Templeton football tops Arroyo Grande for first time ever: ‘It feels amazing’
For the first time in the many decades of the two schools playing varsity football, Templeton High has beaten cross-county opponent Arroyo Grande in football.
The smaller school went big Friday night by running away with the game in a 49-12 blowout that featured 372 rushing yards, including touchdown dashes of 76 and 92 yards, from standout senior quarterback Tyler Kaschewski.
Kaschewski, who credited the gaping openings created by offensive line blocking, had five rushing touchdowns in the game, also a 34-yard score.
“It feels amazing (to beat Arroyo Grande),” Kaschewski said. “I saw holes, hole, holes.”
Once in the open field, Kaschewski beat opponents in foot races, which he credited to daily team sprints to build up speed.
Templeton running back Josh Berna tacked on two more rushing scores of 15 and 2 yards in the contest, as the offensive line for the North County Eagles team overwhelmed the South County Eagles for much of the night.
Templeton (3-0) dominated the front on both ends of the football, led by offensive lineman and defensive tackle Chase Richards, a 6-foot-2, 285-pounder, who also recovered a fumble by Arroyo Grande (1-2) in the fourth quarter.
“It feels great,” Richards said. “All the work we’ve done since COVID and our coaches preparing us for the season. We didn’t even know if we were going to have a season. We still woke up every morning and lifted weights and we were fortunate to have a great coaching staff.”
Players said they were losing motivation about whether they’d play this season or not as the pandemic restrictions dragged on, but kept up daily workouts to reap the rewards of the win.
“We still woke up every morning at 6 a.m. and lifted weights,” Richards said. “We kept positive motivation...It’s great (to beat Arroyo Grande) and by this much. We had such a good game plan.”
Kaschewski’s father, Justin “Buss” Kaschewski, was screaming from the fan area on the sidelines during the game to cheer on the team, saying how happy he was to see the players perform at the level they did.
“I coached all these kids in pee wee football,” Justin Kaschewski said. “Now, I’m loving being a dad and a fan. They’re worked so hard for this, even when they could barely throw a football together (because of all of the COVID protocols).”
Kaschewski said his son and his teammates have benefited from the strong football culture built by Templeton High coach Don Crow.
Arroyo Grande, Templeton coaches react to win
Crow said that “It’s great to see our kids play so well.”
“They really took to heart the challenge,” he said. “They accepted it. They worked so hard. They bought into what they were selling and would come and 6:30 in the morning in 26 degree weather to do body weight work because we couldn’t get in the weight room.”
Crow acknowledged that Arroyo Grande High didn’t have all of the players it normally would. That was due to some the Arroyo Grande players opting out to play other sports amid pandemic-related scheduling conflicts this spring, adding “it isn’t the true mark of an AG team.”
“Coach (Mike) Hartman does an awesome job down there,” Crow said. “It’s a good win for us.”
In a game that saw 20% capacity fans, cheers could be heard on both ends of the field, including an eruption of applause when Arroyo Grande High’s Makai Puga broke away for a 60-yard touchdown score, one of the junior running back’s two TDs on the night.
“They’re a very good football team,” Arroyo Grande High coach Mike Hartman said. “They’re senior heavy and that experience was the difference tonight.”
Hartman said his team will have to come back strong and face the adversity.
“Life is not all sunshine and rainbows,” he said. “Life is about how you handle adversity. It’s one of the beautiful things about this game. We use it to try to teach these young men about life. There’s going to be times when life kicks you in the teeth like tonight. And it’s not that you get kicked in the teeth. It’s what you do afterwards.”
Hartman added: “The challenge for our boys is to prepare with a great week of practice and get ready to play Paso (Robles) this week.”
Templeton faces an undefeated St. Joseph team next week in Santa Maria in what figures to be a critical game in deciding the Mountain League championship.
Other SLO County football scores
Here are scores from other football games around San Luis Obispo County.
St. Joseph 41, San Luis Obispo 6
Santa Maria 35, Atascadero 0
Pioneer Valley 13, Mission Prep 6
Nipomo 42, Morro Bay 8
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 11:31 PM.
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