Mission Prep, Atascadero and Templeton advance in CIF football playoffs
Atascadero, Mission Prep and Templeton all moved on to the semi-finals of the CIF Central Section playoffs Thursday, setting up three home postseason games next week for the San Luis Obispo County teams.
The Greyhounds and Royals easily dispatched their second-round opponents, while the Eagles advanced with a narrow win.
Mission Prep’s win ended the season for Arroyo Grande. Morro Bay also saw its seasons come to a close after the Pirates lost by one point to Dos Palos.
Here’s a roundup of Thursday’s playoff action.
Mission Prep 35, Arroyo Grande 14
Arroyo Grande (5-7) marched down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive, but after that, Mission Prep (8-3) held the Eagles to just seven more points the rest of the way and came out on top 35-14 in the teams CIF Central Section Division 3 matchup.
“The first drive went exactly as we hoped it would and got them out of their defense,” Arroyo Grande Head Coach Mike Hartman said. “They switched to a defense that they had not run all season. ... We just couldn’t quite make enough adjustments.”
Eagles’ quarterback Drake Missamore ran in the first touchdown of the game, but the team didn’t score again until the third quarter on a rushing touchdown from running back Junior Herilhy.
“They had a great first drive. We had a couple of kids make a couple of mistakes ... and we were able to shore all that stuff up,” Mission Prep Head Coach David Schuster said. “I felt like this is one of our best defensive performances of the year.”
The Royals defense forced four turnovers on the day: interceptions late in the first half and late in the fourth quarter to go with two second-half fumble recoveries.
On the offensive side, multiple players got involved for the Royals.
Running back Drew Harrigan scored two touchdowns on the ground, receiver Jamar Howard had two receiving touchdowns, and quarterback Colby White scored on a rushing touchdown.
Harrigan had the first score of the game for the Royals on a 7-yard rush. Then White and Howard connected on a deep ball touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Royals a 14-7 lead they never gave up.
“We’ve known each other since fifth grade, played on basketball teams, played against each other, and I just feel like it really connects us team chemistry-wise,” said Howard about his connection with White.
“He trusts what I say and I trust him.”
The trust was clear when White launched a pass to Howard, who had two defenders on him. Howard high-pointed the ball late in the third quarter for his second touchdown of the day to put the Royals up two scores.
The Eagles almost turned the momentum early in the third quarter.
On the opening kickoff, the Royals fumbled the ball, and the Eagles marched downfield off the recovery. However, the kicker missed the field goal from 20 yards out that would’ve tightened the game at 21-10.
The Eagles forced three fumbles in the first half, but Mission Prep recovered all of them. In the second half, Mission found their groove on offense.
“This continues to be a very special team. They do very special things, and the leadership for this team is amazing,” Schuster said.
“We had an opportunity to just do something kind of crazy and it’s moving that direction. And I’m very pleased with that.”
As Arroyo Grande’s season comes to a closem “growth” is the word Hartman used to describe the year.
“Where we were to where we are now, we’ve made many strides. We just have to continue to make those strides in the offseason and come back ready for next year.”
Mission Prep, the No. 1 seed in the Central Section Division 3 playoffs, will next host Kennedy at home on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
Atascadero 39, Madera South 8
Atascadero used its mix of pass and run to steamroll Madera South at home, fortifying its position as the remaining top seed in the CIF Central Section Division 5 playoffs.
The No. 2 Greyhounds capitalized on three scoring plays in a tight first half to go up 18-8, with a touchdown toss from Kane Cooks to Dallas Parish to start the scoring.
“Kane just read the defense and saw me open,” Parish said. “It was a great opportunity.”
Parish also plays defense as outside linebacker, which he said he enjoys even more than offense, because “I like to hit people and make tackles and be in the action more.”
Parish helped to stop the Stallions (7-5) from advancing on a key fourth-and-short play in the Greyhounds’ territory in the first quarter.
Atascadero (7-4) benefited from a near interception that slipped through the fingers of a Madera South defender only to find the grasp of receiver Brayden Slane, who took it in for a touchdown before the half.
“We were really able to establish our run game early, so a lot of play actions and read options we’re working really well because they were scared of Trey (Cooks) coming out of the backfield,” Kane Cooks said of his brother. “I feel right now that this is the best team I’ve ever played on. We’ve improved a lot from the beginning of the season after those first three losses. ... It has only been up from there.”
Trey Cooks, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound running back whose part of a family legacy of multiple Greyhound Hall of Famers and record holders, was a force to be reckoned with, scoring a rushing touchdown while breaking tackles and dragging multiple defenders on his runs. Kane punched in another rushing score.
“Having a running back like Trey, all the linebackers swarm to him and that definitely helps to open up lanes for me on runs,” Kane Cooks said. “And their defense was slipping more on the muddy field. We’ve been preparing for it being slippery all week.”
In the second half, the Greyhounds blew open the game as the home crowd chanted “Warm up the bus.” The win was cemented by a C.J. Bell pick-6.
“With two teams that like to run the ball a lot, you’re not going to get a lot of possessions, and it came down to that in the first half,” Atascadero Coach Vic Cooper said. “We only had three possessions, but we scored all three times and that was hugely important.”
Cooper said his team knew it had the potential to be good after seasons of 3-8 in 2021 and 0-7 in 2020. They “kept grinding” after a tough start and believed in the process, getting better every week.
Cooper also credited all five of the offensive linemen (Jackson Cooper, Anthony Owens, Anthony Tejada, Celtin Vert and Jaiden Ramirez).
“They’ve really come together,” Cooper said. “When they play well, we play well.”
The Greyhounds next face Dos Palos at home, after the Broncos beat Morro Bay 28-27 in a nail-biter.
Pioneer Valley, which also beat Atascadero earlier this season 21-20, upset No. 1 Bishop Union in Division 5 by a score of 9-7, and the Panthers next face Templeton, which won 21-7 at home on Thursday.
Templeton 21, Corcoran 17
Templeton (8-4) came out with the narrow win against Corcoran 21-17 and now advances to the Division 5 semi-finals.
The Eagles’ Dylan Krilling got the first score of the game on a rushing touchdown, while Corcoran responded with two touchdowns before the end of the half, according to MaxPreps.
Daxton Calagna scored for the Eagles in the third quarter to tie the game coming out of halftime.
Corcoran got down to Templeton’s 9-yard line with nine minutes left in the game, but the Eagles’ defense prevented the touchdown. Corcoran settled for the field goal to put them up 17-14.
On the subsequent drive, the Eagles marched downfield and ate up five minutes of game clock. The team finished the drive with a rushing touchdown on fourth down from the 6-yard line to give the Eagles a 21-17 lead.
Once again, the defense came up huge by forcing a Corcoran turnover on downs with under a minute left, and Templeton came out with the win.
Templeton, which is the fourth seed in the Central Section Division 5 playoffs, will play Pioneer Valley at home on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. Pioneer Valley upset the No. 1 one seed in Division 5.
Dos Palos 28, Morro Bay 27
A spirited fourth-quarter comeback came up one point short as the Morro Bay Pirates fell to Dos Palos in their second-round playoff game.
After trailing the entire night, Morro Bay (5-7) scored three touchdowns in the final 10 minutes to put them in position for a tying extra point, according to MaxPreps.
Instead, in a go-for-broke move, the Pirates were unable to convert a 2-point conversion attempt and lost 28-27 after they failed to recover the ensuing onside kick.
Morro Bay trailed 14-7 at the half after Nicky Johnson hit Manny Diaz for a 25-yard touchdown.
In the third quarter, Dos Palos pushed the score to 21-14 when Andre Flores broke free for a 53-yard rushing touchdown.
After a big kickoff return by Aiden Blackwood set up Morro Bay on the Broncos’ 23-yard, the drive came up empty when a sack pushed the Pirates out of field goal range.
In the fourth quarter, Johnson hit Blackwood for a 20-yard score to narrow the game to 21-14, only to see the Broncos’ Flores bust loose again for a 40-yard run to the end zone that once again made it a 14-point game.
But Morro Bay wasn’t done.
With under 4 minutes to go, the Pirates scored twice on short runs by Nami Hoag, the second of which set up what ultimately became the fateful decision on the conversion attempt.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 11:50 PM.