To even be in a game at the end of the season with so much on the line was a big accomplishment for the St. Joseph boys water polo team. But, it was the teamwork from Cabrillo, an established foe with a strong history, that was the difference.

In a showdown for outright second place, the Conquistatores took a 4-0 lead after one quarter and defeated the Knights 14-9 in a tough, physical matchup at the Lompoc Aquatic Center in Lompoc Tuesday afternoon.

The significance of finishing second is the courtesy of a first round bye in the Los Padres League tournament which begins next Monday at Paul Nelson Pool in Santa Maria.

Only one referee was assigned to the game, a very important game in regard to the standings. That made for a very physical contest, which had both coaches concerned.

"The game gets physical when you have only one official, with two teams fighting for second place," said St. Joseph coach John Walker.

Cabrillo coach Joel Jory agreed.

"It's a tough position for a referee, but they make the schedule way in advance," he explained. "I don't think they counted on St. Joe being as competitive as they've been.

"They are vastly improved over last year. And it was exciting - you saw the excitement and energy with both teams at the end."

When asked if the physical aspect was the difference in the game, Walker replied with an emphatic "no."

"They just played much better," he answered about Cabrillo. "I give all the credit in the world to Joel, he's a good friend of mine and a college teammate.

"They played well and were fired up. Cabrillo came out and banged four goals away before we even knew what was going on."

The Conqs struck early when Tyler Chard scored at 6:10. Then, in a span of 23 seconds, beginning at 3:38, Emmett Hill and Shae Kakos scored - both on counter-breaks. Then, Marcus Theile scored the fourth goal with 38 seconds remaining.

"That was by design," Jory said about coming out fast. "I told my team that they were still a second-year program, but despite all the athletes and talent, if you jump on them quick they will revert to 'Hey, it's Cabrillo.'"

The tradition of the Cabrillo water polo program was on Walker's mind.

"We're a second-year program playing against a program with immense tradition," Walker explained. "They are supposed to beat us and they did."

After the first quarter, Walker reminded his team that they have fought back from four goal deficits before.

The Knights responded, scoring the first two goals of the second. In the first minute, Cabrillo's Jake Moyter was ejected and did not leave the field of play. A 5-meter penalty shot was awarded to Andy Boniface, who put the shot away.

At 5:15, Colin Cusack tossed a long lob from near mid-pool that went over the goalkeeper's head for the second goal.

"We went flat for a 2-minute span and St. Joe got a couple," Jory said. "But our kids bounced right back."

It wasn't much after that goal that Walker received a yellow card for complaining to the referee. Jory picked up a yellow late in the game.

In the final 2:06, Cabrillo scored three goals to increase the lead to 7-2, all from Hill. He received a great cross-pool pass from Aaron Hay, then scored on a counter-break and scored at :31 in a man-up situation.

Vinnie Villalpando scored for St. Joseph with 7 seconds remaining to make the halftime score 7-3.

In the third quarter, the Conqs scored two goals early to take a 9-3 lead, then the teams traded three goals each throughout the remainder of the quarter.

A counter goal by Chard at 6:24 in the fourth gave the Conqs their biggest lead of the game 13-6.

"We played well enough to give ourselves a pretty big margin then we gave up a bit of that margin," said Jory. "But in the end we did some good things to not let them back in the game."

The second half was chippy at times and Cabrillo was called for seven ejections with St. Joseph receiving four. Both teams were called for 10 ejections in the game, but neither were able to take full advantage. St. Joseph scored three man-up goals with Cabrillo converting just two.

Late in the game, St. Joseph's Brandon Chavez was injured when he was hit in the jaw. The extent of his injury was not known, but he was taken to the Lompoc Hospital as a precaution.

Both teams also had several shots, but a lot of the St. Joseph shots were missing the mark. Knights goalkeeper Jake Ezses made 12 saves in the game, while Felix Talkin made five.

Hill finished with six goals for the Conqs, followed by Chard with three, Thompson with two, while Kakos, Marcus Theile and Moyter each added one.

Villalpando led St. Joseph with four, Boniface had two and Tyler Hole, Shaun MacDonald and Cusack added one each.

The LPL tournament begins at 12:15 p.m. on Monday at Paul Nelson, with the semi-finals beginning at 2:15 p.m.

The finals will be Wednesday at the Lompoc Aquatic Center beginning at 1:45 p.m.

Santa Ynez 11, Lompoc 9

In their last regular season game of the year, the Pirates wrapped up the Los Padres League No. 1 seed with a win over the Braves in Santa Ynez on Wednesday.

Adam Parlato's three goals led the Pirates and both Elija Ozimec and Lukas Lastra added two goals apiece, helping the team to rally from a fourth quarter deficit.

Santa Ynez goalie William Mann had 16 saves and six steals to bolster the Pirates' defense.

The Pirates head into the postseason with a perfect 5-0 league record (14-11 overall) and have the No. 1 seed in Monday's Los Padres League Tournament to be held at Paul Nelson Pool.

Girls Tennis

Righetti 12, Lompoc 6

In a non-league match between the two schools, Righetti's Ana Kasni swept her three singles matches and Laura wong and Lauren Nguyen swept their doubles to lead the Warriors over the Braves in Lompoc.

Lompoc (2-11-1) was led by singles player Sameeha Husayn who won two of her three sets. Nicole Nomany also added a point with a win. Karina Esquerda and Azucena Villalobos went 2-1 on the day to lead the Braves doubles teams.

The Braves return to action on Tuesday when they host the Templeton Eagles.