Atascadero football dominates in CIF semifinals; Mission Prep and Templeton fall

Three San Luis Obispo County teams went into Friday night with a shot at a Central Section championship, but only one will advance.

Atascadero, the No. 2 seed in Division 5, overwhelmed Dos Palos in a 35-0 win that secures them a home game for the title on Friday.

No. 1 Mission Prep and No. 4 Templeton weren’t so fortunate, with the Royals losing to Kennedy 27-14 in the Division 3 semifinal and the Eagles dropping a heartbreaker to Pioneer Valley in the other Division 5 semifinal, 16-13.

Atascadero 35, Dos Palos 0

For the first time since 1996, Atascadero’s football team has a chance to win a CIF section title game.

The Greyhounds (8-4) secured a lopsided semifinal win in shutout fashion against Dos Palos of Merced County, playing tough defense and forcing five turnovers against the Broncos (7-6) to reach the CIF Central Section Division 5 final.

On the offensive end, Atascadero moved the chains Friday night with relative ease behind powerful blocking from an effective front line.

Quarterback Kane Cooks tossed three touchdowns, including a 35-yard pass to Kaleb Pryor, a 65-yarder to Dallas Parish and a 75-yard connection to Mason Degnan.

The Greyhounds now will try to avenge a loss from earlier this season in the final — to be held at Atascadero on Friday — against a familiar foe on the Central Coast in Pioneer Valley. The Panthers beat Atascadero 21-20 on Oct. 28.

“I thought we played well on both sides of the ball,” Atascadero Coach Vic Cooper said after the game. “Defensively, it was just phenomenal that we had a bend-but-don’t-break attitude, and getting five turnovers, it’s pretty tough for any team to win a football game with that many turnovers. That’s probably the biggest thing that affected this game.”

Twice, Dos Palos was deep in the red zone. On the first threatening drive, Atascadero lineman Jackson Cooper recovered a fumble on the Greyhounds’ 1-yard line and Jarom Damery snagged one of his two interceptions on the night in the end zone in the second half.

“We just had lots of good teamwork,” Damery said. “Our offensive and defensive linemen were driving guys off and we were able to bust some big runs. Our quarterback, Kane (Cooks), made some great passes and we’re able to capitalize on their mistakes.”

To add to the passing attack, Kane’s brother Trey Cooks had a 45-yard rushing touchdown to open the scoring and added several key runs that gave Atascadero first downs; Diego Real added an interception and a 22-yard rushing touchdown as well.

Lineman Celtin Vert said the Greyhounds’ line has put in significant work in the weight room to get stronger and create running lanes for the Cooks’ brothers and reliable pass protection.

“We’ve been putting time in the weight room since the beginning of last summer of 2021,” Vert said. “I haven’t left that place since then. Playing defensive and offensive line is exhausting by the end of the first quarter, but it’s fun.”

Vert added: “I remember my freshman year thinking of playing in a CIF final, and this is all I can ever dream of right now.”

Looking to give the school its first CIF title in 26 years, after the team won the fourth of consecutive CIF titles in the Southern Section, Jackson Cooper said Atascadero will have to bring toughness that it lacked in its close loss to Pioneer (7-6) in October.

“We just need more physicality,” Jackson Cooper said. “Pioneer Valley kind of popped us in the mouth. We need to bring it to them next week and show him who we really are, not like last time.”

Knowing his squad will be excited in front of a fired up home crowd for the championship, coach Vic Cooper said: “It’s a bigger game. It’s revenge. All that stuff.”

Vic Cooper added: “But your preparations have to be just like it’s every week and, fortunately, for the last eight to nine weeks, these guys have been practicing well and preparing well and it’s showing up on the field.”

Kennedy 27, Mission Prep 14

Mission Prep scored two quick touchdowns, but Kennedy shut out the Royals the rest of the game on the way to a 27-14 victory on Friday night.

The Royals were the No. 1 seed in Division 3 but were eliminated in the semifinals.

“We made several mistakes that you can’t make in a game like this,” Mission Prep Head Coach David Schuster said.

Running back Cole Tanner got the first score for the Royals.

But on the next offensive drive, the ball was snapped over quarterback Colby White’s head deep in Royals territory, setting up the Thunderbirds’ first touchdown of the game.

Mission Prep responded with a deep ball catch from receiver Jamar Howard. White then connected with receiver Tyler Garrett in the end zone on a fade route to make it 14-7.

That was the last score of the game for the Royals.

Kennedy increased its defensive pressure, blitzing five or more defenders upfield to bother the pass. The Thunderbirds had multiple sacks and hurried passes.

After a strong offensive first quarter, the Royals offense grounded to a halt.

“We just we couldn’t give our quarterback enough time to get the ball out,” Schuster said. “Guys dropped balls, ran wrong on routes. We just couldn’t make it good next level we needed to.”

The wind conditions also picked up in the second half.

With the wind blowing against a Royals punt, the ball sailed into the air but was blown back to Mission Prep’s own 30-yard line. The Thunderbirds once again capitalized on the mishap with another touchdown to make the score 27-14 in the third quarter.

The Royals got a defensive stop with 9:20 left in the game down two scores, but once again the Thunderbirds got into the backfield and sacked White.

With a minute-and-a-half left in the game, Kennedy intercepted the ball to seal the win.

“This was a history-making team, and I know it didn’t feel like that tonight,” Schuster said. “This is the team that beat Paso and beat (Arroyo Grande) and beat all these teams for the first time, and did so in a very special way, and they did some incredible things. They’ve got incredible resilience ... they battled all the way to the very end here tonight, and it didn’t go our way and it always sucks, but this is a very special group.”

The Royals finish the season 8-4 and second in the Mountain League.

Pioneer Valley 16, Templeton 13

After a low scoring 7-2 first half, Pioneer Valley scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure a victory over Templeton on Friday.

The game was scoreless in the first quarter. In the second, running back Jan Martinus punched in a three-yard touchdown to put the Eagles up 7-0.

Later on in the second quarter, the Panthers sacked the Eagles on their own five-yard line. The Panthers subsequently forced a safety and got on the board.

Martinus added his second touchdown of the day in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 13-6 lead.

But then the Panthers returned a fumble for a 35-yard touchdown. With two minutes left, the Panthers marched to the goal line, and running back Anthony Arias ran in a four-yard touchdown. Then the team converted on a two-point conversion to put them up 16-13.

Templeton turned the ball over on downs on a last attempt to score, and Pioneer Valley came out on top 16-13 and will advance to the Division Five Central Section Championship.

The Eagles finish the season 8-5 and third place in the Ocean League.

This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 11:30 PM.