HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS : Harvard Unable to Hold Line : Southern Section: Atascadero dominates Wolverines up front on the way to Division IX final, 34-6.

The most effective offense is one in which it doesn’t matter who is in it.

For example, Atascadero High’s.

The Greyhounds, playing without their 1,800-yard rusher, rolled up 284 yards on the ground on the way to a 34-6 victory over Harvard-Westlake in the Southern Section Division IX semifinals Friday night at Valley College.

Atascadero, defending Division IX champion, played without Ryan McGaughey, who was hospitalized this week with meningitis. McGaughey gained 1,871 yards and scored 23 touchdowns this season.

His replacement, junior Alan Bell, gained 179 yards to lead the Greyhounds (9-4). It probably wouldn’t have mattered who was carrying the ball because the Atascadero offensive line was opening huge holes and the Greyhounds’ misdirection plays were creating confusion.

“We just got manhandled up front,” said Harvard linebacker-quarterback Derek Lemkin. “It’s humiliating. We’ve never been beaten that bad, where we just couldn’t stop a team.”

After holding Atascadero to one first-half touchdown, Harvard (10-2-1) could not stop the Greyhounds in the second half.

Atascadero scored on drives of 73, 50, 66 and 20 yards in the second half. Its only possession that did not end with a score in the second half was one that was stopped when time ran out.

“Every play they just punched us up front,” Lemkin said.

Harvard displayed a solid passing attack, with Lemkin completing 16 of 36 for 261 yards and a touchdown. Kevin Goldfein caught seven passes for 83 yards and Kadar Lewis caught four for 83 yards.

But because of the Greyhounds’ advantage on the line of scrimmage, Harvard could not generate a running game.

Harvard gained 197 yards in the first half and only 90 in the second. Harvard gained a total of 26 yards rushing.

“The key to the game was we had a great deal of trouble running the ball,” Harvard Coach Dave Bennett said. “They won the war of the trenches both ways.”

Atascadero will face the winner of tonight’s game between Santa Ynez and Nordhoff in the championship game next week.

It might have been a different game Friday had Harvard been able to convert the opportunities it had in the first half.

The Wolverines moved the ball inside Atascadero territory on every first-half drive. But two possessions ended with interceptions by Atascadero’s Sandy Layne.

Harvard’s best scoring opportunity came when it drove to the Greyhound 13, but a sack pushed the Wolverines back to the 21 and that drive ended when a 37-yard field-goal attempt missed.

Atascadero’s lone first half score--a four-yard run by Bell--came at the end of an 80-yard drive on which Harvard could not stop the Greyhounds’ misdirection plays.