind us.”

Wilson said that players Steven Schwenk, Uso Taua and Eric Wilson just happened to be in his classroom when it was time to come over and they were just there for the pizza.

St. Joseph

Assistant cross country coach Keenan Smith introduced his entire girls team. In addition to Peinado, he presented Brittney Brandt, Paulette Rigali, Marrin Teixeira, Cailtlin Brandt, Bridget Adam, Kate Stovicek, Alexis Brandt, Brittany Strahan and team captain Sara Scott.

“We had a 12th place finish,” Smith said, “but each improved their times about 30 seconds and we came down two full minutes in their team time.”

Football coach Mike Hartman talked about what he enjoyed most in the Knights 55-0 win over La Salle.

“It was a fun game in the fact that all the guys who have been working so hard, got a lot of (playing) time,” Hartman explained. “The second team had pretty much the entire second half and still moved the ball - we had 200 yards rushing in the second half.”

Hartman brought three juniors who were important contributors this year and will be expected to be team leaders next year — Hunter Vail, Daniel Becerra and Jeremy Swanson.

“These juniors are contributing this year and we are really expecting a lot from them next year,” Hartman said.

Hartman congratulated Pioneer Valley and Nipomo for their first round wins last Friday.

“It’s great to see the LPL doing so well,” he said.

Athletic director Tom Mott and assistant AD Debbie Wegemer were also present at the luncheon.

Valley Christian Academy’s athletic director Pete Fortier came by to have lunch and visit and did not speak.