For the past few years, the Arroyo Grande High football team's offensive philosophy has been "share the wealth."

Friday night against St. Joseph, Jimmy Chambers garnered the accolades.

The 5-foot 7, 185-pound running back carried the ball eight times for 112 yards in the Eagles' 20-7 nonleague win at Doug Hitchen Stadium.

"It feels great that everyone can get involved in the offense," Chambers said.

Eagle head coach Jon Huss agreed.

"It's kind of the luck of the draw," he said. "You really don't pay too much attention to who's in there, you just call the play and hope it works."

In all, eight Eagles carried the ball for a total of 301 yards on the ground.

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After Arroyo Grande's Marcus Conaway scored to put the Eagles up 20-0, the Knights marched 74 yards to score their touchdown, a 7-yard run by Joshua Mitchell to cut the Eagles lead to 20-7 after Michael Priestman's point-after.

On the ensuing kickoff, an Arroyo Grande player fumbled the ball, and the Knights recovered at the Eagles 32-yard line.

However, a holding call against the Knights forced a second-and-long situation from which St. Joseph never recovered, and a fake punt on fourth-and-15 only gained six yards with 5:54 left in the game.

From there out, the Eagles just had to run the clock out. Huss said the Knights changed their game plan after their 35-6 loss to San Luis Obispo in last week's opener.

"Coach Angie is a very wily coach," Huss said. "He knows what he's doing. They changed their defensive front, that wasn't used to what we were seeing. Their offensive scheme was different than what we anticipated."

The Eagles started off the scoring on their third possession of the game. Chambers broke free for a 54-yard run to the Knights' 6-yard line before Michael Arias took the ball in on an off-tackle run with 8:04 remaining in the frame.

In the second quarter, the Eagles drove 80 yards for their second touchdown when Miles Apodaca punched the ball in from 1-yard out. Chambers blasted 38-yards on a second-and-10 on the Knights' 45 to spark the drive with 25.4 seconds left in the first half.

The Eagles' final score came on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Marcus Conaway scampered 25 yards on a sweep for the touchdown.

Gilbert Buenrostro, playing in place of usual starter Jason Wysong, ran for 76 yards on nine carries for the Eagles. He completed one pass for nine yards as well.

"I think he's a very talented athlete," Huss said. "I think he really showed a lot of poise in learning a limited running game in just a week's time. He has a strong arm and his passes were right there. He's also strong and runs the ball real well."

For the Knights, Nicholas San Juan led the team with 55 yards on 13 carries, while Tim Savey had 32 yards on 10 carries. Mitchell finished with 30 yards on six carries and a touchdown.

Quarterback Matt Crist passed for 99 yards on a 12-for-17 outing, with Brandon Merlo catching four passes for 52 yards.

September 21, 2002