Mission Prep and Morro Bay both fall in heartbreakers as SLO County football season ends

Mission Prep and Morro Bay — San Luis Obispo County’s two remaining playoff teams — both saw their seasons come to and end Friday night in gut-wrenching losses that came down to the final minutes.

Playing at home at Cal Poly’s Spanos Stadium, the top-seeded Royals battled back from a 14-0 deficit to force overtime before losing to No. 5 Kerman.

Morro Bay was on the road against No. 1 Bishop Union, where the Pirates put on a resilient performance, answering each Bronco touchdown with one of their own before ultimately missing a chance to tie the game on a late two-point conversion.

Kerman 20, Mission Prep 14

With a trip to the CIF Central Section Division 3 championships on the line, Mission Prep came up just a bit short, falling in overtime to the visiting Lions, 20-14.

The loss ended the Royals’ season, but Head Coach David Schuster had nothing but praise for his team’s effort.

“I’m very proud of this team. They did so many things and overcame some crazy hurdles,” Schuster said, pointing to the game against Lompoc when the team suited up only 19 players and a victory over Bishop Diego for the first time in decades.

On Friday, the Royals went into halftime down 14-0 after suffering two pivotal turnovers in the red zone.

One of those was an interception to a Kerman defensive back in the last minute of the half. On the following play, Kerman quarterback Adrian Torres connected with receiver Adam Delgado on a 78-yard gain and then a 15-yard touchdown.

The Royals spent a lot of time in the locker room discussing the first half, returning to the field later than usual.

It paid off, and No. 1-seeded Royals came out on fire in the third quarter with return man Luke Terry taking the opening kick off of the second half all the way for a touchdown that narrowed the score to 14-7.

The defense then forced a emphatic three-and-out with a tackle for loss from linebacker Champ Morrisey.

On offense, the Royals then turned to workhorse running back Drew Harrigan, who churned out key yardage.

In the fourth quarter, the Royals found themselves in the red zone, where Harrigan broke through the initial line and scampered to his right for a 15-yard touchdown that evened the game upat 14-14 with 10 minutes remaining

However, Kerman responded with a march of their own. At the goal line, Kerman rushed the ball up the middle, but safety Jayden Nozil blew the ball carrier with a big hit, forcing a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Lukas Elmerick.

Neither team could find another score as time expired.

In overtime, the Royals had the first attempt for a score but came up short.

Kerman then took over and worked its way insdie the 20-yard line before completing a fade route on the back right corner of the end zone for the game-winning score.

The Royals finished the season with a 8-4 overall, 5-2 in league.

The team graduates some key seniors including Terry, Elmerick and Harrigan, as well as Gabriel Foster, Conner Lopez, Issac Townsend, Joseph Clipperton, Drew Souza, Gabriel Rodriquez and Tristan Farelas, many of whom play both sides of the ball.

“(This class) came in with COVID,” Schuster said. “That was their first high school experience. I think why this kind of hurt so much is this class has been very distant for four years because how they started high school with COVID, and senior year, they came together so tight.”

Bishop Union 28, Morro Bay 26

In the county’s other semifinal matchup, Morro Bay came up just short against the No. 1 seed Bishop Union in Division 5.

The Pirates came into the game as the 4 seed after defeating East Bakersfield and Orosi in the prior two rounds.

Despite a late touchdown from Nami Hoag in the last two minutes of the game, the Pirates were unable to convert a two-point conversion to tie the score.

Quarterback Ian Lambright, who’d thrown for over 1,600 passing yard on the season, had two touchdowns to receiver Manny Diaz. Hoag added two touchdowns on the ground. Three of Diaz’s catches on the day came to convert fourth downs.

The Pirates were down 14-7 at halftime before Hoag tied the game up at 14. The Broncos got a score of their own in the third quarter, but Lambright connected with Diaz early in the fourth for a touchdown. However, the Pirates opted to go for two and couldn’t convert.

Both defenses continued to exchange stops until under two minutes left in the game, when the Broncos scored a rushing touchdown to go up 28-20.

But the Pirates weren’t done, and Hoag punched in another score before the team ultimately came up 2 points short on the failed conversion.

The Pirates graduate key seniors including Lambright, Hoag, Caleb Calhoun, Jackson McMahon, Lucas Cords, Manny Diaz, Nic Reid, Brody Rust, Jaime Barajas and Jose Salazar.

Overall, the team finished 7-6 and 2-4 in league play.