Eagles hand Warriors first defeat

In a battle between the Central Coast's stiffest defense and the area's most high-powered offense, Arroyo Grande upended Righetti 23-14 Friday at Warrior Stadium.

The Eagles came into the PAC-5 contest allowing just 9.3 pointer per game, while Righetti entered the game scoring an average of 44.6 points per game.

But after the battle, Arroyo Grande improved to 2-0 in league play, while Righetti falls to 1-1.

After both teams fought to a 7-7 tie in the first half, Arroyo Grande opened the second half with a nine-play, 79-yard scoring drive.

Michael Arias scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 8:47 left in the third quarter to put the Eagles up 14-7 after a Sal Gutierrez extra point.

The Warriors' next possession stalled at the Eagles' 45-yard line, and a Righetti punt pinned Arroyo Grande at their own 16 yard line. Two plays later, Arroyo Grande quarterback Kyle Pollock hit Tommy Pace for an 83-yard touchdown strike to pad Arroyo Grande's lead to 20-7.

Righetti answered with an eight-play, 76-yard drive that culminated with a 2-yard run by Mark Malangko. Marcus Garietz converted the point-after to cut the Eagles' lead to 20-14 with 2:05 left in the third quarter.

A pass from Jonathan Dally to Malangko on second-and-3 moved the Warriors from the Eagles' 45 to the 7 to set up the score.

The Eagles' defense came up huge for the remainder of the game, allowing just one first down on Righetti's next four possessions.

"The kids are a physical bunch," said Arroyo Grande head coach Jon Huss about his team's defense. "They're not particularly big but they're in shape and they can play football really well."

Huss added the Eagles needed to stay on their toes with Righetti's varied offensive attack.

"(Righetti) have a very excellent offensive package," he said. "They had a wide selection of plays and we just had to get into a defensive rhythm."

Righetti had a good chance to string a drive together when Nathan Beebe pounced on an Arroyo Grande fumble with 1:20 left in the third quarter.

The Warriors marched to the Eagles' 11-yard line, but the drive ended when Malangko was stopped on a fourth-and-one play with 11:23 left in the game.

Righetti opened the scoring when Dally ran the ball in from 1-yard out with 1:42 left in the first quarter.

The score was set up by a 66-yard pass from Dally to Steven Smith on the first play of the drive.

Arroyo Grande came back with a touchdown on a 25-yard fade pass from Pollock to Andy Northness with 1:21 left in the second quarter to even the game.

Northness and Pollock hooked up for 82 yards on four catches in the game.

Hirsch led the Eagles with 118 yards on 18 carries, while Arias had 96 yards on 16 carries.

Hirsch said he was happy to get the ball as many times as he did in the game.

"I just wait for the coach's call and got the call tonight," he said. "We just wanted to pound the ball at them all night and show them we can run and move the ball."

Huss said he knew the Eagles would have to put points on the board to get past the Warriors.

"We've been trying to progress," he said of the team's offense. "We have a young team so we didn't want to put too much pressure on them early. We had to score against these guys. No risk, no reward."

For Righetti, Malangko rushed for 65 yards on 13 carries while Dally had 26 yards on seven carries. Chad Stephens chipped in with 12 yards on four carries and Luke Deras had eight yards on four carries.

Pollock finished the night with 194 passing yards on a 9-for-12 outing. Pace caught one pass for 83 yards, and Arias caught two passes for 19 yards.

Dally went 8-for-16 for 172 yards, with Smith catching one pass for 83 yards, Malangko catching two passes for 44 yards, Matt Marshall hauling in two catches for 22 yards, Deras catching one pass for 14 yards and Chad Stephens catching one pass for nine yards.

October 25, 2003