Lompoc High School has a storied football history with periods of dominance spanning more than four decades.
Most notably, in 1990, Napoleon Kaufman led the school to its first ever CIF championship while becoming one of the best running backs in California Prep Athletics history. He was later a top-20 pick in the 1995 NFL draft.
The Lompoc High School Braves’ history now includes 5 CIF-Southern Section championships, an additional eight appearances in the championship game, and this year saw them claim their 28th league title. Recent years have included standouts like Lavon Coleman, who now plays college football at the University of Washington and will compete in the upcoming College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve against the University of Alabama.
Yet despite all that the school has accomplished, former Coach Robin Luken had some rough years at the end of the the last decade. Luken started off the decade like gangbusters, winning the 2002 and 2003 Division 10 titles with current coach Andrew Jones on the roster. But as the decade waned, wins became fewer and further between. Maxpreps.com has the school’s cumulative record from 2004 to 2009 as 34-33, so it was fair to say that despite the lore around the program, the incoming coach was going to have some major rebuilding to do.
The first priority on the list was changing the culture, current coach Andrew Jones explained.
“The main thing since taking over is trying to find a way to compete every day and try to get better,” Jones said. “Trying to change the culture and getting the kids to buy in was the toughest thing.”
Since taking over in 2010, coach Jones has indeed established a cultural change and restored glory to the program. This year’s team was once again looking to take home a CIF championship, Jones said.
This year’s team featured arguably one of the best players in the area, Toa Taua. Taua is rated as a three-star recruit by scout.com and has received offers from Washington State and University of Hawaii. Taua saw two of his brothers play major Division 1 football, and he seems poised to follow in their footsteps. Eldest brother Vai Taua played at Lompoc before moving on to college ball at the University of Nevada. Middle brother Ainuu Taua was also a Brave before heading off to Westwood to become a Bruin at UCLA.
“[Toa Taua] is a great football player from a great family,” Jones said. “When you’re really, really good at something, you can be great if you work hard, and Toa is a hard worker.”
Lompoc dominated throughout the recent season. At one point, over a seven-game stretch, they outscored their opponents a whopping 360-6. The Braves cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs, winning 65-0 over Rialto and 46-0 over Etiwanda. It looked as though nothing could slow down the Braves’ offense, and scoring on their defense seemed more difficult that an act of Congress.
In winning the game at Etiwanda, the team ensured they would practice on Thanksgiving morning, a goal established back in August by the team. The Thanksgiving Day practice normally includes a number of past players in attendance and allows the football family to come together before the players separate to their respective households. The Thanksgiving practice is a long-revered tradition among high school football players.
But the special holiday practice was just one goal the team had for the season, Jones explained.
“Practicing on Thanksgiving was a secondary goal this year,” he said. “We wanted to play right up until Christmas, and to be able to do that you’ve got to be lucky, especially with injuries, they are so unpredictable, and especially in high school, it’s tough. If we could have stayed healthy, I think we would still be playing.”
Lompoc’s season came to an end the day after Thanksgiving. For the players, it was indeed Black Friday. Lompoc’s opponent was Corona del Mar High School. The team’s starting quarterback, Chase Garbers, will attend Cal-Berkley this coming fall. However, Garbers was held in check by that vaunted Lompoc defense for the entire first half. At halftime, Lompoc led 21-10 and Garbers was limited to 27 yards passing and zero touchdowns. However, in the second half, Garbers connected on four touchdown passes, including two bombs of more than 60 yards, ultimately totaling more than 300 passing yards for the half.
The game was an absolute roller coaster with Lompoc leading early before tying in the second half. Then, with 7:58 remaining in the game, starting quarterback Kameron Davis was knocked from the game by Corona del Mar defensive end Bryce Clabaugh. Lompoc continued to battle, and with 3:10 remaining in the game, regained the lead on a double pass, trick play. However, Garbers, the future Cal Bear, did his best impression of former Cal Bear Aaron Rodgers by driving the Sea Kings down the field allowing the team to score the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute to play. Lompoc’s season came to a screeching halt.
What had been an unblemished ride for months was now finished, just short of the desired destination.
Contact Jason O’Neill through Editor Shelly Cone at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 15-22, 2016.