Water-full Wednesday and Taua Too

Ainuu Taua poses with a fan after the Braves beat St Francis

Ainuu Taua, a junior at Lompoc High School, was named to the LA Times high school football All-Star team.

Taua, who played all along the defensive front for the Braves and alternated at TE and sometimes stepped in at FB, was cited by the paper for his work on the Defensive Line.

"Line: Ainuu Taua, Lompoc, 6-1, 285, Jr. Using strength, size and agility, Taua was an imposing figure in the middle for the 12-1 Braves while stamping himself as a top recruit for 2014. He had seven sacks."

Area Hoop Tournament Information HERE.

Local Results: Wednesday, 19 December 2012

GIRLS WATER POLO

Los Padres League

The LPL water polo community is slowly starting to rebuild. The six teams (Templeton doesn't have aquatics programs) are emerging from a period of coaching retirements and other turnovers, declining numbers, and the aging/deterioration of facilities.

Cabrillo has been strong for years, with a tradition of coaching support and development and a nice pool facility to call home. Lompoc hired Jeff Storie a few months ago to oversee the revitalization of their aquatics programs, and both local schools have access to the "new" City of Lompoc Aquatic Center. Santa Maria opened a new on-campus facility about a month back, and Santa Ynez has been discussing improvements/renovations at the pool there. Nipomo, which opened in 2002, had a new on-campus pool as part of its construction  and the Titans have seen their program grow in recent years.

That leaves Morro Bay, where there is NO pool, although they can occasionally use Hardie pool in Cayucos or the pool at Cuesta College near SLO, etc. . The Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation is working to build a facility in Morro Bay for all to use, but these thing take time.

There are growing pains associated with these developments, one of which was demonstrate on Wednesday. Morro Bay finally has a sufficient number (barely) of girls participating in the program to form a JV squad for the 1st time in a while. Both the varsity and the JV, who were playing their 1st contest of the season, were over-matched by the Conquistadores, but you have to start somewhere.

at Cabrillo 19, Morro Bay 3
[C: 7,3,5,4 - 19  MB: 0,1,1,1 - 3]

Morro Bay had 8 girls available to play in this one, Cabrillo had 18. The Cabrillo starters were in until they went up 5-0 with 4:35 remaining in the 1st quarter. 5 of the 6 field players were pulled, as was the GK at the end of the period. The GK stayed out for the remainder, but the starters returned for about 2 and a half minutes in the third period to work on several specific plays. They scored 2 more goals during that span, but passed up another half dozen shots.

Everybody for Cabrillo played, and 10 scored, everybody for Morro Bay played, and 2 scored. The Pirates 1st goal was at 4:30 of the 2nd period. They would score 3, but have several more hit the posts & crossbar. The Cabrillo net-minders also had 6 saves, none of which were very strenuous. The Pirates played hard, the Conqs played well, and hopefully both sides improved for the next time.

Conqs [8-2]: Goals - Natalie Wilkie 4, Sophie Hill 4, Tancy Aldridge 3, Lisa Lu 2; 1 each - Eleesha Rodriguez, Sam Carroll, Sydney Ross, Kayla Menjivar, Samantha Munoz, Kaleena Smith. Saves - Jayden Pickles (1st Q) 2, Demi Ames (2-4 Qtrs) 4.
Pirates : Goals - Ruby Young 2, Katie White 1. Saves - Cassidy Stephens 2.

Junior Varsity

at Cabrillo 18, Morro Bay 3
[C: 6,8,1,3 - 18  MB: 0,1,1,1 - 3]
This was much like the varsity game which preceded it. The Pirates had 7 players (no subs), Cabrillo 18 again. Morro Bay scored 3 times, the 1st at 2:33 of the 2nd period. Cabrillo had wholesale substitutions of 3-6 players at a time, trying players at all kinds of different positions. Conq Coach David Riley twice called time-outs when his squad had 3-1 or better break-aways (only one was granted before a shot), and at one point decreed that only Freshmen could shoot the ball.

The officials and coaches also agreed to overlook a MB player fouling out in the 1st quarter, and instituted a form of running clock early in the 2nd half. Eleven Cabrillo players scored, only one in more than one quarter.

Conqs [5-1]: Goals - Lili Talkin 4 (the 1st 4 of the game), Grace Robson 3, Michayla Owens 2, Meagan Vail 2; 1 each - Meagan Stevens, Sierra Rehmke, Abi Stangl, Caitlyn Petterson, Katrina Ryker, #15 Unknown, Liz Brown. Saves - Kinsley Edman (1-3rd Q's) 7, Caitlyn Petterson (4th Q) 0.
Pirates : Goals - Scarlett Beacham, Sammi Senet, Sophie Nelson. Saves - [Taryn Nunes ?] 6.


at Nipomo
Lompoc at Nipomo
This match was apparently postponed. No reschedule information is currently known.

BOYS SOCCER

Cabrillo 3, at Santa Maria 0
Conqs [4-4-2, 2-0 LPL]: Goals (Assists) - Kyle Townsend (13th - Kenji Moua), Adrian Diaz (48th - Stephen Dalton), Stephen Dalton (58th - None, 25yd floater to far side of goal). Saves - Michael Lowes 5
Saints : Goals (Assists) - None. Saves - Eric Perez 4.

Junior Varsity
Cabrillo 1, at Santa Maria 1 [TIE]
No Additional Information Provided.