Atascadero, Arroyo Grande win league championships. Here’s a roundup of SLO County results

Atascadero finished a perfect 10-0 regular season with a win over Pioneer Valley on Friday night, avenging last year’s loss to the Panthers in an Ocean League finale rematch.

Meanwhile, San Luis Obispo held on to beat Templeton, locking up second place.

In the Mountain League, Arroyo Grande finished a perfect 7-0, securing the championship with a win over Paso Robles.

In a battle for second place, St. Joseph shut out Mission Prep, dropping the Royals to third.

SLO County teams now await the announcement of CIF playoff matchups, which are expected on Saturday with games set for Friday.

Here’s a roundup of San Luis Obispo County’s prep football results from Friday night.

San Luis Obispo 17, Templeton 14

In a hard-fought Ocean League football regular season finale, San Luis Obispo was able to stave off a late threat against Templeton to win 17-14.

The Tigers (7-4, 4-1 Ocean) secured second place behind undefeated Atascadero in a close road victory that was cemented with an interception by SLO linebacker Chance Evans with about two minutes left and SLO up by 3.

“Our coach has been showing that play all week,” Evans said of his game-clinching pick. “Especially in fourth quarter, they’re going to resort to pass, and I saw that sprint and I got to my zone and luckily the ball found me so I was really happy with that.”

Evans, who doubles as a tight end, also hauled in a 5-yard touchdown catch in the first half to put the Tigers up 14-7.

“I’ve had three touchdowns this season and one of them was on defense, a pick-6, so I don’t have very many,” Evans said. “It’s always cool to get a touchdown. It’s awesome. Our team is tight-knit and we’re ready for the playoffs, baby.”

The first half was marked by mistakes from both teams.

A muffed snap by SLO set up Templeton’s first score, a rushing touchdown by Lane Miller. And Templeton fumbled deep on its side of the field, recovered by Amani Avina, on a play Eagles’ fans hollered was a forward pass, giving the referees an earful.

“I thought our defense for the most part really hung in there and battled,” said Templeton Coach Don Crow. “We just didn’t play very well on offense tonight. We gave up a fumble that gave them a touchdown, and we just made too many mistakes on offense for Week 10.”

San Luis Obispo used a steady ground attack throughout the game scoring on a 1-yard rushing touchdown run by Isaiah Hernandez, a junior power rusher, to put the first points on the board.

Tigers quarterback Jace Gomes and Evans connected on a 5-yard pass to make it 14-7.

“I feel like that game we really relied on our O-line to move the ball, and it was a tough game,” Gomes said. “Templeton is a good team. They’re physical and play well at home.”

Templeton linebacker Johnny Peschong was a force throughout the night, coming up with two big sacks and plugging the gaps with hard-hitting tackles on runs.

On its second-to-last drive, Templeton connected on a 74-yard bomb from quarterback Harrison Bays to River Waltmire, who hauled in a tipped ball by his defender and took it to the house to close the gap to 17-14.

“I’ve played varsity football for four years, and it’s kind of sad to end our regular season,” Peschong said. “But I’m glad I got to experience this. It’s so cool.”

Crow said Peschong was part of a group of eight underclassmen that come up during the spring season amid COVID, including Kohen Sizemore and Miller.

“Johnny and Sizemore and Miller, those guys are their warriors, man,” Crow said. “They play so hard.”

Atascadero 42, Pioneer Valley 24

After giving up 17 points in the first quarter, Atascadero (10-0, 6-0 Ocean) didn’t give up another score until eight minutes remained in the game en route to a 42-24 over Pioneer Valley (5-5, 3-3 Ocean) that secured the Greyhounds the Ocean League championship.

“We’ve been talking about going 1-0 every week, and now we can say the culmination of that is a nice 10-0 regular season,” Head Coach Vic Cooper said. “To do that you have to weather some adversity, have good backups when kids get injured, and don’t flinch when you get down.

“We were down 17-7 tonight and our seniors didn’t flinch. ... We know going into playoffs, because of success, it could be a lot tougher. Our kids understand what’s happening,” he added.

It’s Cooper’s first undefeated season as a head coach.

The Hounds scored their first touchdown on a 7-yard run by Mateo Cano in the first quarter, before narrowing the score to 17-14 when Kane Cooks followed with an 11-yard touchdown of his own.

Atascadero went up for good two minutes later when Mason Degnan returned an interception 55 yards for a pick-6. Cooper called it a “beautiful play.”

With the defense holding the Panthers scoreless in the second and third quarters, the Greyhounds added to their lead with two more rushing touchdowns, before sealing the win on a 1-yard plunge into the end zone by Cano.

The victory extended Atascadero’s winning streak to 15 games over two seasons, dating back to last year’s Ocean League finale when Pioneer Valley edged Atascadero 21-20.

Arroyo Grande 28, Paso Robles 21

After a tight two quarters that saw Arroyo Grande (9-1, 7-0 Mountain) and Paso Robles (2-8, 2-5 Mountain) enter halftime knotted 7-7, the Eagles pulled away with two third-quarter touchdowns before holding on for a 28-21 win.

With their eighth straight victory, the Eagles secured the Mountain League title, but it wasn’t easy.

The Bearcats definitely made things interesting along the way, twice narrowing the margin to one score in the fourth quarter.

With the score at 21-14, Sam Wulff hit Caleb Clark for a 15-yard Arroyo Grande touchdown to get the lead back to 14, only to see Paso Robles battle back with an 8-yard James Cogan touchdown.

Paso Robles had one more chance but was unable to convert an onside kick with two minutes left.

St. Joseph 23, Mission Prep 0

The Royals (7-3, 5-2 Mountain) fell on the road to second-place St. Joseph (8-2, 5-1 Mountain), finishing in third place.

Mission Prep went down 14-0 and couldn’t find any momentum on offense, giving up nine points in the second half.

Conner Lopez showed his athleticism with an impressive shoestring tackle in the first half, shown on the livestream broadcast on PSNTV.

Morro Bay 43, Cabrillo 21

Nami Hoag had four rushing touchdowns for the Pirates (5-5, 2-3 Ocean) as Morro Bay doubled up on last-place Cabrillo.

Caleb Calhoun had two touchdowns, including a 102-yard pick-6 from his own end zone.

Jaxon McMahon had a standout defensive game, and Morro Bay shut down Cabrillo at the goal line on three drives.

Righetti 24, Nipomo 23

A couple of key errors on special teams cost Nipomo (4-6, 2-5 Mountain) in a close loss to Righetti (2-8, 1-6 Mountain) Friday night.

After getting out to an early lead, the Titans saw the Warriors storm back to tie the score at 17-all with three minutes to go in the third quarter.

A 57-yard rushing touchdown by Ayden Benzon put Nipomo back up 23-17, but a missed extra point left the door open.

Nipomo then had a chance to widen the lead, only to see the Warriors block a field goal.

With three minutes left, the Warriors’ Cash Carter hit Damian Meraz on a 10-yard score, with the PAT securing the win.