Pinned back on the 2-yard line and clinging to a 7-0 lead over Dearborn Divine Child late in the fourth quarter of the Catholic League Prep Bowl, >Father Gabriel Richard High School football coach Brian Lemons put his faith in quarterback Don Eaton.

Eaton, the AnnArbor.com Player of the Year, accounted for 75 rushing yards on the ensuing 11-play, 98-yard drive - as Richard ate up what was left of the clock and clinched its second consecutive Prep Bowl title.

Lemons called Eaton’s number on nine of those 11 plays.

He trusted Eaton’s ability. Trusted his leadership. Trusted him. How could he not? Without Eaton, Lemons says, he wouldn’t even be the coach at Gabriel Richard.

Rewind two years ago. Way before Eaton’s just-completed senior season, when he passed for 1,629 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for 799 yards and another 11 scores. Before the 10-2 record. And, certainly, way before Lemons would call Eaton’s number on 9 of 11 plays.

Before Lemons had called nine plays at all.

During Eaton’s sophomore year, Lemons was named interim head coach after Ed Maloney stepped down days before the start of the season. Lemons had zero head coaching experience and by the fourth game of the season his star quarterback, Josh Herbeck, was sidelined with a foot injury.

The season, and ultimately Lemon’s plan to secure the permanent coaching job, included starting a sophomore quarterback in a wrist-to-elbow cast on his non-throwing arm.

“We were 2-2, Herbeck broke his foot and we had Saginaw Nouvel, defending state champs, next,” Lemons recalls. “And I’m trotting out this snot-nosed kid to play quarterback who had a cast up to his elbow days before.

“We literally had to get that thing sawed off.”

Eaton started three games wearing a removable, flexible cast. Gabriel Richard went 2-1 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Without Eaton’s resiliency through those three games, Lemons doesn’t see himself as head coach today.

“That whole season could have gone down the drain,” Lemons says. “I was on a nine-week tryout, and who wants to hire a guy who’s 2-7?”

Fast forward back to 2010 and the best season in Gabriel Richard history. After leading the Irish in rushing as a tailback as a junior, Eaton again took the opportunity to lead the team as the starting quarterback.

“This season was different than any I’ve ever had. Before this season, I liked playing QB, but I didn’t love it,” Eaton says. “But now, after playing, having it in your hands … it’s hard to explain.

“If you’re a QB, you understand. You get to the line and it’s like you’re a coach on the field.”

Reading the defense, adjusting on the fly and rallying his teammates. It all became second nature to Eaton through the course of the season.

“He’s a true dual threat. He can beat you with his arm or his legs,” Lemons says. “But the best thing about Donnie is the respect he has of his teammates.

“His athletic ability and leadership on campus go a long way.”

As versatile as Eaton has been over the years and as well as he’s played, he’s strapped on the pads for the last time. When he was offered a baseball scholarship at the University of Michigan, his college decision was no decision at all.

As if it ever was a choice for Don Canham Eaton, named after his grandfather and legendary Michigan athletic director.

“He always said ‘You want to go to Michigan,’” Eaton recalls of his grandfather. “He’d talk about how it was such a great opportunity.”

And Eaton has a pretty good track record of making the most of his opportunities.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com.