S.V. VALLEY FINISHES UNDEFEATED SEASON; SANTIAGO'S PASSING KEYS PIONEERS PAST HIGHLANDERS : SIMI VALLEY 37, ROYAL 14.

Byline: Jim Inghram Daily News Staff Writer

Ben Santiago completed 14 of 30 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns to lead Simi Valley to a 37-14 victory over Royal on Friday. It helped the Pioneers wrap up an undefeated season.

``We got on the board first,'' Simi Valley assistant coach Stephen Galvin said, ``and then we hammered them. We spanked them. We didn't let up.''

Two of Santiago's three touchdown passes went to tailback Calvin Bell, including a 77-yard screen pass. The other went to tight end Mike Zumwalt, who had four receptions for 106 yards.

Santiago finished the season 152 for 259 with 2,024 yards, 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

In the victory against the Highlanders (7-2-1, 4-2-1), Simi Valley solved a problem of blowing big leads.

``We finally broke that jinx,'' Galvin said. ``We had problems on defense where people would come back on us, but in the last 10 quarters our defense only gave up two touchdowns.''

Leading the charge against Royal were linemen Nick Schmeetz and Josh Schadt.

Schmeetz, 6-foot-6, 270-pounds, had 12 tackles and four sacks. The sacks gave him 11 for the season. Schadt had seven tackles and 1-1/2 sacks.

``Those two guys did an excellent job of disrupting their offense,'' Galvin said. ``It seemed like they were always in their backfield.''

The Pioneers (10-0, 7-0) limited the Highlanders to 93 yards in total offense, the same amount they gave up against Channel Islands the previous week.

Royal's passing attack was virtually shut down. The Highlanders completed one pass and had two interceptions.

``We struggled some early,'' Galvin said of the defense, ``but when it started to matter we shut people down. We're real proud and real happy.''

Two players Bell and Julian Santiago finished with over 1,000 yards in total offense. Bell had 1,307 and Santiago 1,171.

With the big lead the Pioneers were able to empty their bench and reserves were responsible for the last score of the season.

Backup quarterback Ty Mahone, handed the ball to Jeremy DePew who went in from a few yards out following the block of Chris Smiley.

``You couldn't have written a Hollywood script better for an ending like that,'' Galvin said. ``It was nice that those guys got to be a part of all of this.''

Agoura 20, Westlake 13: The host Chargers broke a five-game losing streak.

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PHOTO Westlake's Craig Raimandi (55) tackles Agoura's Ted Cooch during the Chargers' 20-13 victory.

John Lazar / Special to the Daily News