It was same old, same old at Huyck Stadium on Friday night, as Lompoc High opened the Los Padres League football season with their 18th straight LPL victory, 52-0 over Nipomo.

Mixed in with the old however were new touches, namely the feet of quarterback Tim Ochoa and the muscle of Mike Linstead.

Ochoa, whose health was a question mark prior to the game, scrambled effectively and showed a fourth gear nobody knew he had. His 66 yards rushing ranked second among the 11 Braves who carried the ball.

"I/ve never seen him run but once," admitted co-captain Johnathon Terrones.

"That was against Paso Robles. But he has a 4.6 40."

Ochoa ran for 17 yards in the second quarter starting left then going right and weaving through traffic.

In the third quarter he rambled for 31 after being flushed out of the pocket from his right. He sprinted toward the left side where after 10 yards he encountered a cluster of Titans but shifted into his new gear to breeze past them. It appeared that he had a 46-yard TD run, but officials ruled he stepped out at the Nipomo 15.

"Tim ran well," agreed coach Robin Luken. "He became a varsity player tonight. After the first quarter he did things he needed to do."

After the Braves were stopped on their first two possessions they scored on the next seven in a row using speed, defense, passing and long marches.

Speed paid off first with Joseph Scott going over right tackle then cutting to the sideline for 29 yards with four seconds left in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw four Lompoc touchdowns7 Sam Ruiz picked off a Mason Sperakos pass and returned it 28 yards to score, then Ochoa passed to Terrones for 42 yards.

On their fifth possession the Braves took advantage of generous field position to cover 36 yards, the marquee play being the Ochoa 17-yarder. The drive culminated in a TD plunge from the four by Sean Carpio.

On their next possession Ochoa opened the drive scrambling for 13 and when faced with fourth-and-one at the Nipomo 16 disdained a plunge by Sims and passed instead to Ruiz which took Lompoc to the three. Ruiz scored from there.

The score was 35-0 at halftime.

Linstead has been listed as a linebacker but he appeared Friday at noseguard flanked by Jakob Sims and Joey Green.

"Jeezo, our defense," exclaimed Luken. "They caused havoc back there."

Eloquent testimony came also from Nipomo coach Jon Hitchen.

"Their defensive speed really put pressure on us," he said. "I have no answers.

"No. 35 (Mike Linstead) and No. 45 (Jakob Sims) are excellent players."

The blues allowed just three first downs and 43 yards rushing in the first half.

"We/re a lot quicker than a lot of teams," said Green, who notched the first sack of the night nailing Sperakos for a 10-yard loss five minutes into the contest. "We were slanting a lot too."

Scott led Lompoc with 100 yards rushing. Ochoa was 5-for-8 passing for 90 yards.

"The defense came out and played," said Luken, whose team was up one week, down the next in a 2-2 preseason.

It was the Titans/ fourth straight defeat without a win.

Notes: The Braves did not let last week/s defeat at Arroyo Grande affect them. "We tried to put that past us," said Green…. The Sunset Auto Player of the Game was Ruiz…. Brice Fabing was a perfect 7-of-7 on PAT/s and kicked a 32-yard field goal…. Nipomo won the JV game 27-24 after leading 20-6 at halftime. Lompoc fought back with two TD passes from Daryl Aguilar to Brandon Alonzo and a quarterback sneak by Aguilar. Aguilar was 10-of-15 passing in the second half for 173 yards.

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

October 2, 2005