Bearcats snap three-game skid in 42-3 route of Pirates
Report and photos by Sergio Romero
– When Paso Robles High School football head coach Tim Alvord called a timeout up 28-3 with 22 seconds left in the first half in the last home game of the season, everyone at War Memorial Stadium knew what was coming. “We’re not gonna take our foot off the pedal,” Alvord said.
Senior quarterback James Cogan threw a perfectly placed ball over senior athlete Hayden Mckenna’s shoulder in the corner of the endzone for a 30-yard touchdown pass to go up 35-3 at the half as the home crowd erupted. They would take this momentum into the second half en route to their 42-3 victory over Santa Ynez High School.
The Bearcats (2-6, 2-3 Mountain) scored more points than their last four games combined, while the defense held the Pirates (3-5, 1-4 Mountain) to only three points. Everything was firing on all cylinders for Paso Robles as the run game got things going for them after senior tailback Conner Bowman scored the first of his three touchdowns to go up 7-0 early in the first.
The next score came on a 24-yard deep pass from Cogan to senior receiver Tristan Salgado to go up 14-0. Following a field goal from Santa Ynez, the Bearcats answered with yet another rushing touchdown from Bowman to extend their lead to 21-3 with 4:50 left in the first half.
After a Pirate punt, Cogan connected with Mckenna deep down the field for a 69-yard touchdown to further extend the lead to 28-3. Paso Robles wasn’t done, however, as the Santa Ynez offense stalled, the Bearcats called a timeout with 22 seconds left in the half and scored on the second play of the drive on the Cogan-Mckenna connection to take a 35-3 lead into halftime.
“We felt like in the first half, we needed to score as many points as we could before the ballgame got out of hand,” Alvord said.
Not much happened in the second half other than Bowman’s third rushing touchdown of the day, as a running clock in the fourth quarter helped the Bearcats cruise the rest of the way to their 42-3 victory. This was a much-needed win for Paso Robles, especially for the seniors who ended up contributing the most to the team in this win.
“Conner [Bowman] ran the football really nicely today and got some stuff going. When we can run the ball it opens up some passing lanes and James [Cogan] did a really good job tonight.”
Cogan finished the day with three touchdown passes and zero interceptions, Mckenna had two receiving touchdowns and one interception on defense while Bowman tacked on three rushing touchdowns.
“When you’re 1-6, in some places it’s hard to come to practice,” Alvord said. “Our guys just come and keep grinding. I tell them almost every day how proud I am of them.”
The Bearcats will now try and take this momentum into their next matchup when they travel to Nipomo to take on the Nipomo High School Titans on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.
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