State champs! Atascadero dominates San Gabriel in the mud to win title, 41-0

The Atascadero Greyhounds finished off their remarkable season with a punishing, joyful victory in the mud and rain Saturday night, adding one last title to their 2022 resume: state champions.

The CIF Central Section and Ocean League champs thoroughly dominated the visiting San Gabriel Matadors 41-0, winning the school’s first-ever state championship behind the power running of the Cooks brothers, who together scored five of Atascadero’s six touchdowns, including four for Trey Cooks and one for Kane Cooks.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Head Coach Vic Cooper said of the state title. “This group of kids has made it so enjoyable. We’re gonna go down in history because there’s nothing else you can do besides this. They’ve reached the pinnacle, and hopefully there’s teams down the line that match it, but there aren’t gonna be any teams with us that beat it. So it’s incredible feeling. I’m super proud of the boys and we’re gonna go enjoy this for a while now.”

The win was Atascadero’s third shutout of the postseason, and second in a row. The Greyhound defense did not give up a single point in its two state tournament victories.

The weather was a factor throughout the game, although the rain eased up for much of the first half. But when halftime arrived, the skies opened up again, drenching an already sloppy field.

“We usually benefit from the weather,” Cooper said. “We’re a bunch of mudders. Our game translates to the rain. And we we definitely had a little better than they did for sure. You know, when you get teams that are playing on turf all the time, playing on grass just by itself is rough. But you put these conditions out here, you know it was it was real tough for them.”

Atascadero proved that again and again.

Throughout the night, San Gabriel had no answer for Atascadero’s formidable running attack. The Greyhound offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, repeatedly opening running lanes for Trey Cooks.

Once Cooks broke into the clear, the defense was no match for the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder.

“They had a smaller running back. And it was easier to make tackles on the outside, whereas I could just run through the the corners and stuff,” he said. “That made it a lot easier for us and and our linemen did an incredible job of walking and making the hole and opening the gaps.”

Cooks said the soggy conditions definitely benefited the Greyhounds.

“We had practiced in it a couple of weeks ago when it wasn’t quite this bad and like we didn’t have giant puddles up on the practice field. They would all soak in,” Cooks said. “But it was good for me because we got to run the ball every play. But it just sucked, you know, falling in mud and being completely soaked the entire game.”

Meanwhile, the Matadors struggled to put together any kind of offense of their own in the difficult conditions.

Running back Robert Lucero, at 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, struggled against Atascadero’s defense.

Neither team tried to throw the ball.

The Matadors also had difficulty holding onto the football, turning the ball over four times to Atascadero’s one.

Atascadero scores 6 touchdowns in win

Atascadero got on the scoreboard early and often, roaring out to a quick lead and then piling on.

After Trey Cooks broke free on a 43-yard touchdown run to open the scoring, Kane Cooks followed with a 67-yard scramble into the end zone, to put the Hounds up 14-0 with 6 minutes to go in the first quarter.

Two more Trey Cooks touchdowns and a fumble recovery by Diego Real, who returned the pickup for a score as well, put Atascadero up 34-0 at the half.

In the third quarter, Trey Cooks rumbled for another 23-yard score, his fourth of the game, to put the Hounds up 41-0.

The win was Atascadero’s 11th in its last 12 games, after the team started the year 0-3.

The Greyhounds ran the table in the playoffs, to finish the season 11-4.

“It’s awesome,” Trey Cooks said of the state championship. “You know, our coaches always said we’re the worst — not worst, but like the most undisciplined team. I mean, like, we screw around a lot. So you know, it’s been pretty cool, us being able to be friends and play around in practice and still being able to do this. There’s something different about our team. It wasn’t like any team before, they said.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 8:04 PM with the headline "State champs! Atascadero dominates San Gabriel in the mud to win title, 41-0."