Arroyo Grande holds off Mission Prep in first-place showdown; Atascadero, SLO also win

The top two teams in the Mountain League faced off in a battle for first place on Friday with Arroyo Grande edging out Mission Prep in an 10-3 victory.

The Eagles made 10 first-half points stand up while holding the Royals scoreless for the entire second half. The win moved Arroyo Grande into sole possession of first place in the Mountain League.

Elsewhere, Atascadero continued its winning ways with a victory over Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo scored five touchdowns in a win over Santa Maria, and Paso Robles battered Santa Ynez.

Arroyo Grande 10, Mission Prep 3

In a postgame interview after Arroyo Grande took down Mission Prep, Eagles senior running back and corner Junior Herlihy breathed heavily.

Herlihy was exhausted for good reason. He scored the Eagles’ sole touchdown on a goal line rush up the middle in the first quarter. Throughout the game, Herlihy made plays all over the field, from catching passes to extend drives or breaking tackles for extra yardage.

On the defensive side of the ball, Herlihy snagged an interception from Royals quarterback Thomas Glenn. He also made timely tackles against a Royals offense that struggled throughout the entire night.

“I couldn’t have done it without my (offensive line),” Herlihy said while still trying to catch is breath. “At the end of the day, it’s the whole team.”

As a result, the Eagles grinded out a one-score victory over Mission Prep at home, and Arroyo Grande took over sole possession of first place.

After Herlihy’s first quarter score, the game was mostly a stalemate with the teams trading field goals and neither able to find the end zone.

On multiple occasions, the Eagles marched into the red zone, but the Royals found a way to make a stop, whether it was Conner Lopez blocking two field goal, getting a turnover on downs or junior linebacker Armen Clayton recovering an Eagles’ fumble within 15 yards of the end zone.

The Royals were “disappointed” by the loss, but the team’s sights are set on the CIF playoffs, where the team is looking to find success.

“We want to be a turkey team,” head coach David Schuster said, referring to the fact he wants his team still playing football around Thanksgiving.

The Royals suited up 23 players in total compared to a larger Eagles’ roster, with multiple players playing on both sides of the ball.

Senior running back Drew Harrigan came into the night banged up after missing last week’s game against Lompoc with an injury. Thanks to the lingering injury, Harrigan couldn’t find any room for any signature big gains.

“The boys did a number of really good things tonight,” Schuster said. “Really proud of the valiant effort they put forth.”

The team’s longest gain came on the first play of the game when Glenn connected with senior receiver Luke Terry on an over-the-top pass. But the Royals couldn’t put together many more successful offensive drives the rest of the game.

What stood out for Schuster is that the team rallied and never started to fight within each other and pointed fingers.

“That’s the sign of a healthy team,” Schuster said.

Kicker Mason Taylor had the sole three points for the Royals on a field goal.

For the Eagles, the offense found pockets of sustained drives but couldn’t capitalize in the red zone. Multiple turnovers deep in Royals’ territory allowed Mission Prep to stay within striking distance despite the offensive problems.

“It’s not always sunshine and rainbows,” Eagles Head Coach Mike Hartman said. “Sometimes you have a game like this where you kind of slog through it. But we persevered and we got it done.”

The Eagles’ defense played “amazing,” according to Hartman, while the special teams and offense have areas to improve heading into the second to last week of the season against Santa Ynez.

The defense bottled up the Royals’ power run game. None of the running backs for the Royals could find room to break free.

Herlihy made key receptions, rushes and defensive plays. Sophomore receiver Caleb Clark made his presence felt with some key yards after catch.

With the win over the Royals, the Eagles are poised to win the Mountain League, as the are the favorites in upcoming matchups with Santa Ynez and Paso Robles.

The Eagles have now defeated the two other strongest Mountain League teams in St. Joseph and Mission Prep.

“I’m super proud of our kids for how they played,” Hartman said. “But we need to beat Santa Ynez next week, which is no easy task.”

Arroyo Grande travels to Santa Ynez on Friday while Mission Prep hosts Righetti.

Atascadero 35, Morro Bay 26

After the Greyhounds (8-0, 4-0 Ocean) jumped out to a 21-0 first half lead, the Pirates (4-4, 1-2 Ocean) bounced back to close the gap but ultimately were unable to catch the defending state champions.

Atascadero had two rushing opening touchdowns from quarterback Kane Cooks of 3 and 24 yards, and Joseph Hyde punched in a 2-yard scoring run.

Cooks also tossed a 67-yard touchdown pass to Mason Degnan in the second quarter.

Morro Bay countered with two touchdown passes by quarterback Sands Dougherty to make it 28-14, the second of those a connection with James Nickel.

In the third quarter Morro Bay’s Nami Hoag scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 28-20.

The final two scores came on a 35-yard run from Hyde to make it 35-20 with the extra point and then another 30-yard scoring pass from Dougherty to Manny Diaz cutting the score to 35-26.

Atascadero remains undefeated on the season and has now won 13 consecutive games dating back to last season.

Atascadero is at home against Cabrillo on Friday while Morro Bay travels to Templeton.

San Luis Obispo 38, Santa Maria 28

Isaiah Hernandez scored four rushing touchdowns and Ben Oetman tacked on a field goal to lead the Tigers (6-3, 4-1 Ocean) to victory over Santa Maria (4-5, 2-3 Ocean).

SLO led 17-6 at halftime and controlled the action the rest of the way at home.

Hernandez scored on runs of 24, 24, 23 and 30 yards. Jace Gomes also scored a 75-yard rushing touchdown.

The Tigers hold the second-place league spot behind undefeated Atascadero.

San Luis Obispo has a bye on Friday before wrapping up its regular season on the road against Templeton on Oct. 27.

Pioneer Valley 21, Templeton 14

Templeton (4-4, 2-2 Ocean) lost a close one to Pioneer Valley (5-3, 3-1 Ocean) at home on Friday.

Coming off a narrow loss to Atascadero, the Eagles have now dropped two in a row.

Senior running back Wyatt Ramey and receiver Kolton Sobyra had a rushing touchdown apiece.

Kicker and running back River Waltmire converted both PATs.

Templeton hosts Morro Bay on Friday.

Paso Robles 42, Santa Ynez 3

The Bearcats (2-6, 2-3 Mountain) found the end zone six times on Friday while the defense held the visiting Pirates (3-5, 1-4, Mountain) to a single field goal.

Paso Robles next faces Nipomo on the road on Friday.

Lompoc 41, Nipomo 34

The Titans (3-5, 1-4 Mountain) fell to the Lompoc Braves (4-3, 2-2 Mountain) in a high-scoring affair at Nipomo.

Nipomo hosts Paso Robles on Friday.