Many a defensive coordinator has written a specific goal on the locker room chalkboard before kickoff.

“Keep (whichever team) under 100 yards rushing.”

If Pioneer Valley's first two opposing defenses had that as their goal, PVHS junior Dan Ando messed it up. By plenty.

Ando ran through Righetti's defense for 180 yards and through Ojai Nordhoff's for 220 - and four touchdowns. Pioneer Valley is 2-0 heading into its non-league game at Arroyo Grande tonight. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

“I want to be the first back at Pioneer Valley to rush for 1,000 yards,” The 5-foot-8-inch, 165-pound Ando said at the team's practice Thursday. He's well on his way there, and the Panthers' season is only two games old.

Ando did add, “It really doesn't matter,” whether or not he breaks the thousand-yard mark this year, “As long as we accomplish our goals.”

Which are, “To win the league championship and get past the second round of the playoffs,” said Ando. St. Joseph won the Los Padres League championship in 2006. Morro Bay won it last year.

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The Panthers were LPL playoff representatives both times. They lost in the second round in 2006 and in the first round last year.

This year, “We're smaller than we were last year, but we're a lot faster,” said Ando.

Ando rallied the troops at halftime of the Nordhoff game. The Panthers trailed then.

“I just told my linemen, ‘You're blocking great, just keep playing hard. Good things happen when you play hard,'” Ando said. Good things happened for the Panthers in the second half. They rallied to win on the road.

Pioneer Valley hasn't had many backs. The football program - and school - is in its fifth year.

That doesn't take any luster off of what Ando has done.

Pioneer Valley coach Greg Dickinson said, “I thought we had the Righetti game in hand last year, but I felt that we didn't have that lone back who could explode out of that one-back set.”

Enter Ando.

Righetti won that 2007 season opener for both teams. Then Pioneer Valley's coaching staff brought Ando up to the varsity for the rest of the year.

“He's the type of back you're looking for back there,” said Dickinson. “He's quick enough to be able to hit the hole. He also catches the ball well enough to be coming out of the backfield (as a receiver).

“He's definitely a slasher. When he hits a hole, he's not trying to run over, or avoid, a tackler once he gets past that first line. He's real good at making that first 10-yard spurt, then stopping on a dime and changing directions.”

Ando was good enough his sophomore season to earn All-PAC-7 League Second Team honors.

Dickinson and Ando both said the latter ran for about 700 yards last year. “He got his fair share of carries, but we had two seniors who did play a lot at tailback also, Phillip Garcia and Eric Silva,” said the coach. “Dan split a little bit of time with them.”

Ando's not splitting time with anyone at tailback this year. He's the man back there. He says he hasn't racked up all that yardage by himself, though.

“My line opens the holes,” Ando said. “I run through the holes.”

He's run through them quite quickly and, Dickinson said, Ando's not afraid of tough ball-carrying assignments.

“Sometimes you have a fast back, and when it comes to running between the tackles they're afraid to do it,” said Dickinson. “That's not Dan's case. He's kind of a Ryan Mole in that he finds a crease and hits it.”

Mole was a star running back for Dickinson when both were at Righetti. Mole plays for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo now after spending a season at Sacramento State.

Dickinson said that though Ando has some of the things Mole has, “Dan's kind of unique in his own way,” with his dynamic running talents.

Ando said he didn't do anything special during the summer to prepare for what has been a big early junior season. There were elaborate football camps for him. In fact, there were no camps.

“I just stayed home and lifted weights,” he said.

Ando said he DID do something beneficial in the spring of his sophomore year. He ran track. He was a sprinter and relay man for the Panthers.

“I think running track really helped me,” said Ando.

“He has great 40-yard speed, great 20 speed,” said Dickinson. “Early in the year, he was maybe sixth in the 100. In the league track and field finals, he came up and took second.

“He's run away from a couple of people once he's gotten the corner. A lot of his runs have been long runs. That's a credit to him having great vision and being able to bounce outside, turn on the jets.”

Dickinson said, “He's already had two big rushing games. He's off to a great start.”

Sept. 19, 2008