Greyhounds triumph over Bearcats in Friday night rival football match
Bearcats lose to Greyhounds by a score of 28-14
– The Paso Robles High School Bearcats dropped their second game in a row to start the season, this time against rival Atascadero High School Greyhounds on Friday night by a score of 28-14 at War Memorial Stadium in Paso Robles. The Greyhounds improved to 2-0 in this young season while the Bearcats fell to 0-2.
The Bearcats drove down the field multiple times in the first quarter but came up empty with each try. The scoreless quarter was capped off by an Atascadero fumble recovery on a Paso Robles punt attempt. Which was immediately followed by an interception by junior Bearcat free safety Parker Craig to give the ball right back to the Bearcats.
After the Greyhounds went up 7-0 early in the quarter, not much offense was being generated until senior running back Conner Bowman tied it up at seven apiece with 50 seconds left in the half. After a few frustrating penalties against Paso Robles, senior Bearcat free safety Ashston Murphy picked off a hail mary to keep it 7-7 going into halftime
It was much of the same offensively in the third quarter until Atascadero drew up a reverse end around sweep and senior Greyhound wideout Tyler Bukamier ran it in for a touchdown, but the extra point was blocked only putting the Greyhounds up six points and bringing the score to 13-7.
The Bearcats put together a couple more promising drives in the third but still couldn’t put anything together in the red zone.
That changed when senior quarterback Hayden McKenna scrambled out of the pocket to his right, then reversed the field to his left and found his receiver in the corner of the endzone to take a 14-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The Greyhounds immediately responded with a touchdown drive and converted the extra point to go back up 21-14 with 6:19 left in the fourth.
The next Bearcat drive ended with a short punt that set up Atascadero with great field position as they slowly drove down the field and chewed time off the clock as they scored their second touchdown of the quarter as they cruised the rest of the way to the 28-14 final.
“We can’t fumble the ball when we get a drive going,” Paso Robles head coach Tim Alvord said. “We coughed up a bunch of plays on special teams that hurt us and cost us field position.”
The Bearcats will look to bounce back at home against Monache High School (Porterville) on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.
“We’re gonna have to go ahead and regroup a little bit. So it’s a matter of getting a sense of confidence back, and getting back to work,” Alvord said.
While the Greyhounds will look to build off their win at home against Everett Alvarez High School (Salinas) on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.
-Report and photos by Sergio Romero
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