Aragon airing it out

Last week during a 41-13 win over Oak Grove, the two passers combined for 290 yards and four more touchdowns.

Crazy development since the Dons were known for years as a power running team under former longtime head coach Steve Sell. But when he stepped down at the end of the 2023 season, Sell turned to his former player and longtime assistant coach, Ash Parham, to take over the program.

And Parham quickly went about revamping the Dons’ offensive identity. First, Parham poached Chris Zografos from El Camino to serve as his offensive coordinator.

That, in and of itself, was an interesting decision. Zografos is a 2011 San Mateo graduate where he was the starting quarterback his senior season. And while the Bearcats are now known as a triple-option running team, back then, head coach Jeff Scheller was running more of a pro-set offense.

When Parham found out that Zografos was working on campus but coaching at El Camino, he began his recruitment pitch.

“I found out he went to CSM (as did Parham) and I thought, ‘Oh, another Bulldog.’ We bonded over that,” Parham said. “That’s when I tried to get my hooks into to get him coaching (at Aragon).

“We align in what we see, offensively.”

The two went about installing a more pass-friendly offense last season, but when the Dons lost their top running back to injury and then were really hit by the injury bug, the offense seemed unable to function.

While the injuries certainly had impact, so did the nuances of the offense.

“Last year, we ran into some growing pains trying to install the offense. We found it difficult,” Parham said. “This year, we had a better idea of who would be playing where. The guys had another year under their belt. From Day 1, they knew how to line up.

“This year, if we put in on a scale of 10, we started at step 5, which is better than step zero.”

And not even losing their starting quarterback to injury has hampered the Dons through the first two weeks of the season. Johnson was the presumed starter, but an injury late in camp made Martinez the Week 1 starter, but it was Johnson who came off the bench to guide the Dons to the game-winning score in the win over Pioneer.

Johnson got the start against Oak Grove and was on fire to start the game. He completed 10 of 15 passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns — in the first quarter alone.

But on the second of Nick Mazzola’s three touchdowns, a 36-yard sprint off a screen pass, Johnson re-aggravated a leg injury, knocking him from the game.

No problem. Martinez, who threw for 214 yards in the win over Pioneer, relieved Johnson and guided the Dons to three more touchdowns, finishing the game with 157 passing yards of his own.

But Parham, who played center during his playing days, in his heart, wants to run the ball and he expects to do so more as the season progresses. But against Oak Grove, it was the short passing game, one that featured a number of screens and underneath passes, that did the bulk of the damage as the Dons managed just 45 yards on the ground — a number that was impacted by a two big losses that resulted in minus-29 yards.

Regardless, it was less than 100 yards rushing, which would have seemed inconceivable only two seasons ago.

“Against Oak Grove, it was hard to run. They blitzed a lot,” Parham said. “We definitely want to get our run game going. (Zografos and I are) both run-first guys, but we saw some things (against Oak Grove) that we could take advantage of.”

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.