Atascadero

The AHS football team kicked off their season on Friday night with a road contest against the Arroyo Grande Eagles. While in years past, this would have been considered a league matchup, this season, Atascadero is in the Ocean League, making this regular game against a familiar opponent. 

The Atascadero Greyhounds made a trip to Arroyo Grande after a COVID complication postponed what was supposed to be an opener against Pioneer Valley. The Greyhounds battled till the very end, scoring twice in the fourth quarter, but ultimately their comeback effort fell short, falling 33-21. 

The Atascadero Cross Country team was back in action this Friday with a home matchup against the consistently strong San Luis Obispo High School team. The Greyhounds ran hard but lost to the Tigers and were again without some of their top racers. 

Faith Rocha once again led the pack for the girls team and placed the highest of any Greyhound finishing third with a time of 15:09.86. Anna Archibald crossed the finish line next for the Hounds in tenth place with a time of 16:23.64, followed by Quinn Dubrul (16:41.67) in twelfth, Amelie Lovo (17:01.14) in fourteenth and Bella Otter (17:15.83) in fifteenth. 

On the boys side, the Greyhounds had two more runners finish in the top 10, with Kyle Shatwell finishing eighth overall with a time of 13:27.45, followed by Dane Hardy in tenth with a time of 13:52.14. The final three Atascadero boys, Karl Walrod, Kyle Sanchez and Nahan Cooks, finished the race one after another twelfth through fourteenth, respectively.

The Atascadero girls tennis team played two more times last week in a home-and-home matchup with Righetti High School and continued their strong start winning both matches while only dropping two sets total.

Tuesday, the Greyhounds hosted the Warriors and cruised their way into an 8-1 victory. Thursday, Atascadero made the trip to Santa Maria, made one roster tweak moving Noella Breytenbach into the no.1 singles position, and blasted their way to a 9-0 victory without surrendering a single set. Atascadero’s Kyla Stokes, who has been playing in the no. 5 singles position, played a perfect week. In her two matches, Stokes did not lose a single game-winning each of the four sets 6-0. 

The AHS girls tennis team is now 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain League this season.

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Paso Robles 

The Paso Robles Bearcats opened their football season Friday night with a Mountain League matchup against the St. Joseph Knights but were shutout, losing 44-0. Friday’s game was the first for new head coach Matt Carroll and it appears as though he has found his running back for the future in sophomore Leo Kemp. While the offense did not generate any points in the opener, the big back ran downhill with a bruising style all night, accumulating 113 yards on 22 carries. 

Paso Robles will look to bounce back from the week one loss this Friday when they travel to San Luis Obispo Tigers in their second league matchup of five in a row to open the season. 

PRHS baseball and softball also opened their seasons this Saturday with games against Nipomo. The boys hosted the Titans at Barnhart Field while the girls were on the road. 

The Bearcats softball team kicked off the year with a dominant victory led by pitcher Jaiden Ralston who threw a complete-game shutout with 13 strikes outs. Ralston only allowed three total hits on the afternoon and also added two RBI with a big hit in the fifth inning. First basemen Andie Dizon also recorded an RBI in the fifth inning and was the only player on the day to record multiple hits going 2-for-4. 

The Bearcat boys also began their season with a victory defeating Nipomo 7-2 under the lights. Carson Turnquist got things started for the Crimson’ Cats on the mound dealing three hitless innings with six strikeouts. Four total Bearcats pitched on Saturday and collectively gave up only two hits and surrendered zero earned runs. 

Offensively it was a busy day for Paso Robles as 11 different players registered a hit, but none of them went further than Drew Wade’s fourth inning long ball that carried over the centerfield wall. Christian Rowley and Austin Taylor each added two RBI on the day.

Saturday morning, the Bearcats cross country teams were back in action after a week off from competition. Paso Robles ran in a 2 mile dual meet against Arroyo Grande but could not beat the Eagles on either the boys or girls side losing 16-47 and 20-37, respectively. 

Paso Robles was led by junior speedster Charlotte Castelli who finished third overall behind Arroyo Grande’s Taylor Jones and Jenna LeNay with a time of 11:30.8. Castelli was joined by three fellow Lady Bearcats in the top ten, with Madeline Loff (12:09.72) placing fifth, Sydney Moore (12:43.02) placing eighth, and Sophia Berry (12:56.19) coming in tenth. 

The Bearcat boys placed three runners in the top 10 on Saturday. Cameron LeClair finished first for Paso Robles and fifth overall with a time of 10:25, followed by Ethan Short (10:49.59) and Diego Ortega (10.49.94), who finished ninth and tenth, respectively. 

Templeton 

Friday afternoon, the Templeton Eagles cross country teams faced off with their rival, Morro Bay, in a soggy 4,000-meter race on the Pirates’ home course. This week, the two teams would split the series, with the Eagle boys winning their race while the Eagle girls came up three points short. 

As he has this entire season, Josh Bell outpaced everyone en route to the overall victory with a time of 12:50, but it was the strength of the entire boy’s team that was the story against Morro Bay. Templeton swept the podium on Friday and placed five total runners in the race’s top six places. Jayden Buck (14:07) finished in second place, followed by Nick Jansen (14:17) in third. The pair of Max Chalekson (14:48) and Nikita Norton (14:54) finished in fifth and sixth, respectively. The boys won 17-54.

On the lady’s side, both teams agreed to run with only four girls and count the scores based on each team’s top three finishers. The race was very close, but ultimately the Pirates just edged out the victory. Maddie Bobbitt led the entire way winning her fifth consecutive race with a time of 15:33. Morro Bay was able to place runners in second, third and fourth, which gave them the slim 9-12 victory. Templeton’s Hannah Macfarlane finished fifth (18:06), followed by Awa Larence (18:07) in sixth and Ashlyn Estes (18:54) in eighth.

The Templeton Eagle swim team has also begun their season and has posted some impressive times, including a new school record, in their first two events of the season. On Saturday, Mar. 20, Templeton swam against San Luis Obispo High School, and Brianna Griffiths broke the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:11.87. On Friday, Mar. 19, Templeton was in a dual meet against Morro Bay, and the girls medley relay team of Elyse McIntyre, Griffiths, Claire Oppedahl, and Jenna Sanders took first place. Each of the four girls in the medley relay also took first in separate individual events.