Bearcats dismantled by Knights on the road 35-7
Report and photos by Sergio Romero,
– The Paso Robles High School Bearcats didn’t exactly get off to the hot start they wanted against St. Joseph High during this Friday night’s away game in Santa Maria. The Knights scored on the first play of the game on a 73-yard screen pass that sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
On the ensuing Paso Robles drive, they went three-and-out and punted the ball back to St. Joseph.
The struggle to play complimentary football has almost been the Bearcats’ (1-5, 1-3 Mountain) identity this season, but it’s something the Knights (5-2, 3-1 Mountain) didn’t struggle with at all in their 35-7 win.
Paso Robles tried almost every kind of way to spark the offense but continually came up empty.
The Bearcats went back to playing both of their quarterbacks as senior athlete Hayden Mckenna was back under center, but the offense still struggled to get much going.
Senior quarterback James Cogan played meaningful snaps as well, but he also couldn’t get anything going. St. Joseph’s defense and energy were simply too much for this Bearcats team to handle. Before they knew it, the Knights were up 28-0 as the first half clock expired.
The third quarter was much of the same as St. Joseph scored another touchdown on their opening drive which set off a running clock for the rest of the game.
Late in the third, Mckenna found his receiver in the endzone for a five-yard touchdown pass to avoid the shutout but no momentum was gained from it as St. Joseph cruised the rest of the way to their dominant 35-7 win.
With a loss like this, the question becomes how can you try and salvage the season and find a way to give the seniors the sendoff they deserve.
The Bearcats will look to do so and bounce back against Santa Ynez High School in their final home game of the season on Friday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium.
