Two star athletes 7 just humbly working on their games to hear them tell it 7 were awarded Athlete of the Week recognition at Monday/s North Santa Barbara County Athletic Round Table luncheon at Giavanni/s.

One was Sophia Eszes, St. Joseph High/s tennis standout. The other was tailback Joe Scott of the Lompoc High football team.

Scott gained 156 yards and scored three touchdowns Friday night in the Braves/ 42-20 victory over Santa Ynez 7 keeping Lompoc undefeated, at 3-0, in the Los Padres League and 5-2 overall.

&#8220He/s running more physically,C said Brave head coach Robin Luken in a rare luncheon appearance.

&#8220At Santa Ynez, his shortest run, six yards, was his best. He hit four guys.C

Scott agreed.

&#8220I try to run into people more, and keep my feet moving after contact. I run more north and south, not east and west,C which is football lingo for running forward toward the endzone instead of parallel with the line.

Lompoc High

Braves coach Luken did his first turn in years at the NSBCART microphone, noting he was present because he had no film to analyze. The Braves have no game this week.

The coach introduced Scott and &#8220Hatchet ManC Darrell Solorio, so-named for his role on the kickoff team making tackles.

Athletic Director Dick Barrett presented Sam Holt, author of five goals in the Braves/ first water polo victory last week, and LHS tennis player Jani Carmona saying, &#8220I had her in class and I would call on her saying >hun-ee/ and people would look at me asking why are you calling her honey?C The &#8220JC in Jani is pronounced as it is in Spanish 7 like in San Jose.

Cabrillo High

Lisa Schutz presented tennis teammates Lauren Vance and Heidi Havlicek.

Schutz had a script given to her by coach Dan Troup but she did not use it. Probably because it might have sounded boastful, especially with the St. Joseph team sitting right in front of her.

Her script included her league record of 24-3, Vance/s 18-2, and Havlicek/s 23-4. The Conqs and Knights collide today with the league lead at stake.

Coach Joel Jory talked of today/s showdown with Santa Ynez for the league lead in water polo. &#8220For nine years it/s come down to this game,C he said before presenting Joey Gullikson, the Conqs/ top two-meter defender, goalie Sam Ouimet, and steals leader Nick &#8220The ThiefC Darling.

Football coach Don Cross talked of Santa Maria coach Shawn Ramirez/ ingenuity. &#8220Shawn changed from shotgun to an I-back setup,C he said, which crossed up the Conquistadores who had prepared for a passing attack.

It wasn/t until nearly halftime Friday night 7 when Darnell Womack caught an 82-yard pass 7 that the Conqs gained momentum for their 42-14 victory.

Cross introduced Womack, linebacker Colby McKissack who was team leader in tackles (16) and tackles runnerup Josh Sanders (14).

College grid

Lydell Sargeant saw action but made no catches in Penn State/s 27-25 loss to Michigan Saturday.

His career may take an upward turn however.

The Nittany Lions/ star freshman receiver, Derrick Williams, broke his arm in the game and is lost for the season. That could translate into more passes going Lydell/s way.

Robert Adams ran for 97 yards and caught a pass for 23 more Saturday for Charleston Southern. He was overshadowed though by Andre Copeland who rushed for a stunning 231 yards, a school record.

Hoops already

At Washington, basketball practice opened Friday with a photo of Joel Smith featured on the UW website.

Smith is a swingman whose role should increase dramatically this year.

As a reserve last season, he connected on 51% of his shots from the field, including 40% from 3-point range.

&#8220Joel is a phenomenal athlete,C coach Lorenzo Romar wrote for the website. &#8220He made big plays for us all year last year as a freshman and he learned on the fly. We are counting on him to really help us this year. He has to step up from a guy coming off the bench to just fill in to a guy who has to give us significant minutes and we think that he can do that.C

Dec. 10 the Huskies will play in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim.

Super Arias Brothers

Give Ramon and Hip Arias credit.

At the advanced age of 33 (Hip) and 29 (Ramon) they are not giving up baseball.

The onetime Lompoc High stars led the Goleta Diablos to the championship of the Santa Barbara Baseball League Sunday with an 11-4 victory over the Lompoc Bandits.

Both were awarded SBBL MVP awards, Ramon for the playoffs, Hip for the regular season.

Geezerjock magazine

For people older than the Arias brothers, there/s Geezerjock magazine (I am not making this up). It celebrates older athletes, one of whom is Lompoc 80-year-old world class swimmer Frank Piemme.

Piemme has been nominated for Geezerjock of the Year.

Join me in voting for Frank, who is up against two 80+ track men, by dialing up www.geezerjock.com/vote.

Soccer

The Lompoc Tecolotes opened the winter season of the Central Coast Soccer League Sunday with a 4-2 victory over the Santa Ynez Toros.

Jesus Gomez, Felipe Lara, Jose &#8220ParachoC Becerril, and Jose Uranda scored goals.

The Tecos will host the Pumas of Oceano Sunday at Ryon Park…. For the first time in 20 years the Lompoc Bruisers and the Central Coast Womens Soccer Association are not competing in the fall season. A poorly-attended summer organizational meeting appears to be the cause. The Bruisers and the Santa Ynez Diggers are hoping to refashion the league for a spring season….

Stuff

Boo Jackson is &#8220gray-shirtingC at El Camino College in Torrance. &#8220Gray-shirtingC is the term for taking less than 12 units so a player/s academic clock does not begin ticking…. through Oct. 10, Davia Montoya of Cuesta College was third in scoring in Western State Conference women/s water polo. Christine Rowlett, also at Cuesta, was fifth in steals…. Ex-major league all star Roy Howell will be announcing his Roy Howell Baseball School soon…. Lompoc High Athletic Director Dick Barrett is beating the drum for the LHS fall fundraiser on Nov. 6. Tickets are going fast….

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

October 18, 2005