REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS-Last week against Moorpark, senior quarterback Robbie Fierro exploded for a school record 536 passing yards. Despite a bevy of wonderful individual performances, the Pioneers came up short on a two-point conversion late in the game, losing to their rival, 36-34.

Last weekend’s 36-34 loss to Moorpark High (4-3, 3-1) must have left a bitter taste in the mouths of anyone who roots for the Simi Valley (3-4, 1-3) Pioneers, a young team trying to establish itself as a legitimate contender in the Marmonte League.

"I am a little disappointed for our players," head coach Karl Zierhut said following the game. "But I think they were playing against about 14 or 15 guys out there. I think there were four officials and 11 defenders."

Zierhut was referring to several questionable calls in the game, specifically a late hit out-of-bounds on quarterback Robbie Fierro on a third-down play late in the third quarter, and a 39-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Tony Washington that was called back for offensive pass interference.

"Look, we made some mistakes to hurt ourselves," Zierhut said. "However, the game was not equitably administrated, and that’s all I’ll say.

"Because that’s not fair to my [players], I’ll protect my [players]. They did some things that they should not have done, they made some mistakes and we’ll work through that. But you know what, they did enough to overcome it but not enough to overcome inequitable administration," Zierhut said.

Simi jumped out to a two-touchdown lead early in the first quarter when Fierro connected with Washington for 71 and 67-yard touchdown strikes.

Fierro was 28-of-41 passing for a school record 536 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in the game.

Washington hauled in five balls for 179 yards and three scores.

Moorpark answered with 28 consecutive points on a pair of touchdown tosses from quarterback Kyle Blum—a 10-yard reception to wide receiver Andy Moger and a 29-yard pass to wide receiver Conrad Meadows—and two scores from running back Daniel Wolverton.

Wolverton scored three touchdowns in route to a 212-yard night on 17 carries before coming out late in the fourth quarter due to fatigue. His 235 total yards were a single-game high this season.

After a 10-yard touchdown run by running back Devin Kelley pulled Simi to within seven points at 28-21with 8:35 remaining in the fourth quarter, Moorpark’s Wolverton appeared to put the game out of reach with a 95-yard touchdown run. With just over six minutes, the Muskies’ lead grew to 36-21.

The Pioneers, however, refused to quit.

Fierro hooked up with Washington on a 13-yard scoring pass with 3:44 in the fourth, making the score 36-28. The Simi defense was able to hold the Musketeers on the ensuing possession and gave the Pioneers the ball back with 25 seconds remaining.

Fierro completed two passes that moved the ball down to the Moorpark 42-yard line with three seconds remaining. On the final play of regulation, Fierro hit Kelly on a screen pass that the wideout turned into a 42-yard race to the end zone as the clock expired.

With the Pioneers down by two, Kelley got the ball on a halfback option pass but was brought down by Blum three yards short of the goal line.

Final score: Moorpark 36, Simi Valley 34.

"They had [the play] covered real well," Kelley said. "That’s just good defense on their part."

Simi will try to right the ship tonight when they host Agoura Hills (4-3, 2-2) at 7 p.m. The Pioneers have lost four of their last five games despite averaging 25.8 points per contest.