In a game that went back and forth, the Santa Ynez Pirates took their first two-goal lead at 5:33 in the third quarter.

That's when the Cabrillo Conquistadores took over, scoring the next five goals to grab a 12-9 lead. From there, Cabrillo held off Santa Ynez in the fourth quarter to win the Los Padres League water polo championship 14-11 at the Lompoc Aquatic Center Wednesday afternoon in front of a large and loud crowd.

The Conqs, who finished second in the LPL regular season, defeated the first-place team after surviving a sudden death overtime game Monday against St. Joseph in the semi-finals.

With the win, Cabrillo will be the number one seed coming out of the LPL and will play a first round home game next week when the CIF Division VI playoffs begin.

"It was a high-scoring game with both teams racing," said a wet Cabrillo coach Joel Jory after getting thrown into the pool by his team. "It was a great game to watch."

Santa Ynez is the second seed and finds out Sunday whether it will play at home or on the road.

"They wanted it a little more than us," said Santa Ynez coach Jake Kalkowski. "They came out of halftime ready to go and I think maybe we were content with the small lead we had."

In other games, St. Joseph exploded for five goals in the fourth quarter to beat Lompoc in the third-place game, 12-6, and earned a bid for the CIF playoffs in just its second year of competition.

In the fifth-place game, Santa Maria led 6-0 after the first quarter, then held on for dear life to defeat Morro Bay 11-10.

In the championship game, Cabrillo and Santa Ynez traded goals and leads through the first three quarters. The score was 2-2 after one, then the Pirates outscored the Conqs 6-5 in a wide open second quarter to lead 8-7 at the half.

No one scored in the game until Adam Taylor tallied a man-up goal for Santa Ynez at 2:11 in the first quarter. Shae Kakos tied the game at 46 seconds, tapping in a long pass from Tyler Thompson.

Then, in a preview of the wild second, Thompson scored on a counter-break at 12 seconds and Adam Parlato answered nine seconds later with a long shot from his end of the pool.

Each team scored twice in the first two minutes of the second before Lukas Lastra tapped in a rebound at 4:51 to give Santa Ynez another lead, 5-4.

Things went back and forth until Chris Lastra scored on a man-up situation with 49 seconds remaining, giving Santa Ynez an 8-7 lead through three.

Until that point no team lead by more than one goal. The Pirates finally earned a two-goal advantage when Chris Lastra scored with another man advantage at 5:33 in the fourth.

Just 8 seconds later, Jake Moyter scored for the Conqs, beginning the run that gave them a 12-9 lead.

Twice in the fourth quarter Santa Ynez pulled to within two goals, but both times Cabrillo answered back.

The final goal came at 3:21 when Hill scored on a counter play.

"That was the best that we've seen (Cabrillo) in the three games we have played," Kalkowski said.

St. Joseph 12, Lompoc 6

The Knights put the game away scoring the final five goals of the game, after leading 7-5 at the end of the third quarter.

Lompoc's Daniel Duneatz scored at 5:47 in the fourth to pull the Braves to within 7-6, but less than 20 seconds later Shane Villalpando scored to start the run.

"It was like my team woke up in the second half," St. Joseph coach John Walker said. "They are like (ultimate fighter) Chuck Liddell. They sleep for a few minutes until they get popped in the mouth real good.

"Then they go, 'Oh man, we have to play now.'"

The scoring started slowly as both team had one goal each in the first quarter. The score was 4-all at the half. All four of the St. Joseph goals came with a man-up.

"We had too many ejections," said Lompoc coach Kevin Hicks. "We played pretty good defense, but the ejections hurt us in that first half."

After Lompoc took a 5-4 lead at 6:33 of the third with a goal from Taylor Emery, St. Joseph scored its first even-up goal. Shaun Mac Donald hit a goal from the side at 6:14. The Knights then scored twice more with Andy Boniface scoring on another man-up and Shane Villalpando coming in on a counter breakaway.

In the run, Villalpando scored twice, while MacDonald, Andre Morales and Collin Cusack all scored once. They all ended the game with two goals.

"Shane Villalpando, my sophomore came in off the bench and put in three goals," Walker said. "His energy heated up the whole game for us - that was his best game by far."

The Braves had several more shots than the Knights, but had trouble finding the net. They were 6-of-36, and were stopped by 14 saves from St. Joseph goalie Jake Eszes.

"He was an absolute wall today," said Walker. "It's phenomenal for a kid who's been playing water polo for one year and two months."

Emery finished the game with three goals for the Braves, followed by Daniel Duneatz with two.

In its second year of existence, St. Joseph water polo will be going to the playoffs.

"CIF playoffs in our second year, that doesn't happen," Walker said.

Hicks agreed.

"St. Joseph has done a good job this year," he said. "I congratulate them and wish them luck in CIF."

Santa Maria 11, Morro Bay 10

Getting four goals from Jake Buentiempo in the first quarter, the Saints jumped out to a 6-0 lead. They led 9-2 at the half before the Pirates came roaring back.

Girls tennis

Santa Ynez 12, Cabrillo 6

The Pirates (11-1, 17-3) won at home and locked down a tie with St. Joseph for the Los Padres League championship.

Santa Ynez led this regular season finale 11-1 after two rounds, and then Pirates coach Jennifer Rasmussen substituted liberally.

Emily Ineman swept three sets for the Pirates. Ineman, who lost one LPL set this year, dropped all of two games. Alisa Silsbee, and the Santa Ynez doubles tandems of Sophie Brandstatter and Sydney Tack, Heather Vellekamp and Mylee Curtis, and Kylie Petersen and Bianca Capasso all went 2-0 in their sets.

Julie Leyva won two sets for Cabrillo (8-4 LPL). The playoff-bound Conquistadores finished third.

Girls volleyball

Righetti 3, Pioneer Valley 0

The Warriors (4-8 PAC-7 League) finished their season by sweeping the Panthers 26-24, 25-16, 25-18 on Righetti's Seniors Night.

Natalie Baldwin racked up nine digs, seven kills and three service aces for the Warriors. Mallory Piña had 13 assists, five digs and two aces.

Jessica Feliz had five digs and four kills. Shelby McGready added four kills and thre blocks. Nicole Barrows amde seven digs for the Warriors.

Pioneer Valley finished 1-11 in the PAC-7.