Righetti Warriors deliver goose egg

With a 7-0 win last night, the Righetti High School football has done something no one else has done in recent memory. Shut out high-powered Arroyo Grande.

"Defensively, wow," coach Greg Dickinson said. "My hats of to the coaches: Coach John Ruiz, coach Joe McGill, coach Jerry Watson and coach Chuck Montero. They did an awesome job getting our plan ready.

"Anytime you can shut out a team like Arroyo Grande, on their home field, at their homecoming, it's remarkable."

Ryan Mole was remarkable for the Warriors as well. Mole finished with 111 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown, and caught five passes for 93 yards as well.

"It feels great," he said. "We came out ready to play and we knew we could do it."

The win improves the Warriors to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the PAC-5.

Mole's touchdown came with 5:55 remaining in the second quarter when he ran the ball in from seven yards out. Lafe Viker's extra point put the Warriors up 7-0.

Mole's touchdown was his 14th of the season, tying the Righetti record for touchdowns in a single year.

From there out, Righetti's defense kept the Eagles from gaining any momentum, yet alone yardage.

"I'm totally impressed with the defensive performance," Dickinson said. "Offensively, we didn't do so bad. We moved the football and we had opportunities to score, but we only came away with seven (points). But seven was enough tonight."

The Eagles finished with just one first down in the first half, but came out strong in the second.

After driving 33 yards, the Eagles were forced to punt on a fourth-and-11 situation.

Righetti managed to put together a solid drive, but it was halted when the Warriors fumbled to ball on the Arroyo Grande 10-yard line.

But the Warriors held fast, ad forced the Eagles to punt four plays later.

Arroyo Grande's best chance came in the third quarter when Michael Arias returned a put 52 yards to inside the Warriors; 30-yard line, but three penalties -- a holding, a personal foul and an unsportsman-like conduct -- knocked the Eagles back to their own 15-yard line at the end of the third quarter.

"We put the game in the hands of the defense," Dickinson said.

Arroyo Grande had another chance to get back into the game late in the fourth quarter, starting from their own 4-yard line.

The Eagles marched all the way to the Warriors' 35, but were stopped on fourth down when a pass from Gilbert Buenrostro to Jason Wysong netted just three yards.

The Eagles forced the Warriors to punt four plays later, but Buenrostro's pass was intercepted by Ryan Gonzalez with 1:15 remaining and the Warriors ran the clock out.

Righetti quarterback Josh Thomas finished 7-for-18 for 105 yards. Dickinson said the offensive line played a huge part in the Warriors' win.

"My hats off to the offensive line," he said. "That's a hell of a defense we faced tonight. They were stingy all year."

Dickinson added Mole's performance in the first half helped as well.

"Ryan's been our all-purpose back, and he was the guy we were going to go to down the stretch," he said. "He made some big plays in the first half."

With the win, Righetti remains undefeated this year and Dickinson said each week the team is improving.

"It's new ground, it's new territory every time we step on the field," he said. "We've never been this deep. With the preseason schedule we had, and the regular season at 7-0 and 2-0 in league, we're still not happy yet. We haven't accomplished yet what we set out to do.

"We still have played a perfect game, but we're getting better each week and that's all that counts."

Next week, the Warriors have another tough test when they face Paso Robles in a PAC-5 contest. Arroyo Grande will have a bye.

October 26, 2002