Nineteen straight league victories7 the Lompoc Braves set that record in 1975-8 in the old Northern League in the first exciting years of Mike Warren/s coaching tenure.

The Braves of Robin Luken tied that mark in 1992-6, the heyday of Brave legend Peter Sousa.

They tied it again Friday night at Huyck Stadium as they clubbed Morro Bay 41-0.

The Braves have yet to lose a game in the Los Padres League since they joined the loop in 2002.

Coming on the heels of a 52-0 ambush of Nipomo, the Braves appeared to put themselves in the favorite/s role for the league title despite ranking behind crosstown Cabrillo in the CIF Div. X poll. The last LHS back-to-back shutouts came in 1994.

The swarming Lompoc defense held the Pirates inside their own territory until the score was 41-0. Eight of 11 Pirate possessions consisted of three plays or less as the Braves recovered two fumbles and snagged two interceptions. Pirate quarterback Jake Crizer was held to 27 yards rushing and completed only 2 of 10 passes for 20 yards.

&#8221Joey Green is playing really well, and Jakob Sims and Michael Linstead are playing playing well, and we/ve got Ruben Garcia as the alternate,B said Luken of his defensive line. &#8221Those four guys are doing a tremendous job for us. They/re starting to build up confidence.

&#8221Besides those guys we/re also pretty dominant against the pass. People are trying to figure out what the heck are we going to do? We can/t run. We can/t throw. What do we do, just punt?B

Which Morro Bay did on five of their 11 possessions.

Besides their stifling defense the Braves featured their air game, a weapon for which they historically have not been known, as quarterback Tim Ochoa completed five of eight passes in the first half for 80 yards and tailback Joseph Scott even lofted a 24-yard aerial to Johnathon Terrones for Lompoc/s second TD.

&#8221We/re throwing the ball pretty well,B said Brave offensive coordinator Roger Pacheco, the mastermind of Lompoc/s run-oriented wing-T.

&#8221It/s kind of fun to see the ball thrown. We/re still learning in the line but we/re getting better each week.

&#8221They were keying Joe Scott real strong so we had some other things we had to come back to.B

Pacheco said he was proud of the progress of Ochoa, who is just a junior.

&#8221We talk a lot about stuff we see on film. We let him know what we think is there then we let him make his own decisions. He/s growing up.B

Ochoa agreed.

&#8221Yeah, I/m a lot more comfortable. My line is giving me more time. I like running the ball. I was negative (yardage) preseason but I/m getting the stats up now.B

Besides the defense and the air game the Bravos got a perfect evening from kicker Brice Fabing who demonstrated that he is a weapon as well. He connected on all five PAT/s and booted field goals of 39 and 40 yards.

The Braves were denied on their opening possession when they fumbled on the Pirate 12 but the Bucs fumbled back seven plays later and tackle Joey Green returned the ball 10 yards to put Lompoc on the 18. Fullback Jakob Sims scored two plays later from the nine.

Scott/s pass, coming after it was clear to all that the Pirates were keying to stop his rushing yards, came on the first play of the second quarter.

Later in the period Lompoc drove 53 yards on eight plays for their third TD, Ochoa racing to the right corner of the end zone to score it himself. The biggest play of the drive was an Ochoa-to-Sam Ruiz pass good for 16 yards across midfield.

At halftime the Braves led 21-0 and had held the Pirates to three first downs.

Lompoc opened the second half with a 39-yard field goal from Brice Fabing, then Scott broke over right tackle and ran 45 yards for a TD. The fourth quarter included another Fabing field goal, this from 40 yards and a short 6-play drive ending in a Chris Mallory score from four yards after Morro Bay fumbled on its own 22.

Lompoc/s Scott led all rushers with 109 yards.

Of note also was the absence of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties or personal fouls. Luken had challenged his team after three flags were thrown against the Braves in the Nipomo game.

&#8221That was the big thing. The penalties that we had were just on plain old hustle. You just get excited about that kind of stuff.

&#8221We go into league and we shut out two teams like we have by the scores we put up, we/ve got to be doing something right.

&#8221We can run the ball, we can throw the ball. Our tailback threw a touchdown tonight. We/ve got a multiple of weapons that people have to take a look at.B

Notes: Pacheco chuckled at Scott/s touchdown pass. &#8221It was kind of an ugly throw but it got thereB…. Center Cody Velasco was helped off the field with a knee or ankle injury of unknown severity. Luken said Eric Talavera, whom Velasco was replacing, will be back next week…. In the JV game Lompoc broke its four-game losing streak on a 27-yard field goal by AnthonyTorres with three seconds left. The score was 16-15. Morro Bay led 15-0 in the second quarter but Lompoc came back on an 8-yard pass from Daryl Aguilar to Brandon Alonzo and an Aguilar 28-yarder to Kevin Ericksen.

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

October 9, 2005