After finishing 5-7 last season, the Arroyo Grande Eagles are on quite the hot streak and it's all thanks to their senior leadership.
The Eagles went 1-4 through the first five games last season, but have flipped the script and are currently 4-1 after upsetting rivals San Luis Obispo and most notably the Mountain League Champs for the past five years, St. Joseph.
The Arroyo Grande High School football coaching staff took advantage of a senior-heavy roster and gave them the opportunity to lead the way.
"We tried to be more of a player-led off season as opposed to a coach-led off season because it means more," head coach Michael Hartman. "It means more when it's coming from your peers and when it comes from the adult who's in charge of you."
The upperclassmen are in charge of keeping players in line, accountable, and on time.
"These are the expected behaviors of an Arroyo Grande football player," Coach Hartman said. "And they've done a great job of taking those expectations and embracing them and then teaching those things to the younger the younger kids."
Coach Hartman has been coaching on the Central Coast for 24 seasons, and is currently in the middle of his 6th season as the head football coach at Arroyo Grande. He and the coaching staff integrated what they expect from players where the message was spread from the upperclassmen to the underclassmen and the leaders rose to the challenge.
Arroyo Grande is coming off of a 28-10 win against five-time Mountain League Division Champs, St. Joseph, who finished 7-0 in league play last season
"St. Joseph is a very good football team and in order to beat good football teams, you can't turn the ball over," Hartman added. "And so we were we were on the positive side of the turnover margin Friday night and it's a big reason why we were able to win the game."
Senior quarterback Drake Missamore has spread the ball to seven different receivers this year and it's helped contribute to a 31-point-per-game average.
"We all have a good connection," Missamore said. "Our coaches make sure to get the ball to the play maker and we have all play makers on the field. Our team is not one person, it's everyone."
The Eagles head to Nipomo to face a 2-3 Titan team, but are careful not to get too high on their recent upsets. This Sunday is dedicated to watching film on their league foes.
"They're a good team," the senior quarterback complimented. "They have great coaches, they got great players and we just have to come in and execute what we need to execute and, you know, not make many mistakes."
