Prep football: Arroyo Grande offensive line in playoff spotlight after QB injury

As the Arroyo Grande High School football team prepared Thursday for its biggest game of the season, the Eagles’ biggest star was a spectator.

Arroyo Grande senior quarterback Sawyer May, who injured his ankle during a dramatic first-round Division 2 CIF-Southern Section playoff win over Westlake last week, was on crutches and wearing street clothes — his right ankle heavily taped. Arroyo Grande head coach Tom Goossen said May will be a game-time decision in the Eagles’ second-round game against Valencia on Friday.

If May can’t go, the loss is devastating.

May has proved himself to be a dangerous dual-threat quarterback this season, passing for 12 touchdowns and rushing for 13 more. He’s the team’s second leading rusher and leader.

His backup will likely be junior Zach Bullard, who has been the Eagles’ second best receiver this season and has attempted just 12 passes in his high school career. With everything stacked against them, Arroyo Grande will have to find a way to keep up with a potent Valencia offense.

Enter the offensive line.

“It was supposed to be a weakness of ours this year,” Goossen said. “We had graduated four outstanding offensive linemen last year, and we only had one returner in Josh Domako.”

But Domako, Andrew Hagler, Caleb White, Zach Burkard, Josh White and a few other contributors have exceeded expectations. The crew has cleared the way for sophomore James Gilmet’s breakout season and have the Eagles averaging a shade less than 270 yards per game and on a 10-game winning streak.

“They have really taken our run game to the next level,” Goossen said.

But Arroyo Grande and the Eagles offensive line will be tested like never before Friday. With May out or less than healthy, Valencia will likely load up the box with defenders and dare Arroyo Grande to beat them though the air. Arroyo Grande can’t afford to abandon the best part of its offense and will still look to run the ball into the teeth of a defense that has given up 19 points per game this season.

Domako is up for the challenge.

“I want to come out strong as a team and just hit them hard enough to where our morale is boosted way above theirs, and we can just carry that throughout the entire game,” Domako. “I think it’s going to be a battle of will.”

That won’t be anything new for Arroyo Grande.

“Every game I feel like it’s important to get our run game going because I feel like that’s one of our strengths, but I’m confident in Zach (Bullard) if he has to come in,” said White, who provides the size for the Eagles’ line at 6-foot-3 and 307 pounds.

Arroyo Grande will look for another monster game from Gilmet,who rushed for 225 yards and a touchdown against Westlake. And the Eagles might need to get creative to involve the rest of its capable ball carriers that includes Tyler Rocha, Matt Sill and Noah Thinger — especially with an inexperienced passer

“It’s a known fact that in football you really do begin and end in the trenches,” Goossen said.

May echoed that sentiment after last week’s win saying, “Every game we win is because of our offensive line.”

The offensive line will again need to exceed expectations to make sure Arroyo Grande’s season doesn’t end Friday in Santa Clarita.

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Prep football: Arroyo Grande offensive line in playoff spotlight after QB injury."