Mission Prep, Morro Bay headed to semifinals as Atascadero’s season comes to an end

Mission Prep held on for a last-second win in Division 3 while Morro Bay turned around a halftime deficit in Division 5 as two of San Luis Obispo County’s three remaining playoff teams advanced to the CIF Central Section semifinals on Thursday.

On the other side of the bracket in Division 3, Atascadero was eliminated when its 15-game winning streak came to an end in a home loss to visiting Washington Union.

Mission Prep 15, Porterville 14

At the start of training camp for Mission Prep, Head Coach David Schuster knew the Royals wouldn’t be able to match up with opponents talent-wise like they had in the season prior. The team graduated multiple players on both sides of the ball that are now playing football or other sports at the collegiate level.

The Royals needed to be a hard-nosed, resilient team that won with their defense and power running attack.

Throughout the year, the Royals have stayed in the game on the backs of their defense and a grind-it-out offensive approach. From their win over Bishop Diego to even a loss to Arroyo Grande, the Royals proved they could hang with bigger teams.

In the Royals’ matchup against No. 8 Porterville in the CIF Central Section Division 3 playoffs, the Royals’ offense faltered at times, but the defense made two goal-line stops, holding on for a dramatic 15-14 win.

Porterville marched down the field early to get on the board first.

A few drives later, the Royals were pinned in their own end zone on a punt. The snap was low, and when the punter picked up the ball, his knee hit the end zone turf for a safety and an 8-0 Porterville lead.

Meanwhile, the Panthers’ defense contained a Royals rushing attack led by Drew Harrigan, until with 11:27 left in the second quarter, sophomore quarterback Thomas Glenn connected with receiver Vinny Orlando on a 36-yard grab.

The explosive offense play started a chain reaction.

The Royals’ offense drove all the way to the red zone before Harrigan ran in an 11-yard score. However, the point-after attempt bounced off the left crossbar, and the Royals trailed 8-6.

With the rushing game not working for the Royals, the team leaned on Glenn to make passes.

After an interception from defensive back Ethan Orozco, Glenn hit receiver Connor Lopez on a corner route. On the following play, Glenn found Luke Terry for a 34-yard gain, which set up a 25-yard field goal from Cash Trevisan to put the Royals up 9-8.

On the other side, Porterville continued to make self-inflicted mistakes. In the first half, the punt returner fumbled the ball after waving for a fair catch, with Mission recovering. After the field goal, the Panthers kick returner dropped the ball as well, and the Royals’ defense took him down at the 5-yard line.

The Panthers still battled back, rattling off a 47-yard rush, and two plays later, they scored on a touchdown catch over the top to take a 14-9 lead.

The Royals, who coming into the game had nearly four times as many pass attempts as rushing attempts on the season, turned to Glenn to open up the offense.

After the Mission Prep defense got a goal-line stop to keep the game close, Glenn scrambled for a 14-yard gain. Glenn then connected with receiver Jayden Nozil for an over-the-shoulder grab before Nozil finished off the drive with a snag off a moon-ball throw from Glenn to put the Royals up 15-14 for their first lead of the game.

But Porterville wasn’t done.

The Panthers got the ball back with 1:46 remaining and drove inside the Royals’ 5-yard line.

But with 20 seconds on the clock and no timeouts remaining, the Panthers decided to run the ball as time ticked away. Amid of flurry of confusion, they were then unable to get the field goal unit in place before time expired.

“We quickly identified, if we’re going to have any success, (this year) it’s going to be because we’re just tough,” Coach David Schuster said of the win. “For us to be successful, we got to be tougher than everybody. ... I really felt like tonight, with the exception of one return, special teams and defense really carried the day.”

Nozil, who plays receiver and safety, said it’s the defense that carries the Royals. “Our defense is what keeps us in most of these games, you know,” he said. “We have a really tight-knit defense and really tough group.”

Mission Prep will host No. 5-seeded Kerman at home in the semifinals next Friday. Kerman beat No. 4-seeded Kennedy 34-28 on Thursday.

Washington Union 41, Atascadero 13

After rattling off 15 straight wins dating back to October 2022 and including a state championship, Atascadero fell to a fleet-footed Fresno team in the CIF Central Section Division 3 playoffs.

The No. 2-seeded Greyhounds (10-1) got off to a rough start — a three-and-out on their first drive followed by a flurry of scoring by the road team, which punched in a 12-yard touchdown, scored on a pick-6 and then found the end zone again on a long touchdown pass.

Before the Greyhounds could blink, they were down 20-0.

Then, a muffed Atascadero reception on a short kickoff set up the Panthers for another rushing score to make it 27-0 at the half.

On top of the defensive struggles, Atascadero missed on some promising passing connections and failed to score on three red zone drives in the first half.

Led by star quarterback Kane Cooks, who had tallied more than 2,300 yard of total offense and 26 touchdowns (11 passing and 15 rushing) coming into the game, Atascadero started to find some momentum in the second half with a scoring pass connection between Cooks and Mason Degnan.

Cooks then threw a strike to running back Mateo Cano to make it 34-13.

But down big, the Greyhounds couldn’t climb the mountain to engineer a comeback against an athletic team that closed gaps quickly to break up passes and broke loose for big gains.

The loss ends the season of a team that won the CIF-Central Section Division 5 title last year and then capped off the season with a Division 6 state championship.

“Last year, you know, we got to end on a win,” Cooks said. “We just didn’t play our best football and that’s what hurts the most, I think. We had all the potential. ... They had some good players flying around the football. And they were just more physical.”

Cooks, a senior, said that he’ll hold on to the good memories.

“I’ll remember the good moments from the last three years on varsity,” Cooks said. “I’ll remember the culture and all the coaches and everyone. It’s like being part of a family.”

Coach Vic Cooper said that “one game doesn’t define your season.” Cooper said that Washington Union had four or five collegiate-level players who made a difference.

“These kids fought tooth and nail,” Cooper said. “There was never any give-up. And I’m proud of what they did.”

The longtime Greyhounds’ coach said that his players worked hard in the weight room and practice and put in the effort that it takes to be successful.

“The general public doesn’t see the stuff that’s going on in January, February, March in the weight room,” Cooper said. “They don’t see the kids here every day all summer for three or four hours. It’s when you put so much into it, it hurts.”

Morro Bay 35, Orosi 25

Morro Bay (7-5) came back from a half-time deficit to win its second CIF Central Section playoff game and advance to the semifinals.

Down 25-21, the Pirates scored two touchdowns while the defense held Orosi scoreless the rest of the way to secure a 35-25 win at home.

Manny Diaz starred in a big win for Morro Bay, grabbing three interceptions and scoring a touchdown.

John Myers had two additional receiving touchdowns, and Ian Lambright ran in one touchdown and threw for three others.

Luca Macari also logged a rushing touchdown and contributed significant rushing yards to the win.

On defense, Brody Rust had five tackles and two sacks, Jackson McMahon had two sacks and six tackles, and Macari added one sack and tallied five tackles. Colton Rosenlieb also had a good defensive game with multiple tackles.

Morro Bay next faces No. 1-seeded Bishop Unioni on the road next Friday for a chance to advance to the Division 5 championships. Bishop Union beat No. 8 North of Bakersfield 55-43 on Thursday.