Two solid freshman football victories sought to upstage Lompoc and Cabrillo varsity teams in other sports Thursday.

At Cabrillo, the Conq frosh won their second game in two tries with a 20-6 victory over Oxnard/s Pacifica, shutting out the Tritons in the second half.

"I was pleased with the way we played in the fourth quarter," said coach Rob Radford. "It was 14-6 and they were driving on us, but Matt Rotondi intercepted a pass. Then it was over."

Cabrillo opened the scoring on a 30-yard pass from Sean Allen to Brandon Whittaker and Matt Stoerrle added the PAT but Pacifica replied with their own drive to narrow the Conq margin to 7-6 at halftime.

Allen threw to Aaron Zambrano for 40 yards in the third quarter and Rotondi supplied the coup de grace after his interception with a 40-yard gallop which began as a simple trap play up the middle.

It was Rotondi and running back Ricardo Hernandez that Radford pointed to as his game standouts.

"I told them last week /If we can win one, we can win two./ Today I told them /If we can win two we can win three./"

The Conqs travel to Dos Pueblos next Thursday.

Lompoc 25, Righetti 7

At Huyck Stadium Bobbie Collins ran back two kicks for touchdowns and the Brave defense shut down the Warriors over the final three quarters as Lompoc notched its second win.

Righetti seized on a Collins fumble to put seven points on the scoreboard in the first quarter but Collins redeemed himself with an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Then in the second quarter the lanky speedster zoomed 70 yards on a punt return to give Lompoc a 12-7 halftime lead.

Gilby Cornejo passed to Frankie Garcia for 30 yards, and Daniel Hernandez added the PAT, to put the Braves ahead 19-7 in the third quarter and Favi Vargas drove off tackle from 10 yards out to finish the scoring in the fourth.

The sturdy Lompoc defense featured an interception by Garcia and a fumble recovery.

"When they scored our kids adjusted and did a real good job on defense," said coach Rick Aguilar.

The Braves, 2-0, host Arroyo Grande next Thursday.

Righetti JV 37, Lompoc JV 0

At Righetti the Warriors scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and clicked on cruise control to deal Lompoc its second loss by a shocking margin.

"It was field positioning," lamented Brave coach Steve Greco. "And mental mistakes, like not staying in their lanes on kickoffs."

Righetti scored its first touchdown on four plays and embarked on both of the ensuing two drives in Lompoc territory.

Despite the lopsided score Greco was able to find rays of hope.

Hakim Brown/s fourth quarter interception led to a 20-yard runback and Brandon Alonzo zipped 40 yards on a kickoff return.

Greco also saw good work from defensive tackle Ryan Calhoun and linebacker Ignacio Bueno.

The Braves, now 0-2, travel to Arroyo Grande next Thursday. "We/re not giving up," Greco said.

Girls tennis

Cabrillo 17, Pioneer Valley 1

At Santa Maria/s new Pioneer Valley High in the Panthers/ first Los Padres League match the Conquistadores made it memorable.

The Conqs crushed the Cats with a composite game score of 103-15.

In singles Ellen Monkemeier and Lisa Schutz both swept cleanly with perfect 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 scores.

Freshman Summer Miller won two sets by 6-0 but lost one 6-1 to Jennifer Francisco for PVHS/ only winning set.

The experienced Conquistador duo of Elysha McLain/Madalyn Doudna gave up just a game 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, the newly-minted twosome of Heidi Havlicek/Lindsey Johnson relinquished only four at 6-1, 6-0, 6-3, and Ashley Brady/Ali Herred just seven winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

The Conqs played without singles standout Lauren Vance who continues to nurse a sore shoulder. Freshman Miller won her spot by challenge in practice.

"Summer did her job," declared Cabrillo coach Dan Troup. "Win two, that/s all we need.

"We/re off to a good start," he added. "We/re 1-0 and that/s where we wanted to be."

The Conqs, 1-2 overall and 1-0 in league, visit Santa Maria on Tuesday.

Santa Ynez 15, Lompoc 3

At Lompoc High three-time defending champion Santa Ynez left ace Subi Sundaram at home but still had no trouble in the league opener.

The top two Sara Schroeder and Laura Reynolds swept as did doubles teams of Lauren Henno/Nicole Masnada and Claire Hemming/Erica Schroeder.

For the Braves Courtney Stumpo and Jani Carmona each battled to a 6-4 win in singles and Janee Murray/Anabell Zaragoza took a doubles set by the same score.

Sundaram went 29-1 last year, Schroeder 26-10. Popkin/s top doubles team of Nicole Masnada/Lauren Henno went 22-13 last year playing with different partners.

On Tuesday Lompoc, 0-1 in league, 0-3 overall, travels to St. Joseph.

Boys water polo

Ventura 15, Cabrillo 7

At Ventura the top-ten ranked Cougars broke up a 5-5 tie in the final 90 seconds of the first half and romped from there.

"We got swam into oblivion," muttered Cabrillo coach Joel Jory. "We can play with them, but we can/t swim with them."

The Cougars substituted freely and wore out the Conquistadores, a group which has not had access to a deep pool since June, the CHS tank undergoing repairs.

Ethan Hadley scored four goals for Cabrillo and drew four ejections, Byron Mikowicz scored two and dished out three assists, and Nick Darling tallied once and made five steals, while goalie Sam Ouimet made nine saves.

Jory also noted the defensive prowess of two-meter guard Daniel McNutt.

"He shut down their horse. They were forced to bring in different guys."

It did not make much difference however, he added.

"They have four or five guys who can go to set and we only have two legitimate two-meter guards."

It was Cabrillo/s first match apart from the Thousand Oaks Tournament in which the team went 1-4.

"We/re young and we/re learning," Jory said. "We did some great things in the first half but we couldn/t sustain it."

The Conqs host Arroyo Grande Tuesday.

John McReynolds can be reached at 736-2313, Ext. 106, or jmcreynolds@lompocrecord.com.

September 16, 2005