Prep football: Noah Gibbons front and center on Nipomo’s powerful offensive line

Noah Gibbons’ knee problems began his freshman year at Nipomo High School. What started as a relatively minor hyperextended right knee injury soon became something worse.

“It kept getting dislocated every summer,” Gibbons said at Titans practice Wednesday. “I don’t even know how. Surgery was the only option.”

So Gibbons went under the knife in April for a complicated procedure — with a long name he said he couldn’t remember. Basically, Gibbons said, his doctor found no cartilage between the bones in his knee and drilled five holes under his knee cap to create scar tissue so the bones wouldn’t rub together. Then the doctor added an extra ligament.

“I had to keep it straight for a month,” Gibbons said. “That wasn’t fun. Rehab a few more months after that.”

He finally made his season debut as a senior in a limited role as a blocking tight end and fullback against Lompoc back in early September. The team struggled at first to win games early in the season and fell to 2-3. It wasn’t until Gibbons was inserted at center on the offensive line in a loss against Arroyo Grande that he found his niche.

For Nipomo, the change was just what the doctor ordered.

“We were trying to get Noah at the point of attack. That was the idea — get him going where the ball is going,” Nipomo head coach Tony Dodge said of the original plan. “But he is just much better with his hand down.”

At 6-foot-2 and 285 pounds, Gibbons showed his power and quickness at center against Arroyo Grande, pancaking one Eagle after another. It was on full display during Nipomo’s blowout win against Mission Prep where he was matched up against the Royals’ Division I prospect Robert Crandall.

The win over Mission Prep put the Titans in the driver’s seat for a Northern League title.

“It was a battle,” Gibbons said of going up against Crandall. “I used up a lot of energy, and the next day I was so sore. I didn’t even want to get out of bed.”

Most of that energy was used to help the Titans gain more than 400 yards rushing.

“If you don’t have a good center, you are not going to have a good O-line,” Nipomo senior offensive lineman Matthew O’Henley said. “It all starts with the snap of the ball, and (Gibbons) has just been amazing for us. A big ol’ guy like that can move anyone out of the way.”

Gibbons and O’Henley — along with Ben Bruce, Trevor Thompson, Joseph Morales and Angel Marquez — make up an exclusively senior-laden offensive line that has started to hit its stride. Backed up with a trio of talented running backs in Michael Jordan, Isaac Bausley and J.J. Ramirez and a defense that shut down Mission Prep’s high-powered offense, its a team built for a late-season run.

“It’s a big advantage for us,” Dodge said. “Their experience (of the offensive line) finally showed through last week. We are going to need them the last two weeks as well to finish this thing off.”

Gibbons, who has also played the last two games on defense after begging the coaches to put him in, had a breakout game at defensive tackle against Mission Prep with two sacks.

Dodge expects Gibbons to be a handful again on both sides of the ball when Nipomo (4-4, 2-0 Northern) plays host to Morro Bay (4-4, 0-2 Northern) on Friday.

“I feel like if we can just stay focused and on the same track as we were going into that Mission Prep game, league is ours,” Gibbons said. “No doubt about it.”

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Prep football: Noah Gibbons front and center on Nipomo’s powerful offensive line."