Matt Lynch was playing in pain Friday night. Of this, there can be no doubt.

With about two minutes left in the first half of the Arroyo Grande High School football team's game at Righetti, Lynch was drilled by a Warriors defender after executing an option pitch to Eagles fullback Tyler DeRose.

After the play, Lynch grimaced in pain and walked off the field holding his left elbow. In the second half, he jammed both of his thumbs taking center snaps at awkward angles to compensate for his injury.

“There were rumors,” said Arroyo Grande head coach Jon Huss, “that he broke his arm.”

Given all that, it was somewhat miraculous to see Lynch not only stay in the game, but throw a perfect pass to DeAngelo Waller for a 17-yard touchdown with 3:37 left to seal the Eagles' come-from-behind 20-12 PAC-5 League victory.

The ironic part was Lynch didn't even start the game at quarterback. Blas Uzueta did, but he shifted to tight end - the position he played last season - in the second half to give starter Dillon Bedford a breather.

Lynch has professed his desire to stay at running back, but at the same time he's going to do what's best for the team, and Friday, the team needed him to spark a moribund offense.

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He did just that, leading the Eagles (6-2, 2-1) to 20 unanswered points.

“I just saw the line in front of me playing their hearts out,” said Lynch, adding that his elbow was only bruised. “I knew they were up to the challenge, so I knew I was going to be up to the challenge.”

The Warriors (4-5, 1-2) took a 12-0 lead on a 26-yard fumble return by Kyle Leon and dominated the game until the play Lynch was injured on. The Eagles faced a third-and-two from their 45-yard line, and after Lynch pitched to DeRose, the burly fullback cut to the left sideline and appeared to be tackled to the ground by a host of Righetti defenders.

However, the referee's whistle never blew, and as the Warriors players stopped their pursuit, assuming DeRose was down, the senior rose to his feet and raced untouched for a 55-yard touchdown run.

Warriors coach Gary Wilson obviously wasn't happy with the call, but was powerless to do anything about it.

“It was close,” said DeRose, who ran for 69 yards. “I didn't think my knee hit the ground, though. I didn't hear the whistle, so I just kept on going.”

That play was clearly a momentum-turner. In the second half, Righetti, which picked apart the Eagles in the first half with short passes, punted the ball four times, was intercepted and turned the ball over on downs.

The Warriors, coming off a 42-28 defeat at Atascadero, didn't have much of a rushing game without star tailback Chad Stephens, who re-aggravated his knee injury last week and is limited to kicking and punting duties. Elswick looked good in spots but also struggled at times, throwing two interceptions. He finished with 114 yards passing.

“Trevor had a tough night,” Wilson said. “We made some plays, but we made some mistakes, and it's tough when you go one step forward, two steps back like we did. We just didn't execute.”

Meanwhile, Arroyo Grande was slowly able to get its running game going. Down 12-7, the Eagles marched 37 yards in eight plays at the end of the third quarter and scored on a James Valez four-yard run with 11:55 left in the game to take a 13-12 advantage.

After Valez intercepted an Elswick pass two possessions later, the Eagles drove downfield again and faced a third-and-nine from the Warriors' 17-yard line. Huss called for Waller to run a simple post pattern, and the tall, lanky wideout, matched against single coverage, out-leaped his defender to come down with the ball in the corner of the end zone.

“It's a play we practice a lot,” Lynch said. “DeAngelo made a nice move and got open in the corner, and I just threw it up there. (When he scored), I was so excited. Words couldn't come out of my mouth. It was just gibberish.”

Arroyo Grande clearly needed a good performance after losing its homecoming game to Paso Robles last week, and is now back in strong contention to win its third straight PAC-5 League title.

“This was the type of football game that you come to expect from this area,” Huss said. “It was a heavyweight fight. Both teams played exceptionally hard.”

Oct. 29, 2005