The Arroyo Grande High School football team entered its home contest against San Marcos on Friday with a new starting quarterback and three new starters on the defensive line.

Because of this, the Eagles' coaching staff knew that the team's running backs and offensive linemen would need to turn in one of their most dominating performances of the season in order to sustain drives, take pressure off the new signal-caller and keep the new-look Eagles defense off the field for as long as possible.

Suffice it to say, Arroyo Grande's rushing attack responded to the coaches' challenge.

In their 55-15 victory over the overmatched Royals, the Eagles ran for a season-high 500 yards.

”That was our best game (running the ball) all year,“ said fullback Tyler DeRose. ”Everybody just stepped it up and did an awesome job.“

The Eagles' rushing attack was extremely potent for two reasons.

First of all, the Eagles, quite simply, have a lot of talented runners. They started the game running sweeps with zipback James Valez, who totaled all of his 153 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. The threat of the sweep softened the middle of San Marcos' defense, which opened gaping holes for fullback Tyler DeRose to run through. DeRose took advantage by rushing for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

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In the second half, the Eagles were happy to give the ball to Stacey Cannon, who is - for right now, anyway - the best backup running back in the PAC-5. Cannon, who possesses a combination of speed and power and is equally adept at running the ball inside or outside, ran for 74 yards on nine carries, including a second-half score.

And oh yeah - Matt Lynch, the Eagles' quarterback Friday while regular starter Blas Uzueta was serving a one-game suspension, used the skills he has developed as a running back, his normal position, to rack up 72 yards on nine carries.

The other factor involved in Arroyo Grande's running game is its ever-improving offensive line, which also had an adjustment to make. With senior center Gabe Carreras out at least two weeks with a knee injury, Derek Ng made his first start of the year on a line that opened holes all night.

The Eagles scored on every one of their offensive possessions except two - they missed a field goal at the end of the first half and fumbled the ball away at the Royals' 2-yard line late in the fourth quarter. Otherwise, the score would have been uglier than it was.

”The offensive line came prepared to carry an extra load,“ said Eagles head coach Jon Huss. ”They knew that the defense had some new players at new positions, and the offensive line was able to control the ball and keep the defense off the field.“

With a backup quarterback, it was a good bet that Arroyo Grande would keep its offense fairly conservative, and in fact the coaching staff didn't have to remove many plays from the playbook, if any, to accommodate Lynch. The junior took strong command of the huddle, remained poised and showed that he's actually got a pretty decent arm. He completed all three passes he threw for 89 yards, a figure which represents the Eagles' single-game passing high this season.

”I knew I had the support of my offensive line, which made it easier, and the coaches were really motivating me,“ Lynch said. ”I wasn't really nervous. I knew I had a good team around me. I was ready to accept the challenge.“

Lynch, however, was quick to quell any thoughts of a quarterback controversy.

”I miss playing running back,“ he said. ”It's my favorite position. But we'll see what happens.“

Finding faults in Arroyo Grande's performance would be nit-picking, but its defense did allow San Marcos quarterback Cameron Ely to pass for 276 yards and wideout Joe Gutierrez to haul in 16 catches for 185 yards and two scores.

”I was proud of the defense,“ Huss said. ”They were able to recognize formations because they put in the time to study, and they do what their defensive coaches teach them to do.“

Oct. 8, 2005